Hi there! I’m Laicie from the blog A Thousand Threads, and I’m so so honored and excited to be guest posting while Jacquelyn is away. It’s hard to pick just one thing this talented lady does that I love, but since I’m a sucker for anything edible, I have to admit that one of my favorite things on Lark & Linen is the amazing recipes (I’ve made this crazy-simple pasta recipe about a thousand times…). So today I thought I’d share something tasty from my own kitchen. I don’t know if I can uphold the high standard Jacquelyn has set, but I’ll certainly try!
So it’s the New Year and I know I’m supposed to focus on being healthy — you’re all eating salads, right? No? Okay good – because there’s all of this amazing winter citrus out there right now that’s just begging to be candied. And this particular recipe puts it right up front.
This olive-oil cake is just the kind of dessert recipe I love. Sweet, but not over the top – which I think has to be said because when I saw the instruction to pour all of that sugary syrup over the top my teeth started to hurt. But then I took a bite — and I promise you, the cardamom and citrus balance out the honey and sugar to make this one of the tastiest winter cakes I’ve ever had. And I haven’t even gotten to the heavenly smell. You’re going to find out for yourself on that one – there’s just no way to describe.
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring sugar, honey, cardamom, and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. Add orange slices. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, turning orange slices occasionally, until tender and syrup is reduced to 3 1/4 cups, about 40 minutes.
3. Arrange orange slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheet; remove cardamom pods and seeds. Strain syrup.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover syrup and orange slices separately; chill. Return orange slices to room temperature and rewarm syrup slightly before using.
FOR THE CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush pan with oil. Whisk both flours and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup oil in a large bowl for 1 minute. Beat in yolks, then flour mixture. Beat in yogurt, zest, and vanilla.
2. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until firm peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter just to blend in 2 additions. Transfer to prepared pan; smooth top.
3. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. (Mine took a little longer, and I have a pretty strong oven.) Pierce hot cake all over with a metal skewer, making sure to get the outer edges as well as the inside... you want to disperse the syrup as much as possible. Slowly drizzle 3/4 cup warm syrup all over. When syrup is absorbed, slowly pour 3/4 cup more syrup over. Reserve remaining syrup for serving.
4. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack. (The longer the better. Our cake was even better the second day.) Run a thin knife around edge of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides. Arrange candied orange slices over. Sprinkle pistachios over. Cut into wedges and serve drizzled with more syrup.