Denise says:

This year Tu B’shvat is at the end of January where clementines are still very much in season. This gluten free cake has an aromatic spicy sweet flavour of cardamom. Cardamom seeds come from the ginger plant family and provide a good source of potassium. The syrup poured over the cake keeps it moist and delicious.

Preparation Time
: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour plus 2 hours simmering time
Serves: 10 -12 people

Ingredients:

5 clementines
Vegetable oil – for greasing
200g caster sugar
300g ground almonds
Seeds from 8-10 green cardamom pods – ground to a powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 large eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick

Method

1) Put 3 clementines in a pan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours until tender, adding more water if necessary. Drain and leave to cool.
2) Cut in half and pick out any pips, then whizz the fruit including the skin and flesh to a pulp in a food processor.
3) Preheat the oven 160C fan/ Gas mark 4.
4) Grease and line a 23cm spring form loose based cake tin with baking parchment paper.
5) Put 150g of the caster sugar, almonds, ground cardamom and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir then add the pulped clementines, vanilla extract, eggs and mix well.
6) Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes.
7) Meanwhile squeeze the juice from the remaining 2 clementines in a pan. Add the lemon juice and remaining 50g sugar.
8) Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then add the cinnamon stick and simmer for 3 minutes.
9) Remove the cake from the oven and pierce the top in a few places with a skewer.
10) Drizzle over the clementine syrup and leave for 1 hour to soak in. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.