This clementine cake with an orange and pomegranate salad is impressive – and absurdly easy to pull off

Don’t fancy yourself as much of a baker? This foolproof recipe will help change your mind, says Prudence Wade

Clementine cake with an orange and pomegranate salad from Recipes From The Farm (Andrew Montgomery/PA)

A self-confessed tentative cake-maker, when I attempted this one for the first time – lured by the irresistible combination of orangey citrus and almonds – it turned out to be nigh-on perfect,” says presenter-turned-cookbook author, Kate Humble.

“Consequently, I love it and probably bake it more often than any other cake. There are many versions out there, but they all forego flour for ground almonds and use oranges, clementines or tangerines that are cooked until soft and then puréed. The result is a dense, fragrant sponge that is equally happy eaten unadorned, or with cream. Raspberries go well, either whole or as a coulis, but I love it with this simple orange salad and will offer crème fraîche with a shake of cinnamon for those who want it.”

Clementine cake with an orange and pomegranate salad

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

For the cake:

375g – or as near as possible – clementines or tangerines

Oil for greasing

6 eggs

225g golden caster sugar

250g ground almonds

1 heaped tsp baking powder

For the orange salad:

6 oranges

1 tsp orange blossom water

2 tbsp pomegranate seeds

2 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

Some mint leaves, shredded

Method:

1. For the cake: boil the whole fruit (in their skins) in a pan of water for one to two hours until soft. Let them cool, cut in half and remove the pips. Purée the fruit halves – skins and all – in a food processor until smooth. Preheat your oven to 190C, Gas Mark 5, and grease and line a 20 centimetre springform tin.

(Andrew Montgomery/PA)

2. Beat the eggs with a fork, then stir in the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Once well mixed, add the fruit purée and stir until the fruit is evenly distributed in the mix. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for one hour. Check with your trusty skewer that it is cooked through. If it gets a bit too brown before the end of the cooking time, loosely cover with foil. Let it cool in the tin on a wire rack.

3. For the salad: peel the oranges carefully, making sure you remove all the pith, then slice them into discs about five millimetres thick. Arrange them in a dish. Sprinkle over the orange blossom water and the pomegranate seeds. Just before serving, add a scattering of toasted flaked almonds and shredded mint leaves.

‘Home Cooked: Recipes From The Farm by Kate Humble’ (published by Gaia, £25; photography by Andrew Montgomery), available now.