Olive Oil Orange Cake with walnuts and Candied Oranges
Cake Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 ½ cups of walnuts
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup fresh orange juice
The zest from two oranges
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Candied Oranges:
1 orange thinly sliced
1 blood orange thinly sliced
¾ cup orange blossom honey
1 cup sugar
For candied orange and syrup:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring sugar, honey, and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. 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. 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.
CAKE PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan with nonstick olive oil spray. Place parchment paper round in bottom of pan and spray paper.
Grind walnuts in processor until finely ground but not powdery. Combine ground walnuts, flour, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.
Make sure the eggs are room temperature. Using electric mixer, beat eggs in large bowl until frothy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar, beating until light, thick, and pale yellow, about 4 minutes.
Gradually add walnut-flour mixture; then add orange juice, orange zest, and olive oil, beating just until blended. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Place pan on rimmed baking sheet, and bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Cool cake completely in pan on rack. Brush leftover syrup from the oranges. Arrange the candied orange slices on top.