There is no better way to treat Mom on Mother’s day than spoiling her with tea and cake, baked by yourself. Brew her favourite cup of Carmien rooibos tea and enjoy the special moment with her.
AMASI ALMOND CAKE
Mediterranean and Africa take hands in this lovely almond cake with its amasi icing and topping made with oranges poached in a rooibos tea syrup, made with Carmien’s Piramid teas, Orange Camomile (a green rooibos) and Zesty Lemon (a red rooibos). I love a cup of Carmien Orange Camomile rooibos tea with this cake as the flavours complement each other. This is a gluten-free cake, and it’s also very easy to convert into a low-carb cake. Only replace the sugar with a sweetener.
Makes 1 large cake.
Preparation: 20 min
Baking time: 30—40 min
CAKE
6 eggs, separated
200 ml caster sugar or sweetener
200 ml amasi
Grated rind of 1 lemon
500 ml (2 c) ground almonds
ICING
2 egg yolks
30 ml (2 T) caster sugar or sweetener
45 ml (3 T) cornflour
250 ml (1 c) amasi
5 ml (1 t) vanilla essence
ORANGE TOPPING
3—4 mandarins, halved
325 ml (11/3 k) Carmien Orange Camomile (5 bags) and Zesty Lemon (2 bags) rooibos tea
60 m (¼ c) caster sugar or sweetener
Extra sugar
FOR GARNISH
Basil leaves
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin with cooking spray and line with baking paper.
1 CAKE Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar till light and thick.
2 Add the amasi and lemon rind and mix.
3. Fold in the almonds.
4 Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form, and fold into the mixture.
5 Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 25- 30 minutes or until a testing skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Let cool in the pan for a bit, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Let cool.
6 ICING Beat the egg yolks till light, beat in the caster sugar and cornflour. Pour into a pot, add the amasi and heat slowly while stirring till it just begins to boil. Add the vanilla essence and cool.
7 TOPPING Place all the ingredients in a pot and bring to the boil, lower the heat and let simmer till the fruit is just soft, but still firm. Cool in the syrup. Remove the fruit from the syrup and place in the Airfryer, sprinkle with extra sugar and roast for 10 minutes till slightly caramelised. Reduce the syrup.
8 Prick some holes in the cake with a testing skewer and pour over the syrup.
9 Spread the icing on top of the cake.
10 Arrange the orange pieces on top and pour over any leftover syrup.
11 Garnish with some basil leaves.
Carmen Niehaus 