Month of July: “Purple Citrus Sweet Perfume” Recipe: Orange and Hazelnut Cake with Orange Flower Syrup

“What you seek is seeking you.” Rumi

Today’s gluten free cake is my last post from this exquisite cookbook. I hope you have enjoyed seeing or better yet cooking some of these amazing creations as much as I have.

Today at the co-op while looking for the difficult to find hazelnut flour, I ran into a very dear old friend Paul who I haven’t seen in a long time. He knew Abby and had taken photos of us on a road trip we once shared to Philadelphia and Longwood gardens when we were all younger and different versions of ourselves. He told me today that he was going to Maine with his lady to a plein air workshop to paint outdoors for eight hours a day. It was wonderful to see him and catch up even for a brief moment. It got me wondering about two themes; the future and friends. Here I am anxiously ready for something new to come along as I unravel something old. Wonder what lies ahead for me? What new miraculous relationships are waiting? By facing grief my heart is cracking open. And all alone in this studio, in my very private space, I catch little clues, like segments, leading me onward, forward, upward and backward. It’s multi directional, not linear and all I can focus on for some reason is what is directly in front of me. Rumi is right…what I am seeking is seeking me. Go figure.

Ingredients: for the syrup: 1 1/4 cup superfine sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice, 2 1/2 tablespoons orange flower water ( I used less than half) and grated zest of 1 orange. for the cake: 5 large eggs, 1 cup superfine sugar ( I used less), 2 1/4 cup hazelnut flour. to serve: greek style yogurt and pulp of passion fruits ( I could not find so omitted)

1. To make the syrup: bring 2/3 cup of water to boil, add sugar and orange juice and simmer for 10-12 minutes until mixture gets syrupy. Cool. Stir in orange flour water and orange zest.
2. Make the cake but beating eggs with sugar until pale and thick. Fold in hazelnut flour. Beat egg whites until stiff and glossy and very carefully and slowly, gently mix egg whites into hazelnut mixture. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes until golden brown. Loaf pan 8/4 inch and pan should be greased with parchment paper in bottom.
3. Remove cake from oven and pour syrup over cake. Serve with yogurt. (I put the syrup on the side.)