An almond sponge cake,sandwiched with orange marmalade and chopped kiwi-fruit tossed in whipped cream. Then it gets better. Smother it with an icing of whipped almond cream, shower with ground almonds, top with sliced kiwi-fruit, and drizzle with melted white and dark chocolate!!! ….
Ingredients
Sponge
Eggs – 5 (250gms)
Almonds – 100gms (grind in dry grinder with skin; be careful it doesnt get pasty)
Flour – 2 tbs ( almonds + flour= half the weight of the eggs i.e. 125gms )
Baking powder – 1tsp
Salt – 1 pinch
Powdered sugar – 100gms ( less than half the weight of the eggs)
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Almond Essence – 1 tsp
Filling/Topping
Cream – 400ml (whipping/35% fat)
Icing Sugar – 3-4 Tbsp
Almond Essence – 1 tsp
Kiwi-fruit – 2-3/depending on size
Marmalade – 4 tbsp/heated well with 3 tbsp of water
Almonds – 2 tbsp/ground with skin
White and dark chocolate for drizzling
Method:
For the sponge
Preheat oven to 190deg C , reduce to 180deg C after 10 mins of putting the cake in.
Grease and line a 9″ring tin; A springform cake tin is always better.
- Sift the flour + baking powder + salt + ground almonds 3 times.
- Beat the eggs and sugar well with beater till very thick ribbon falls and holds in place for at least 5 seconds (beat for approx 10mins)
- Add vanilla essence + almond essence and beat for 1 min.
- Gently fold in the sifted flour; mix lightly so that air doesnt escape.
- Turn gently into tin and bake for 30-35mins till done.
- Once done, remove from tin after 5 mins and leave on rack to cool completely. Cut horizontally into 3 layers.
Filling:
- Peel and chop 2 kiwi-fruit into tiny pieces,and slice 1 for the top.
- Whip 400ml whipping cream with 4tbs pwdrd sugar +1 tsp almond essence until thick and holds peaks.
- Reserve 1/2 for icing the top. In the remainder of the cream ,fold in the chopped kiwi-fruit.
- Place the bottom most layer of the sponge on your serving platter, spread half the marmalade across it. Spread it fast, or else it’ll seep into just one area. Top with half the fruit cream.
- Place the middle layer over this, and repeat with the rest of the marmalade and fruit cream.
Topping:
- Microwave the white and dark chocolate separately in 2 zip bags for 1-2 mins to melt it.
- Spread the remaining almond cream over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle with ground almonds.
- At this point, I sometimes cut the cake into 12 equal portions, to make serving easier…pastry style. (see picture)
- Now place a slice of kiwi fruit at equal intervals, drizzle with both white and dark chocolate, and chill well before serving.
