Brown sugar, orange and hazelnut syrup cake with strawberry and orange salad and mascarpone

Name: Brown sugar, orange and hazelnut syrup cake with strawberry and orange salad and mascarpone
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 125 g Butter; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; 200 g Brown sugar; 1 Egg; 2 Tbsp Orange flower water, optional; 1 Orange, zest only (Main); 100 g Flour; 100 g Hazelnuts, finely ground (Main); ¼ cup Hazelnuts, coarsely chopped for the top of the cake (Main); 125 ml Water; 1 Orange, juice only; 35 g Caster sugar; 250 g Strawberries, hulled and sliced (Main); 1 Orange, zest only; 3 Oranges, peeled with a sharp knife (leave no pith), segments cut into small wedges in between the natural divisions of the fruit, juice squeezed from the remains of the oranges after cutting; 200 g Mascarpone (Main)

for 6 people

Tam West

Ray McVinnie

Chef and food writer

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Thin, soft orange and hazelnut cake, soaked in orange syrup, is served in slices with a salad of strawberries and oranges, and mascarpone.

For the cake

125 g	Butter
1 tsp	Vanilla extract
200 g	Brown sugar
1	Egg
2 Tbsp	Orange flower water, optional
1	Orange, zest only (Main)
100 g	Flour
100 g	Hazelnuts, finely ground (Main)
¼ cup	Hazelnuts, coarsely chopped for the top of the cake (Main)

For the syrup

125 ml	Water
1	Orange, juice only
35 g	Caster sugar

For the salad, and to serve

250 g	Strawberries, hulled and sliced (Main)
1	Orange, zest only
3	Oranges, peeled with a sharp knife (leave no pith), segments cut into small wedges in between the natural divisions of the fruit, juice squeezed from the remains of the oranges after cutting
200 g	Mascarpone (Main)

Directions

To make the cake

Heat the oven to 200C. Butter and paper the bottom of a 10cm x 35cm shallow tin (or equivalent volume in a different shaped tin).
Beat the butter, vanilla and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg.
Stir in the orange flower water (if using), zest, flour and ground hazelnuts and spread into the tin. Sprinkle the top with the chopped nuts.
Place in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes our clean.
Remove from the oven, cool and take out of the tin.

To make the syrup

While the cake is cooking, put the water, juice and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 3 minutes then remove from the heat.
Once the cake is cooked put it on to a deepish serving platter and pour the syrup evenly over it. Cool, spooning the syrup over the cake occasionally.

To make the salad

Put the strawberries, orange zest, segments and juice into a bowl and mix gently

To serve

Use a spatula to serve the cake in slices with the salad on the side and a dollop of mascarpone.

Ray's three course seasonal menu fror six also includesscallop, bacon and green bean saladandpanfried lamb shortloin with greens and greek lemon sauce.