I made pomegranate cake!

As some of you may know, about a year ago, I had a crazy epic dream about true love / gay marriage / a wedding on a mountaintop where everyone was wearing robes. And at the wedding party, guess what they served? POMEGRANATE CAKE! So I woke up the morning after I had this crazy dream and I googled "pomegranate cake," and it turned out there IS such a cake.

If pomegranate cake exists... then true love must exist!


I found this Nigella recipe on the NPR website (weird) and pretty much followed it (anything I changed is in italics):

POMEGRANATE JEWEL CAKE

Serves 10

8 eggs

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups superfine sugar (If you have regular sugar, you can make it superfine by grinding it in a coffee grinder. But don't grind too much, or it will become powdered sugar. True story.)

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

3 cups ground almonds (I used Almond Meal from Trader Joes)

2 pomegranates, 1 juiced and 1 seeded (I'm sorry but you've got to be out of your mind to juice a pomegranate. Buy some damn pom juice, end of story. In addition to the pom juice, I seeded TWO pomegranates, because your pomegranate cake really can't have TOO MANY seeds on top, can it?)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line with parchment paper a 9-inch spring form pan. (If you don't have any parchment paper and your pan is not of the springform persuasion, fear not; it'll work just fine.)

Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a large bowl, and the yolks into a separate bowl. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are stiff but not dry and then whisk in a half-cup of sugar before putting bowl aside.

Add the remaining cup of sugar and zest to the yolks and beat until the mixture is light and airy, then beat in the ground almonds. This will be very thick and heavy, so lighten it with a good dollop of whisked egg whites before folding the rest of them into the thick, yellow almond mixture. It's easiest to fold in the remaining egg whites in thirds. You need to work firmly, but gently, so everything is combined without the mixture losing its air.

Pour into the lined and greased pan and bake about 40 minutes, though check at 30 minutes, as you don't want this to scorch. If the cake is brown enough, but still gooey in the middle, loosely cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.

When the cake comes out of the oven, pour the juice of one pomegranate over the cake while it is still hot and in the pan. Let the cake cool and absorb the pomegranate juice and leave until cold before removing the sides of the pan. Place the cake on a serving plate and cover with pomegranate seeds.

GET READY FOR TRUE LOVE!!!