Almond & Lemon Syrup Cake with Violets or Heartsease

This recipe was submitted by Mrs. Wheeler

• 1 1/2 oz slightly stale bread crumbs
• 7 oz caster sugar
• 3 1/2 oz ground almonds
• 7 fl oz oil
• 4 eggs
• finely graded lemon zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

for the Syrup

• juice of one small lemon
• 3 oz sugar
• 3 1/2 fl oz water
• 8 fresh spikes of lavender flower or 6 or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried spikes
• rose water (can be found in specialty stores Indian or Arabic)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• violets--heartsease, or garden pansies

Method

Line the base of a 8 inch cake tin with non stick baking parchment and grease the sides. Mix the breadcrumbs with the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Add the oil and eggs and beat well. Stir in the lemon zest. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. Put into a cold oven and set the heat to 375°F. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until cake is a rich brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin then turn out onto a plate.
Make the syrup while the cake is cooling. Put all ingredients into a pan and bring gently the a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the lavender flowers and cinnamon if you wish. Pierce holes in the cake with a skewer while it is still warm, and pour over the syrup. Leave to cool, spooning excess syrup back over every now and then until it si all soaked up. Serve with crème fraiche, whipped cream or mascarpone and possibly some sliced fresh fruit on the side.