Toasted nut cake with wine syllabub

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/ gas 3½. Lightly grease and line the base of a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes or until they smell fragrant. Leave to cool, reserve 25g of them, then finely whizz the rest in a food processor (or chop extremely finely by hand).
2. Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (don’t worry if the mixture curdles slightly). Briefly (on a fast speed) beat through the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt, then fold in the chopped nuts using a metal spoon or balloon whisk. The mix may still look a bit curdled but it will come together in the oven.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for 50 minutes or until risen and golden, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutesin the tin, then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.
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4. While the cake is in the oven, make the syllabub. Put the orange zest into a bowl with the wine (or orange juice), sugar and orange blossom water. Infuse for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Taste to see if you need to add a little more sugar or a squeeze of lemon juice (depending on the wine you use). Just before you’re ready to serve, strain the liquid into the cream in a large mixing bowl, then whip to soft pillowy peaks using a balloon whisk.
5. Once the cake is just warm or completely cooled, roughly chop the reserved 25g nuts. Scatter them on top of the cake, dust with icing sugar, then slice. Serve with generous dollops of the syllabub.