Eretz Yisrael Cake
Pastry Ingredients
● 3/4 cup sugar
● 1/3 cup candied citrus peel, chopped
● 1/2 cup marzipan (store bought or homemade)
● 1 teaspoon baking powder
● 1/4 teaspoon salt
● grated zest of 2 oranges
● 4 eggs
● 1 3/4 cups flour
● 1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped
● 3/4 cup orange juice
● 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
● 1 cup finely ground almonds or almond flour
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper cut into a circle.
- Place the sugar, marzipan, and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle; beat to break up the marzipan until it is the texture of sand.
- Replace the paddle with the whisk and add the eggs to the marzipan mixture.
- Whisk until light, fluffy, and pale yellow in color.
- Take 2 tablespoons of the flour and sprinkle over the dates and candied citrus peel in a small bowl.
- This flour coating prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.
- Sift the remaining flour, the baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
- Replace the whisk with the paddle and add the sifted dry ingredients, orange juice, and melted butter to the marzipan-egg mixture.
- Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Don't overmix-the batter should be soft and creamy.
- Fold in the dates and citrus peel.
- Pour the batter into the springform mold, tap the mold a couple of times against the counter to remove the air bubbles, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes.