Orange and pistachio cake with orange syrup and mint sugar

It's been a while since I have made a cake but then I came across this lovely little recipe from MindFood.  It's a beautiful pairing of oranges and pistachio. Oranges are plentiful in winter so it's the perfect time to whip this one up. Its also flour free so makes it perfect for those that are gluten intolerant.

I've altered the recipe slightly to ensure the syrup seeps into the cake, see method below.  

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 oranges, unpeeled
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/4 almond meal
• 1 cup pistachios, ground
• 1 tsp baking powder

Orange Syrup

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup caster sugar 

Mint Sugar 

• 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 cup sugar 

Method:

Cake:

1. Place unpeeled oranges over a high heat and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then cover and cook for 2 hours until the oranges are very tender. Then cool the oranges completely. I would start this the night before you are thinking of making the cake to give yourself more time. 
2. Place eggs and sugar in your electronic mixer until well combined.  
3. Add the whole oranges until the mixture is well combined.
4. Add the almond meal, ground pistachio and baking powder. The mixture will look something like this: 

5. Pour the cake mixture into a well greased tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

6. As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, use a fine skewer and pierce the cake 10-12 times. Using a pastry brush glaze the cake with the orange syrup.

Orange Syrup

This step should be completed whilst the cake is baking. 

1. Place the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

2. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to boil and cook until it thickens. This will take approx 7-10 minutes.

Mint Sugar

1. Place sugar and mint in a food processor until combined. 

Place the mint sugar and additional orange syrup over the cake. Serve with vanilla ice cream, fresh creme or creme fraiche.