Olive Oil-Walnut Cake With Pomegranate

Makes 10 servings

FOR THE CAKE:

1⁄2 cup/120 milliliters extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan

1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

1 cup/100 grams toasted, chopped walnuts 2 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 large eggs, separated

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

1⁄2 cup/120 milliliters buttermilk

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons orange zest

FOR THE SYRUP:

1⁄2 cup/100 grams granulated sugar

1 cup/240 milliliters orange juice

(from 3 medium oranges)

1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick

3 whole cloves

1 cup creme fraiche, lightly whipped cream or thick yogurt, for serving (optional)

1 cup pomegranate seeds (arils)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or cake pan. Place a parchment circle in bottom of pan and lightly oil parchment. Dust with flour and shake off excess. Set pan aside.

Add the walnuts to a food processor and grind to a coarse powder. Place ground walnuts in a bowl, and add 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt. Stir and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. With a rubber spatula, transfer the whites to a sheet of parchment or to a separate bowl.

Put egg yolks in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add sugar and whisk on low speed until sugar is dissolved. Then increase speed and continue beating, scraping down sides of the bowl as necessary, until the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes.

Beat in buttermilk, vanilla extract and orange zest, then slowly add the flour mixture at low speed. Slowly add 1⁄2 cup/120 milliliters olive oil and beat for a minute or so to combine. Using a rubber spatula, quickly fold in the reserved beaten egg whites. (First, fold in 1⁄3 of the whites to lighten the batter, then fold in remaining whites.) Scrape batter into prepared cake pan, put pan on a baking sheet and place in oven on middle shelf.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack, then invert onto a cake plate.

Meanwhile, make the syrup: In a small saucepan, put sugar, orange juice, cinnamon stick and cloves. Simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Spoon half the syrup over top of cooled cake. Cut cake into wedges and serve with a dab of creme fraiche, if desired. Spoon more syrup over each portion. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.