Blood Orange Syrup Cake

For cake, preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 6-inch cake pan and line bottom with parchment. Beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in orange zest. In a separate bowl, combine ground almonds and semolina. Add almond mixture alternately with orange juice until all ingredients are incorporated. Scrape into prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

For syrup, bring orange juice, sugar and orange liqueur up to a simmer. Simmer syrup for about 10 minutes, until it reduces a little and thickens slightly. Pull off the heat and allow to cool a little.

When cake comes out of the oven, let cool for 15 minutes. Pour half of the syrup over the cake while still in its pan. Let sit 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a plate and brush remaining syrup over, reserving 3 Tbsp of syrup for chantilly. Let cool before slicing.

For chantilly, whip cream to soft peaks and fold in reserve blood orange syrup.

To plate, slice a piece of segment and dollop a spoonful of chantilly over top.

Yield: 1 6-inch cake.