Developed by Abigail Donnelly for Woolworths TASTE.
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
For the cake:
For the almond and vanilla butter:
1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2.Using an electric mixer, cream the olive oil, eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Mix in the Amaretto. Gently fold in the almonds, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ClemenGold mandarin zest and chopped dates.
4. Pour the batter into a greased 20 cm round cake tin. Sprinkle with flaked almonds if using. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. The top may still feel slightly soft.
5. Cool completely, then remove from tin and dust with icing sugar.
To make the almond and vanilla butter:Toast almonds in a dry pan for 2 minutes. Blitz in a food processor until fine. Add butter, vanilla seeds, icing sugar and maple syrup. Blend for another 15 minutes until thick and spreadable. Serve with slices of the cake.
