I love love love pomegranates. The burst of tanginess is awesome in both sweet and savory dishes.
It is once again pomegranate season (the season runs from ~October through ~January), so I am thrilled to be cooking again with one of my favorite ingredients.
POM Wonderful must have heard about my love of their products, because I was contacted to try out their POM POMS Fresh Arils and pomegranates. I will have a few recipes over the coming weeks, but lets start with something a little sweet.
This recipe for Pomegranate Olive Oil Cake is from the POM Wonderful website. It is topped with a Vanilla Crème Anglaise, a drizzle of olive oil, and some fresh pomegranate arils.
Ingredients:
Olive Oil Cake
- ¾ cup POM POMS Fresh Arils
- 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1-2 teaspoons flour, separated
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 whole eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- the juice and zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Vanilla Crème Anglaise
- 15 egg yolks
- 1 quart whole milk
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups sugar
Garnish
- ¼ cup POM POMS Fresh Arils
- 1 ½ tablespoons fine quality extra-virgin olive oil
To make the cake, preheat your oven to 325°F. Butter and flour the bottom and inside of a 9 inch round cake pan.
Melt your butter and set it aside. Combine the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
Add the eggs to a large bowl or stand mixer and whip on high until about tripled in volume (this takes a couple of minutes).
Add the granulated sugar and continue to whip on high speed. Whip the eggs and sugar until they are pale and stiff, about 3–5 minutes on high.
Add the lemon juice, zest, and salt. Follow by adding the melted butter (add slowly so it doesn’t splash!)
Add 1 cup of the flour mixture and mix until combined.
On medium speed, add ½ cup of olive oil, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Add the remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated; scrape if necessary.
While mixing, add the last of the olive oil in a steady stream; and scrape down the bowl.
Mix again on high speed for about 30 seconds to ensure a thorough and even mixture.
In a separate bowl, add ¾ cup of arils and 1 teaspoon of flour to lightly coat them; add another teaspoon if you think it is necessary.
Gently fold the coated arils into the prepared cake batter. Add the batter to your prepared cake pan.
Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top of the cake and place the cake into the oven.
After 15 minutes, rotate the cake 180 degrees and bake for another 20–25 minutes. The cake should be golden brown on top and the center should spring back when pressed lightly, or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan.
To make the Vanilla Crème Anglaise, separate 15 egg yolks from the whites. Discard the whites or reserve for another use.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.
Combine milk, cream, vanilla extract and ¾ cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil. Be careful not to burn the sugar while heating, but make sure that the milk and cream scald.
Immediately temper the egg yolks with some of the cream when it scalds. (Temper means to add some of the hot milk liquid to the eggs to bring up their temperature so when they are added to the milk mixture they don’t scramble.)
Once tempered, combine everything back in the saucepan and return to the stove. Cook until properly thickened, about one minute.
Cool on an ice bath, with plastic wrap touching the custard to prevent a skin developing. (The bowl underneath is filled with ice)
To serve, drizzle some of the anglaise and olive oil over top of the cake and garnish with fresh arils.
This combination is really wonderful! The pomegranates add a bit of tanginess to counter the sweetness of the cake. The citrus from the lemon also helps balance out the sweetness. The olive oil makes for a really rich and moist cake. A little drizzle of anglaise really puts this cake over the top!
NOTE: I was sent POM POMs Fresh Arils and pomegranates for this post. All opinions are my own.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup POM POMS Fresh Arils
- 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1-2 teaspoons flour, separated
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 whole eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- the juice and zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- 15 egg yolks
- 1 quart whole milk
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup POM POMS Fresh Arils
- 1 ½ tablespoons fine quality extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- To make the cake, preheat your oven to 325°F. Butter and flour the bottom and inside of a 9 inch round cake pan.
- Melt your butter and set it aside. Combine the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- Add the eggs to a large bowl or stand mixer and whip on high until about tripled in volume (this takes a couple of minutes).
- Add the granulated sugar and continue to whip on high speed. Whip the eggs and sugar until they are pale and stiff, about 3–5 minutes on high.
- Add the lemon juice, zest, and salt. Follow by adding the melted butter (add slowly so it doesn't splash!)
- Add 1 cup of the flour mixture and mix until combined.
- On medium speed, add ½ cup of olive oil, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients just until incorporated; scrape if necessary.
- While mixing, add the last of the olive oil in a steady stream; and scrape down the bowl.
- Mix again on high speed for about 30 seconds to ensure a thorough and even mixture.
- In a separate bowl, add ¾ cup of arils and 1 teaspoon of flour to lightly coat them; add another teaspoon if you think it is necessary.
- Gently fold the coated arils into the prepared cake batter. Add the batter to your prepared cake pan.
- Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top of the cake and place the cake into the oven.
- After 15 minutes, rotate the cake 180 degrees and bake for another 20–25 minutes. The cake should be golden brown on top and the center should spring back when pressed lightly, or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan.
- To make the Vanilla Crème Anglaise, separate 15 egg yolks from the whites. Discard the whites or reserve for another use.
- Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.
- Combine milk, cream, vanilla extract and ¾ cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil. Be careful not to burn the sugar while heating, but make sure that the milk and cream scald.
- Immediately temper the egg yolks with some of the cream when it scalds. (Temper means to add some of the hot milk liquid to the eggs to bring up their temperature so when they are added to the milk mixture they don't scramble.)
- Once tempered, combine everything back in the saucepan and return to the stove. Cook until properly thickened, about one minute.
- Cool on an ice bath, with plastic wrap touching the custard to prevent a skin developing.
- To serve, drizzle some of the anglaise and olive oil over top of the cake and garnish with fresh arils.
What do you think?