Pomegranate Jewel Cake….got the inspiration to bake this wonderful ruby red pomegranate seeds studded cake from ever so enigmatic Nigella Lawson’s Feast. First time flipping through the pages of her enormous book on recipes around festivities round the year, this was one of those recipes which I lay my eyes on. And I wanted to bake this cake soon. I wanted to bake the recipe from her book, but I guess something else was destined. Right when I had got all the ingredients for the cake, my dear mother called me telling me to abstain from eggs or meat, as it was Navratri (nine days of fasting and having only satvik food). What a timing! But what could be done, the inspiration had already kicked in, and I didn’t want to get myself disappointed. So, I thought of taking the inspiration as the lead and bake an egg free cake. Though not a big fan of egg free cakes. I remembered, a dear friend of mine had given me this egg free vanilla cake recipe link at ChefInYou sometimes back. And I vividly remembered that the recipe had called for condensed milk. I opened my fridge and my eyes gleamed through. I had half a tin sitting in the back, left from the Iced Coffee I made last. So I was all sorted now. Happy happy moi. Pomegranates are in full bloom and have flooded the markets. You just can’t ignore them. Fruits when in peak of their season are always the best buy. And you never can go wrong with those lusciously naturally ripened gifts of mother earth. Like in this case, ruby red seeds pearls shine on top of this fragrant vanilla cake, look no less than an open jewel-case of a cake. And I took the flavors and the beauty of this cake to another level, by topping the cake with a generous layer of wicked dark chocolate ganache. What fun!

Ingredients

1 cup (140gm) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (200 gms) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup (60ml) melted butter, cooled
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup ( 5 tbsp/ 75 ml) of water
100 gm dark chocolate, chopped
50 ml low fat cream
2 big pomegranates

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree C and grease a 7″ circular pan and keep aside.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In another bowl, mix together condensed milk, butter, vanilla extract and water.
4. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and fold gently without over mixing.
5. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 150 degree C and bake for another 15 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool in tin for 10 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to let cool completely.
7. Take juice out of one pomegranates and drizzle it on top of the cake.
8. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the cream until it starts to boil. Add the chopped chocolate and let it stand for 5 minutes. Stir well to combine the chocolate and cream.
9. Top the cake with chocolate topping and then scatter the seeds of second pomegranate on top of it and serve.