Recipe: Strawberry, almond & lemon myrtle syrup cake

Recipe created by Tom Walton for Australian Native Products

Sweet and citrusy, this stunning cake is simply too delicious to resist. Serve with decadent coconut yoghurt or even a fruity gelato, this show-stopper will have your guests requesting this dessert at your next dinner party.

Ingredients

2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup caster or coconut sugar
3 eggs, room temp
1 ½ tsp 1mm ground lemon myrtle leaves
1 ¼ cup coconut yoghurt
1 ½ cups plain flour, sifted
2/3 cup (almond meal)
2 punnets of strawberries, green stem removed
1 tbsp 6mm cut dried lemon myrtle leaves
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup caster sugar
Extra coconut yoghurt to serve

Method

Preheat an oven to 180C and grease and line the base of a 24cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
Cut half the strawberries in half for the cake and set aside.
Cut the other half of the strawberries into quarters for the topping and syrup. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the coconut oil, sugar and 1 tsp of the ground lemon myrtle, until the sugar is dissolved then whisk through the yoghurt.
Add the flour, almond meal, baking powder and eggs, and mix to just combine.
Spoon half the cake batter into the cake tin and push half of the halved strawberries into the cake mix, spoon over the remaining batter to cover and press the remaining halved strawberries over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.
For the syrup, in a small pot combine the ingredients with 4 of the quartered strawberries and place over a low heat to infuse and cook for 10 minutes then let sit for 10 more minutes and strain off and keep warm.
When the cake comes from the oven, spoon half the syrup over the hot cake and let it soak in then allow the cake to cool to room temp in the tin before removing the tin carefully and placing the cake onto a serving plate.
To serve, mix the quartered strawberries with the 2 tbsp of syrup and the remaining ½ tsp ground lemon myrtle.
Spoon these over the cake and serve with yoghurt if desired.