Flourless citrus almond cake with orange blossom cream, griddled peaches, honeycomb and heather flowers

A birthday cake for my little sister Lizzie who is turning 30!  The cake is flourless, made with ground almonds instead, and flavoured with lemon, orange and grapefruit zest.  It's topped with an orange blossom whipped cream, peaches and plums scorched on a griddle pan, toasted almonds and heather flowers, and home-made honeycomb.

Ingredients

For the citrus almond cake: 

12 eggs, separated

15 oz caster sugar
Grated zest of 2 lemons

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest of 1 red grapefruit

½ tsp almond extract

1 lb 4 oz ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ an orange

For the honeycomb:

2 oz caster sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the griddled fruits:

3 plums

2 peaches

For the cream:

1 pint double cream

1 tsp orange blossom water

4 tbsp icing sugar

To assemble and decorate:

5 tbsp peach jam

2 tbsp flaked almonds

2 tsp heather flowers

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease and line two 9 inch round cake tins.
2. Separate the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and beat until foamy.  Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and continue to beat until soft peaks form, then set aside.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale, then beat in the citrus zest and almond extract.
4. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold the ground almonds, baking powder and salt into the egg yolk mixture.
5. If the mixture is very stiff, add the remaining lemon juice and a little orange juice to loosen it slightly.
6. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until well combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Allow the cakes to cool slightly in the tins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
9. To make the honeycomb: Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. Place the pan on the heat – do not stir, just let the mixture melt and bubble until it turns the colour of maple syrup (about 3 minutes.)  Remove from the heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda – the mixture will bubble up and turn pale gold. Pour this immediately onto a piece of greased baking paper or greased foil and leave to set. Once cool and hard, chop into shards. 
10. For the griddled fruit: heat a griddle pan until piping hot. Halve and stone the fruit and press them flesh side down on the griddle. Cook until griddle marks appear on the fruit then set aside to cool.
11. For the orange blossom cream: Whip the cream, orange blossom water and sifted icing sugar until thick. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.  
12. To assemble: place the first cake on a cake stand and spread with the jam and half the cream. Place the next cake on top and spread with the remaining cream. Arrange the griddled fruit and honeycomb on top, then sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and heather flowers.