Passover Tishpishti

2 cups matzo meal
2 cups finely ground almonds
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

18 (about) whole blanched almonds

Honey-Lemon syrup (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" X 13" baking pan.

Use your food processor to finely grind 1 cup of the matzo meal to powder. Transfer the powder to a medium mixing bowl. Add ground almonds and remaining cup of matzo meal.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar until pale yellow and a stream slowly dissolves into the contents of the bowl when the beaters are lifted. Blend in oil, orange peel, cinnamon and allspice. Add dry ingredients to egg-spice mixture and stir until only partially combined. Using a rubber spatula, finish folding the mixture by hand until well combined. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake until cake is golden and the tester inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 45 to 50 minutes.

Score the cake into 2" diamond shapes, taking care to cut only halfway through the depth of the cake. Gently press a whole almond onto the center of each diamond-shaped piece. Pour the prepared Honey-Lemon syrup over the cake in a gentle but steady stream.

Set baking pan on a baking rack to cool. When cool, finish the cutting process so the diamonds are separate pieces.

Honey-Lemon syrup:

1 cup honey
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Dissolve sugar by heating the mixture over a medium heat. Raise the heat under the saucepan and boil syrup for one minute or until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Cool syrup somewhat before using.