About a month ago this little blog turned 1, time really flies when you’re stuffing your face! So as a self-indulgent isolation celebration and because I was craving orange and almond cake (perfectly normal behaviour), I baked this little beauty and I’m about to share the recipe with you in the unlikely event that you experience a similar craving! This is a totally flourless cake so perfect for those of you who are gluten-free!
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 2 small oranges
- 115g butter, cubed
- 2 tbsp Cointreau (optional)
- 225g caster sugar
- 200g ground almonds
- 4 medium eggs
For the topping:
The recipe calls for icing sugar and 225g of strawberries for the topping but I didn’t have any strawberries and fancied topping with greek yoghurt instead. I’d recommend yoghurt as it was delicious but maybe add strawberries if you have them.
First the boring bit: preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 and grease and line a 23cm round tin, or find someone else to do this bit because yawn.
Put the 2 whole oranges in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them and bring them to the boil and simmer for half an hour until soft when pierced with a skewer. Drain and leave to cool slightly so you don’t burn yourself, and then, on a plate to catch the juices, cut into small pieces leaving the skin on but removing the pips.
Place the orange pieces and juice in a food processor with the butter (115g), half the sugar (113g) and Cointreau (2 tbsp) if you are adding and process until smooth before mixing in the ground almonds (200g).
Seperate 4 eggs and whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar (112g) until pale and thick, before folding in the orange and almond mixture with a metal spoon.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff (try holding the bowl over upside down over your head to test if they’re ready if you’re feeling brave), before folding into the rest of the mixture.
Pour into the lovingly prepared tin and cook for 1 hour, covering with foil after 40 minutes if necessary to prevent the top from burning. Before any of you panic, as this cake has no raising agent at all it is not supposed to rise, once ready the cake will also shrink away from the sides of the tin and you may get cracks on the top but that’s what’s supposed to happen so don’t stress! While you wait for your cake to bake why not use this time to catch up on any of my blog posts you may have missed like my last post on Mthr in Canary Wharf, other time-passing activities are available.
Once your cake is done leave in the tin for ten minutes before carefully (we don’t want any tears) turning out onto a cooling rack. When cool, transfer onto a plate and chill until required (or top straight away if you’re an impatient piglet like me!
This is when I would then top with a generous amount of greek yoghurt and serve with or without strawberries but definitely with a glass of sparkling!
I saw a few of you baked my Cinnamon Buns in my first baking post, please do tag me in your baking posts or comment on this post if you’re having a go! x
