Orange and almond cake

[juleself]

This is one of my most favorite cakes ever, perfect for when autumn rolls around. And it's delicious if you love oranges. Plus it's gluten- and lactose-free!

What you need:

• 2 organic oranges
• 6 eggs
• 250g (~ 1 cup) sugar
• 250g (~ 1 cup) ground almonds
• 1 heaping tsp baking powder
• confectioners' sugar for garnish


How it's done:

• Find saucepan that fits both the oranges, cover them with water.
• Put saucepan on stove, put lid on, put stove on medium heat.
• Let oranges simmer for about 2 hours, look in on them from time to time and fill up water if necessary.
• When the two hours are up, take oranges out of the water and set them aside to cool out.
• When cooled, cut the oranges in halves, take out pips if there are any.
• Puree oranges with your food processor or immersion blender.

• At this point, preheat oven to 175°C/350F

• Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add sugar, mix with hand mixer until pale.
• Fold in ground almonds, baking powder and the orange mush, combine well.

• Line a 9"/24cm springform with non-stick paper (works better than buttering it).
• Pour in batter and bake for 1 hour.


Notes:

Yes, this is a rather unusual cake recipe and I squinted a lot when I saw it the first time around. But it's sooo good. :-) It also works well with clementines, 5 or 6 should do. I always wanted to try it with ruby grapefruits as well, but never got around to do it. They might clash a bit with the almond flavor though.

Comments

[amanda_in_pajamas]

This is probably an extremely silly question...but do you peel the oranges?

[juleself]

Nope times two. ;-)

No, not a silly question (silly questions are those that aren't asked, that's my motto), but probably the one that's asked the most.

And no, you don't peel the oranges. The clue is to use the whole orange, pulp and peel. It gives the cake structure (remember, no flour!) and a wonderfully bitter-sweet aroma as well.

[merrycaepa]

This just sounds fantastic, and here I was wondering what to make for Thanksgiving...

[darkemeralds]

Oh, this sounds just delicious! I tried a recipe very much like this long ago, but forgot about the oranges on the stove till the water had simmered away and the oranges burned badly onto the pan--very vivid memory!--and I've wanted to try it again ever since.

I don't remember it being gluten free, because neither was I back then, but this is perfect. I'm going to go buy some oranges right now! Thank you for sharing this. I promise not to let them burn this time.

[alphaviolet]

Do you think there's a way to adapt this for a slow cooker? (I'm trying to figure out a way to not have to keep an eye on the pot for 2 hours.)

[mathsnerd]

Do you put the oranges back in the liquid before you blend them with the immersion blender? I'm missing that, somehow, after you take them out and cut them up and remove the pips.

It looks delicious, and I want to pass it along to a friend of mine who is GF! Thank you so much for sharing. I loooove orange and almond... *drools*

[juleself]

It's a perfect autumn cake, I find. :-)

[juleself]

Yeah, always keep the lid on and refill water if it goes too low. Much better for the pot in use. ;-)

[juleself]

I have no experience with slow cookers, so I'm not sure. If you have a large one where the oranges will be immersed completely with maybe an inch of water on top or so it will probably work. No idea about setting and time though. Three hours on high?

Maybe someone else can help with that?

[juleself]

No, you only blend the oranges, otherwise the batter would be way too liquid.

Oranges and almonds are a lovely combination.

[herlander_refugee]

Of course, lazy cook me, I am wondering if I could cheat and use my home-made orange marmalade as a starting point? (oranges and sugar is all that is)

A moot point unless I can find a substitute for almonds, tho...

[juleself]

Not sure if it will work with marmalade, since the orange pulp and peel give the cake some of its structure. It might end up as a runny breakfast casserole with orange marmelade flavor. ;-)

And yeah, it's not exactly a nut-allergy friendly recipe... but it's so hard to find substitutes for that.

*feels blessed for not having any food allergies*

[herlander_refugee]

But orange marmalade IS fruit peel and pulp, simply sweetened and gelled. I wonder if I could make it with hulled pumpkin seeds for the nuts?

It is, in some ways like a German torte---also nut based and with no flour, mostly. I'm trying to recall a confection I saw that was made with jam; but my brain is on Monday-mode and not returning the requested data file.

[alphaviolet]

That sounds like it would work. I'm not sure about the cooking time, though. It might be the same as for a fruit appetizer, which I could look up.

[alphaviolet]

I like orange marmalade on almost anything. Well, a lot of things, anyway. :)

[alphaviolet]

That sounds like it would work. I'm not sure about the cooking time, though. It might be the same as for a fruit appetizer, which I could look up.

[darkemeralds]

Hi again. I just wanted to circle back around and tell you that I've just taken this cake from the oven. The batter went together wonderfully, and the cake is high and light, with the most delicious aroma and the most beautiful orange color.

I tasted a bit that broke off as I was taking it out of the springform pan and oh my! It's just excellent. As you say--bittersweet, and with such a moist texture. Yum!

I can see that this is going to be a winner for me! Gluten free, low in fat, and easy to make. I'm so glad you share the recipe. Thank you!

PS: do you ever glaze or frost this cake?

[juleself]

Glad you liked it! :-)

Usually, I just dust it with confectioners' sugar. I did a dark chocolate icing once, which worked rather well.

[darkemeralds]

Oh yum!

[chatananas]

I've tried this recipe yesterday and it's excellent! Thank you for sharing this with us.