I love love love this cake. It’s fresh and zesty from the orange and super super moist.
It did feel a little blasphemous messing around with Claudia Roden’s classic recipe. But the original is a little on the too sweet side so I wanted to make it a bit more blood-sugar-friendly.
The secret was to add butter, of course (shouldn’t I know by now that the secret is always to add butter). Which adds a lovely richness without masking all the fresh orange sunshiney flavours. Just the thing to liven up a Wintery afternoon – or who am I kidding, ANY afternoon.
Claudia serves hers with Greek yoghurt but after extensive testing I actually prefer it with rich double cream. I know, the things I do for my work.
Amazing Orange & Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 2 oranges 450g / 1lb, use the entire orange, peel and all!
- 125 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 125 g sugar
- 6 eggs
- 250 g almond meal (almond flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Place whole oranges in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and simmer, covered for 30 minutes. Drain and cool a little.
- Preheat your oven to 180C (350F). Grease and line the base and sides of a round 24cm (9in) spring form pan with baking paper.
- Chop oranges in half and remove any seeds. Puree oranges in your food processor, until you have a nice smooth paste. Chop butter and add to the food processor with the sugar. Puree until well combined.
- Add eggs and puree again until smooth. Add almond meal and baking powder and stir until just combined.
- Scoop mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spoon.
- Bake on the middle shelf for 35-45 minutes or until cake feels slightly springy and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin.
Nutrition
Variations
sugar-free – replace the sugar with an extra 125g (4.5oz) butter and 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia powder. Or if using monkfruit or granular stevia (like Natvia) just replace the sugar with about half the weight of your sugar replacer and leave the butter as is.
no food processor – you might get away with a stick blender but you really need something to puree the oranges.
oranges with seeds – make sure you remove before and discard before pureeing.
large oranges – if your oranges weigh more than 450g (1lb), weigh your puree and discard any excess.
different citrus – can imagine blood oranges would be lovely. And will have to try it with cumquats next time the fruit on my tree is ripe. And I’ve been meaning to make a version with boiled lemons.
nut-free – you should be able to use flour instead of the almond meal, you might want to replace it with some flour and some extra butter to make sure the cake doesn’t dry out. And test for doneness earlier than expected.
egg-free – unless your an experienced egg-substituter, I wouldn’t try it with this cake.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
oranges – whole oranges will keep wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge for months.
butter – will keep in the fridge for weeks.
eggs – will keep in the fridge for weeks or use for another meal.
almond meal / baking powder/ pure stevia powder – keep them in the pantry.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just make cake as per the recipe. Will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, allow to come to room temp.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Hi Jules
I made this cake yesterday, smelt and looked divine however it was quite wet in the centre when I cut it.
I baked for 35 to start then put it back in the oven for another 6 mins, the skewer came out clean both times and the cake was springy to touch. It was held together in the middle but just really moist and squishy compared to the outer circle of the cake if that makes sense.
Could the amount of juice in the oranges affect the result?
Lovely to hear from you Kathryn!
It is a really moist cake – did it sink in the middle once it was cooled? If yes that’s a sign of under baking which can happen with cakes like this even if a skewer comes out clean.
And did you weigh the oranges? They can vary immensely in size.
JX
I made this for a friend’s birthday recently and it was so delicious and well balanced. Everyone LOVED it and were full of compliments. I gussied it up a tad with fresh strawberries and piped whipped cream. We had a bottle of Dom Perignon to go with it, but it was the cake that stole the show!
Wow good call on the DP to have with the cake Carolyn. So glad you enjoyed 🙂
do you peel the oranges?
No! That’s part of what makes the cake taste so amazing Joan 🙂
Hi Jules, do you not peel the oranges first?
If not, do you peel them before processing them in a food processor? Just need to verify before attempting this recipe.
No you don’t peel Cherie – the whole boiled orange goes in 🙂
I’m not sure I’ll ever bake this cake but I have two questions about doing sugar replacement: 1) if I have pure monk fruit (which I understand is as intense as pure stevia), do I just follow the stevia instructions? 2) if using a granular sweetener, are you saying to use half the amount you would use if you were using sugar? If so, I’m guessing that the erythritol sweeteners don’t weigh as much as sugar? That instruction left me totally confused.
Sorry to be confusing Susan – I haven’t tried pure monkfruit – but if it’s meant to be as intense as pure stevia powder it should work if you follow the pure stevia directions.
And I find erythritol sweeteners to much much stronger in flavour than sugar – thus the reduced weight because it’s easy to over do it.
Does that help?
Yes, it does help. As I understand it, pure monk fruit is just like pure stevia. I don’t find erythritol sweeteners to be stronger in flavor, but would definitely at least start with half the weight of sugar. Thank you for clearing up my confusion.
Sounds lovely! Will sure try it soon! Do you boils the oranges whole, peal and all?
Yes Mada! Whole boiled oranges – just take any seeds out 🙂