Orange almond cake

Orange Almond Cake

Serves: 6-8

Prep time: 50 minutes

Cooking time: 55-60 minutes

Garnish: Tangy orange sauce and/or heavy cream

INGREDIENTS

Orange cake

Eggs 6 large
Oranges* 2
Almond meal* 180 g
Caster/castor sugar* 250 g
Baking powder* 1 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence* 1 tsp

Orange syrup

Rind of 1 orange

Juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup castor/caster sugar

 

METHOD

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 deg celsius, with rack on the bottom-most shelf. Line a 8 inch/ 9 inch (23 cms roughly) springform tin with baking paper and set aside.

2. Boil whole oranges (skin on) for 35 minutes. Drain the water. Wash in cold water, drain, fill with cold water and boil again for 10-15 minutes. (You could just boil once and use, but double boiling ensures bitterness from rind is removed). Drain and set aside.

3. Place eggs in mixing bowl/blender and beat for 4-5 minutes till frothy. Set aside.

4. Once cool, chop oranges into eighths -- remove as much pith as you can -- then beat to pulp in mixer/ blender.

5. Add almond meal, baking powder, sugar, vanilla essence and a pinch of salt, beat together till mixed.

6. Add eggs and beat again till ingredients are incorporated.

7. Pour/spoon into the baking tin and bake for 55-60 minutes till cake tester/needle inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean.

8. Leave cake in tin to cool for 15 minutes.
 

Tangy Orange Syrup

1. Use a grater to remove rind from orange being careful not to have any pith. Juice the orange. Put rind in saucepan of boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Drain water.
2. Return to the saucepan along with the sugar and orange juice. Bring to boil then reduce heat and cook till syrup thickens. Turn off heat and allow syrup to cool.

Assembly: Invert cooled cake onto plate/serving tray. Prick the top with a skewer or fork. Pour the syrup and serve.

NOTES

1. I have used navel oranges; mandarins work just as well. In India, regular oranges (think they're mandarins) or 'keenu' can also be used.

2. When using the oranges and orange rind it is important to take the white pith out, else the cake could be bitter.

3. How to make your own almond meal: Buying whole almonds is often cheaper than buying almond meal. Old, stored almond meal can also acquire a stale odour. If you can be bothered making your own almond meal here's how.

You will need spice grinder/ mixer/ coffee grinder, 1 cup skin-on almonds and 1-2 TBS granulated white sugar. Blend together the sugar and almonds till you get a flour-like consistency. The sugar is added so it absorbs the oil released by the almonds and to prevent the meal from clumping.

4. How to make castor/caster sugar: Measure granulated sugar, put in blender/grinder, blend!

5. You'll need to use gluten-free baking powder to have a gluten-free cake.

6. Vanilla essence: If you can't buy pure vanilla extract (it's expensive), use vanilla essence and not imitation vanilla as it can leave somewhat bitter aftertaste. If you've already bought the latter, use it (lesser than essence amount) and don't tell anyone.

Sources: Joy of Baking, Georgie Bell, Taste.com.au,