Orange and Almond Cake

I have had great success with silicone baking pans but my faith in them received a serious blow on the weekend. While I strive to make my food look as good as possible on this blog, I hadn’t realised just how badly silicone had could let me down. The orange and almond cake tasted wonderful despite looking like a dog’s breakfast.

Initially I thought that I might wait till I bake it again before posting this recipe but it could be some time. So I present you a less than ideal picture of the cake. After all regular readers know I am not perfect. I have showed you my cake with uncooked centre and my tart baked with the plastic wrapping.

I made it on a day when things did not go right. The footy grand final was a draw, I broke one of my favourite green glasses, and finally, when Sylvia refused her baked beans, I decided to recycle them as cheesy beans tortillas but found that the best by date of the tortillas was February 2010. Surely I hadn’t bought the tortillas that long ago! I managed to recycle them as tortilla chips with chilli non carne thanks to inspiration from Lisa.

I am happy to report that even if it looks a mess, the cake tastes great. It also means that you don’t care if your toddler digs her hand into said cake. I had hoped that Sylvia would eat it because there are worse ways of bumping up your protein intake. She had a few tastes, which is as much as I can expect of her at the moment.

This recipe is not new. Both Nigella and Claudia Roden have made their versions famous. I chose Cakelaw’s version because I had never seen the method made easy by the microwave. I love shortcuts in the microwave (polenta, melted chocolate, dulce de leche). Instead of boiling the oranges for 2 hours, the recipe only requires 6 minutes of microwaving! It also is different to Nigella or Claudia’s version because it has no additional raising agent.

The cake is also notable for being gluten free and dairy free, having no butter or oil and far more eggs than I usually use. It is very moist and satisfying. I enjoyed it, despite having aversions to eggs and citrus. Oranges are my favourite citrus fruit but I think this works without other citrus fruit. Nigella uses clementines.

I enjoyed the dark crust of the cake. My food processor isn’t overly powerful and there were a few pleasingly chewy chunks of peel throughout the cake. I used blood oranges and was a little disappointed that the colour wasn’t more prominent. But not as disappointed as I was with the presentation. I hope one day I can do it more justice.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Roasted Beetroot Tofu Burgers
This time two years ago: Fridge Door Confessions

Orange and Almond Cake
From Cakelaw

• 2 medium oranges
• 200g almond meal
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 eggs
  

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 9 inch or 23 cm round cake tin. Do not use silicone unless you line it with baking paper.

Place the orange in a small bowl and pierce with a fork. Microwave each orange separately on high for 3 minutes. (I found it released a lot of juice, hence the necessity of the bowl.) Cut open and remove any pips. I used a knife and fork to roughly chop my orange because my food processor doesn't do a great job. Place oranges in food processor and blitz until smooth.

Beat eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl with electric beaters until thick and creamy. I beat mine for 3 minutes. I assumed the eggs needed a lot of air in them because the cake relies on them for raising. Gently stir in the almonds and pureed oranges.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, and bake for 1 hour or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Turn out onto a wire rack to cook. Cakelaw iced hers with an orange juice icing but I just ate it without icing. Keeps at least 5 days in an airtight container.

On the stereo:
Songs from the South: Greatest Hits: Paul Kelly