Claudia Roden's Orange and Almond Cake

 

Some of my favourite puds are Gluten Free as they tend to be moist and rich. Some of my favourite recipes are from Claudia Roden.

Sometimes when I've been working really hard, I give myself a pat on the back and a little indulgent splurge may also ensue. This week's particular splurge was on a website of speciality ingredients. I will bore you with those in a later post but one of which was a concentrated grapefruit gel which I brushed on the top of this cake which was heaven. I also add a little lemon zest to the mix.

This cake is so moist it is almost wet and the taste is so interesting because you use 3 whole oranges. You must serve it with really cold greek yogurt to experience it at its best. You know in my last post where I was talking about the cake I was eating twice in one day? Well it was this, because I made two, one for a leaving present for a friend (who I met as the manager of a cookery shop in the high street, wow, I wonder how we became friendly?! hehe) and I made one for experimenting with, which has all gone now :(

I even had a few spoonfuls of mix left in the mixer which I popped into a Pyrex jug, microwaved for 2 minutes then ate with some yog whilst the cakes were cooling. That was genius, 2 minute cakes eh? Dangerous.

3 medium oranges
6 eggs, separated
225g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
1tsp baking powder

METHOD: Place the clean, whole and unpeeled fruit in water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1½ hours or until soft, adding more water when necessary. Drain the oranges, cut into quarters, discard any major pips, and whiz the rest, including peel, in the food-processor, then cool. Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until pale. Beat in the oranges, almonds, and baking powder. Beat the egg whites until softly peaky and fold gently into the mixture.

Pour into a 23cm (9in) springform cake tin and bake for an hour, until firm to the touch (cover with a loose sheet of foil if over-browning). Cool in the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

 

As you can see, I hand iced a pattern on the top cake and then for this one I played around with some string and pins. You'll need to be careful that you have removed all the pins from the cake if you wanna try this method!