Winter in southern Australia means mandarins are available. This cake could be made with oranges at any time of the year, but the mandarins add a slightly different flavour. The cake is gluten free.

The recipe is modification of one I found in a magazine (not sure which one) sometime ago.

 

Ingredients for cake

3 medium to large mandarins

220 g castor sugar

5 eggs at room temperature

225 g hazelnut meal

1 tsp baking powder

 

1 cup sifted icing sugar

1 tsp mandarin zest

30 ml mandarin juice

30-50 g toasted hazlenuts, roughly chopped

Small pieces of glace orange or cumquat or make your own glace mandarin

 

1. Place the mandarins in a saucepan and use enough water to just cover them. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 1 hour. (Turn them occasionally and top up the water if it gets too low). Once the mandarins are soft, drain them and allow to cool. Once cooled chop them roughly (skin and all!) and remove any seeds that may be present.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (less for a fan forced oven) and generously grease and flour (use gluten free flour) a 20 cm ring tin.

3. Place the cooked, chopped mandarins in a food processor and process until a smooth paste.
4. Add the sugar and process until combined.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, and process well after each addition.
6. Add the hazlenut meal and baking powder and process until you have a smooth batter.
7. Pour the cake mixture into the ring tin and cook, in the middle of the oven, for approximately 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before gently running a knife around the cake to help loosen; invert onto a cake rack and allow to cool.
9. To make icing, combine icing sugar, zest and juice and mix till well combined. Drizzle over cooled cake and scatter with chopped hazlenuts and glace fruit bits.

 

Tips

I used large sized eggs and the cake was quite moist. Medium sized eggs could be used.