Just before Christmas, our extended team celebrated the birthdays of 4 team members within 10 days and with birthdays so close, there was only one cake for all. This cake is a twist on the more traditional orange almond cake and is gluten free.

The recipe is taken from a magazine, but I didn’t keep a note of which magazine and a google search has found a lot of similar recipes, but not this exact recipe.

 

Ingredients

2 Valencia oranges

200 g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped

100 g unsalted butter

8 eggs at room temperature

300 g castor sugar

125 ml water

375 g almond meal

1 tbls cocoa powder, sifted

200 ml thickened cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (less for a fan forced oven). Brush a round 24 cm cake pan with melted butter and line the base and sides with baking paper.
2. Place the oranges in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour. Top up with extra water as needed.
3. Drain the oranges and cool, before chopping roughly and processing in a food processor until pureed.
4. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the water touch the bowl), stirring till smooth; remove bowl from saucepan and set aside to cool.
5. Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric beater for about 5 minutes or until thick and pale.
6. Fold (with beater) the chocolate mix, almond meal and cocoa powder into the egg mixture.
7. Fold the orange puree into the mixture.
8. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for around 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing the cake from the pan and cooling completely.
10. Decorate the cake with  a layer of sifted cocoa powder and candied orange slices or clementines.
11. The cake can be served warm or cold with Greek yoghurt or whipped cream.
12. Use a warm dry knife to cut the cake cleanly.

Tips

I served the cake with whipped cream to which I had added a small amount of Grand Marnier.