Flourless orange and almond cake
I’ve been contemplating baking a flourless cake since a while ago and I finally baked one! I made a very moist orange & almond cake. The recipe was adapted from both FoodSafari cooking show and from my Baking book. I had all the ingredients at home — 3 cups of ground almond (purchased from PhoonHuat not long ago, with the intention to bake an almond cake one day), 3 oranges, 1 cup of sugar (slightly less about 3/4 cups would do) and 6 eggs. That’s all! No butter. But yeah, that’s a lot of eggs eh :D
Flourless Orange and Almond Cake is a classic Passover dessert drawing on the Sephardic traditions of Morocco, the Mediterranean and the Middle East (where citrus was more available) – Source
The cake was easy to make. The only turn off is preparing the orange puree… we need to boil the whole oranges for 2 hrs until they are soft and tender. Boiling them also reduces the bitterness of the oranges. Other than that, the steps are simple and straightforward. Baking time is about 1 hour. So the total time taken was about 3 hr 30 mins. And it was all worth it I tell ya.
The taste?
The cake is light, soft, fluffly and definitely very moist! As you bite, you feel the almond pieces. The cake kinda melts in the mouth too, because it’s moist and flourless! If you are into moist cakes, you will definitely like this one!
Get the recipe for a flourless moist orange and almond cake and view more photos after the jump!
Ingredients
- 2 oranges (I use 3 Sunkist oranges)
- 6 eggs, separated
- 1 cup caster sugar (I used 3/4 cups and added 4 packets of ‘equal’ sweetener)
- 300g (3 cups) ground almond a.k.a almond meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Icing sugar for dusting after baking
- Margarine or oil spray (for greasing the pan)
Method
Wash oranges and place unpeeled, in a pot of boiling water for 2 hours. Drain the water and allow the oranges to cool. Cut the base and remove the pith (the white stuff between the rind and the flesh) to reduce bitterness. Blend the oranges in a blender or food processor to a smooth consistency. This can be done ahead of time.
Preheat oven to 180° C – conventional oven i.e no fan.
Beat the egg yolk and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Add the orange puree and beat. Add the baking powder and ground almond and beat at low speed until just combined.
Beat the egg whites in another bowl until firm peak forms. Add the whites to the almond batter and fold in gently until just combined.
Grease a 20 cm spring form baking pan with margarine (or vegetable oil spray).
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden brown.
Dust with icing sugar to serve. Serve with fresh oranges or a homemade orange syrup.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:58 am
[...] vie est belle « When life gets too busy … Flourless orange and almond cake [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
[...] was fruits (watermelon, mangosteen and litchis) and my flourless orange and almond cake! They liked it [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Yum yum! I like orange cakes! This recipe looks good. The ground almonds replace the flour, right?
Oh and nice shots. Especially those pics with color isolation effects :)
June 8th, 2009 at 11:31 am
@ Angele
Yeah the almonds replace the flour. The texture is different from cakes that use flour … Have your tried any flourless cakes before?
June 10th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Once I baked a flourless cake. The recipe used breadcrumbs instead of flour and for sure, the cake texture was different from the usual cakes using flour.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:31 am
i finally tried the cake, taste good but the centre of cake was very very moist though
used 3 oranges(maybe too much juice for the cake?) and 250g almond, and didnt separate the eggs cos we tried to follow the steps from food safari
anyway, interesting to have a first try at flourless cake!
July 13th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@ Manzhi
Ah great, you finally tried :) If the centre is too moist and difficult to slice, try to bake the cake a little longer? Mine was moist but just nice. 3 oranges for 250g ground almond was too much maybe. I prefer the cake when it’s warm :)
June 21st, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Hi!
I’m making this recipe as we speak!! My mum is craving this cake, and its my favourite one. She went to a store the other day and said she ate the best version she’s ever tasted, but im hoping that this recipe will beat it! Thanks for the recipe. I have know I idea how I came across your blog – but it’s made for me!! It’s Frenchy and about food etc. I’ve got a french inspired blog too. It’s
http://www.bakingwithfrench.blogspot.com
Check it out :)
Brittany´s last [type] ..Change in URL
June 25th, 2010 at 12:04 am
@ Brittany
Just saw your orange almond cake and I am mouth watering!! Looks very nice and yummy indeed! Thanks for visiting my blog. See ya around :)
September 26th, 2011 at 10:18 am
[...] texture of the muffins is a little bit similar to my flourless orange and almond cake. It’s dense and kind of melts in your mouth [...]