Flourless orange cake

July 2, 2009

I attended a surprise birthday party at the local bowls club  for one of the members who had just turned 80. It was one of those “ladies a plate” affairs and the buffet tables were fairly groaning with all sorts of sweet and savoury delights before the lights were turned off and we waited for the big moment. The birthday boy thought he was on his way to a family dinner, but one family member said she’d left her purse at the clubrooms that afternoon, so they did a quick “detour”.

He was indeed surprised when they switched on the lights.

During the evening I was, of course, chatting food with one of the women members and she told me about the flourless orange cake she’d brought along for dessert. I’ve been meaning to make one of these ever since a Greek woman  at my local market asked if I was making one when I bought some ground almonds. I wasn’t, but she told me how the cake was made though we didn’t go into ingredient quantities.

However, on party night I was told the recipe and how easy it was to make.

I have to agree. This one will double as a cake or a dessert and it can be jazzed up with a fruit topping, some liqueur or maybe a dark and decadent chocolate sauce.

Flourless Orange Cake

2 large oranges
6 eggs
200g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place the oranges in a large saucepan and cover them with water. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat to medium and simmer them for an hour, topping up the water as necessary. Cool.

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a round 23cm springform cake and line the bottom with baking paper.

Whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until light and foamy.

Quarter the oranges and chop them to a coarse pulp ion a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process again until mixed.

Pour into cake tin and bake at 190C for an hour or until cooked and a skewer emerges clean.

Let the cake stand for 10 minutes then turn out of the pan.

Serve in wedges with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt or some whipped cream. Garnish with mandarin segments and a little icing sugar.

You can drizzle the cooled cake with orange liqueur or some orange or lemon syrup if desired.

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