The Orange Almond Cake You Should Make This Weekend Food

WHOLE ORANGE CAKE - FLOURLESS

Steps:

• Boil 10 minutes: Place oranges in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 minutes and drain.
• Repeat x 2: Put oranges back in the pot, cover with cold water and boil again for 10 minutes. Drain, then repeat once more (ie. boil oranges 3 x 10 minutes). Shortcut: Boil 40 minutes without draining, keeping an eye on water level. (Note 4)
• Chop: Rinse oranges, then cool slightly so you can handle them. Slice into 1cm / 1/4" slices then dice, removing any seeds. Cool completely.
• Preheat oven: Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan). Grease and line a 23cm/9" cake pan with baking/parchment paper. (Note 5)
• Blitz oranges: Place chopped oranges in a food processor (Note 6). Blitz on high for 4 x 10 second bursts, scraping down the sides in between, until it's pureed into a marmalade consistency with only a few visible bits of rind remaining. It does not need to be completely smooth.
• Blitz in remaining ingredients: Add almond meal, eggs, baking powder and sugar. Blitz for 5 - 10 seconds on high until combined.
• Bake 60 minutes: Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake 60 minutes until the surface is golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Cool: Cool fully in cake pan. Unless using loose base pan, cover surface with baking paper to help you turn it out (cake is sticky so may stick to your hand and tear surface otherwise.)
• Serve: Decorate as desired - I used slices of fresh oranges, rind strips and sprigs of flowers. A dusting of icing sugar / powdered sugar is also lovely. Cut, then serve! See Note 7 for suggestions.

ORANGE ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 9inch springform pan and set it aside.
• Break up the almond paste and place it in the container of a food processor. Process for a few seconds until it is grainy, like the texture of cracked wheat. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until very fluffy, at least 3 minutes. Add the almond paste, orange liqueur, and orange zest. Beat until perfectly blended, another 2 minutes or so.
• One by one beat in the eggs until the mixture is very smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle on the flour and baking powder and beat just until combined, 30 seconds or so.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, and the sides of the cake have begun to shrink away from the pan. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. (The cake might sink a little in the center.)
• Remove the outer ring of the pan. Place a plate over the cake and invert it. Remove the bottom of the pan. Invert again onto a wire rack and cool the cake completely. Serve dusted with confectioners sugar.

ORANGE ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Grease and line a 9-to-10-inch/23 to 25 cm cake pan (springform or tube pan).
• For the cake: Separate the eggs into two bowls. Beat the yolks with the sugar and zest, then stir in the almonds. Beat the whites to peaks. Stir a spoonful of whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the rest, gently. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until set, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly, then unmold onto a serving platter.
• For the syrup: Heat the orange juice and sugar together in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in the liqueur if using. Spoon the syrup evenly over the cake, letting the syrup soak in as you go (it will absorb all of it).
• Serve the cake with candied orange zest on top and whipped cream on the side.

ORANGE-ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Place whole unpeeled oranges in a large saucepan or stockpot, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer gently, 2 hours. Drain; set oranges aside to cool. (Navel oranges may have a few seeds. Halve the cooked oranges, and remove any strays before using the rest of the fruit.)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan; set aside. Halve cooked oranges, and remove any seeds. Place 7 halves in a food processor, and pulse until pureed but still chunky. This should yield about 3 cups; set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs with 1 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in orange puree until just combined. Stir in flour mixture; pour into prepared pan.
• Bake until cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer pan to a wire rack. After 15 minutes, run a small spatula or paring knife around edge to loosen cake; let cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make orange topping: Chop remaining 5 orange halves into 1/2- inch pieces, and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine remaining cup sugar with 3/4 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
• Add chopped oranges to saucepan, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer gently until most of the liquid has evaporated and thickened into a syrup, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool completely.
• To assemble, remove ring from pan; transfer the cooled cake to a serving platter. Arrange chopped oranges and any remaining syrup over top of cake. Cut into wedges, and serve.

CLAUDIA RODEN'S ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Wash the oranges and simmer them, unpeeled, in water to cover for 2 hours. Cool, cut them open and remove the seeds. Puree the oranges, including the peel, in a food processor.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Beat the eggs in a food processor or large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, including the orange puree, and mix thoroughly. Pour into a buttered and floured cake tin, with a removable base if possible.
• Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before turning out.