The first gluten-free cake I ever made was an orange and almond cake 14 years ago. Over the years, I have tried many different recipes and enjoyed them all.
This is my favorite of the five different varieties of orange-almond cake. The cake has a wonderful texture and a strong orange flavor. It does not dry even after three days at room temperature. However, it is not as dense and heavy at times as commercially baked almond and orange cakes can be. Over the years, I’ve tried many commercially made ones with coffee. It could be overly sweet, too moist, or even so dense that it was difficult to swallow. As I developed my recipe for this cake, I kept in mind that extra moisture can affect the final texture.
Even when I didn’t measure the ingredients correctly or never weighed almond meal or orange puree, this recipe was always reliable. This recipe differs mainly by adding a small amount of rice flour. It is a precautionary measure to prevent excessive moisture from the cake. This can be caused by either too runny puree or using too much puree. Oranges with thin, juicier skin can also cause extra liquid to be added to orange puree. Also, they produce a runny orange purée. Almond meal is not very absorbent and, as a dry ingredient, cannot accommodate the variations in orange puree. When cooled, a cake that has too much moisture will become too dense and wet, sinking in the center. This cake is baked in various sizes and shapes. The recipe below is for a small 19cm round, three mini fluted cakes or six mini loaves.
Ingredients:
For 1 round 9cm cake, mini fluted 10cm cakes, six mini loaf cakes 7cm 12 cm
Double the ingredients for 25cm round cakes
- 200g cooked Orange Puree (1 medium orange).
- 25g fine rice flour (2 tablespoons)
- 150g of almond meal, sifted
- 150g Sugar
- Two eggs
- Unsalted butter for baking Pan
- icing sugar for dusting
- Orange marmalade for decoration or glaze
- candied orange peel for decoration
Extra ingredients – Optional (not used on the cake shown)
- Sliced almonds sprinkled over a cake prior to baking as a decoration
- Half a teaspoon of almond essence
- dark chocolate ganache icing
- Half a teaspoon of gluten-free baking powder
Preparation:
- Wash medium to large-size Orange
- Place the Orange in cold, boiled water. Cook on medium heat until the Orange is soft.
- Cut oranges into quarters and remove the pips
- Puree orange pieces cooked in a food processor or blender
- Prepare dry ingredients: Mix almond meal and rice flour. Sift it.
- Butter and dust springform pans or individual baking tins. (I use rice flour and granulated regular sugar to dust both the sides and bottom of the Pan. If I am baking mini loaves or cakes, I dust the Pan with sugar.
- Use orange puree that is at room temperature. (It can be made the day before and refrigerated or frozen for longer periods.)
- Beat whole eggs and sugar with a hand-held or benchtop mixer until pale and doubled in volume.
- Add orange puree to the mixture and combine on low speed
- add dry ingredients to wet ingredients
- Mix and fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using your hands
- Pour the batter into a baking pan
- Bake at 160-165 degrees in a forced oven preheated for 35-40 minutes. I begin baking my almond and orange cakes in a cold oven at 170 degrees for 50-55 minutes. This method of baking ensures even the rising of the batter and produces a cake with a nice flat top. I only bake muffins in a preheated oven.
- The cake is ready when the top of the cake turns golden brown and the center feels firm.
- Apply marmalade on top of the hot cake
- Dust icing sugar on the cake after it cools
Orange and almond cake is delicious and served warm or chilled. The cake is delicious on its own but even better when served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or clotted milk.
When I first baked this cake many years ago, I used Golden Circle Orange Marmalade with the perfect consistency as cake glaze. It is unlikely that it’s manufactured anymore. Now, I make my own orange marmalade and candied orange peel. The liquid I use to make candied orange peel is used for glazing. When I make candied orange peel, I sometimes add the empty vanilla bean to enhance flavor in glazing syrup. The mini fluted cake is the perfect shape for using extra glaze.