There really is no better way to describe this cake. The orange flavour is so intense and for those of you who love citrus, you’ll be reaching for a second slice. Along with a few other ingredients, it contains two whole boiled oranges, and almond meal. It’s dense, moist and contains no flour at all. My recipe today comes straight out of Stephanie Alexander’s, “The Cook’s Companion”. A.k.a the Australian Bible of cooking. Stephanie has adapted the recipe from Claudia Roden, who refers to it as Middle Eastern orange cake. I’m going to simply call it orange almond cake. Whatever you want to call it, it really is a special treat. I prepared the cake as part of a dessert course, for a dinner party I was hosting recently. I served it with very thick cream and accompanied it with coffee and muscat. I urge you all to make this orange almond cake today. You will not be disappointed.
RECIPE FOR ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE
(Adapted from the The Cook’s Companion
- 2 large oranges which have been boiled
- 6 eggs, lightly beaten
- 250 gr of ground almonds
- 250 gr of caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
*I boiled the oranges the night before and allowed them to cool overnight before I prepared the cake the next day*
- Boil the oranges, barely covered in water in a covered saucepan for 2 hours.
- Once cooled, cut them open, remove any pips and chop into rough segments, including the rind.
- Preheat the oven to 190 deg C and butter and flour a 24cm springform pan.
- Blend the oranges and eggs quite thoroughly in a food processor.
- Mix the ground almonds, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and add the orange mixture and whisk it all together to combine.
- Pour the batter in the cake tin and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour.
- Once cooled turn it out on a cake rack and dust with icing sugar.
Serve with thick cream.
Print This Delicious Post
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Peter, I have made this cake before, but with clementines, and it was the most terrible cake EVER! The recipe was by Nigella Lawson and it had boiled clementines in it instead of the oranges. Nobody could get over that overpowering bitter taste and the heavy texture. I don’t know, I think it is not a cake for Greek palates, but your photos make it look delicious!
I can just imagine how this must taste! What lovely moist looking cake!
I like ‘intense’, especially when it comes to flavors. As usual, your photography technique is so clever as to convey the message of ‘intensity’ with one look. I wish you could channel some of your talent to me.
A delightful cake! So refined tasting and delicate! Your shots are always very pretty and atmospheric!
Cheers,
Rosa
So tempting! Your photos always make me hungry.
Peter… be assured that I will steal the recipe of this cake soon! I’m already tasting its flavors in my mind.
And the shots… gorgeous… the third one is close to what I always wanted to achieve: tasty food, great lighting and a sense of home and tradition. Really close to perfection.
I’m bookmarking this page and I really pity anyone who dares not to.
That does look intense, and really amazing. I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for sharing it!
I love the use of darker colors here – the cake is shining like a jewel in the middle of it, Pete!
I bought Stephanie’s book back in 2006 and so far have cooked from it only once… I think that the lack of photos puts me off the book a little.
I just made the same cake this past weekend. I used the Claudia Roden recipe. I only tried a few crumbs, but it seemed a bit too sweet for me….maybe I’ll have to serve it with chocolate to balance the flavors – talk about intense
I like intense flavors and I’m a fan of citrus so I think I love this cake already. Must have been fantastic with coffee and muscat. Beautiful presentation.
I made this cake before and it is such a winner!
Intense orange flavour got me from the word “go” Peter.
I love this cake too! I’ve used blood oranges for it and it has worked out really nicely. And we have the same blue plates!
Ah bless that Stephanie Alexander! There’s something magic about the pairing of oranges and almonds in my opinion. I love this cake and in the past have even tried it with blood oranges. You want intense? try using blood oranges! delish though!!
oh i love orange cakes. i have a recipe on my own blog from my mum i really love the almonds here! and not to mention your photos are just lovely!
i have to admit that i love citrus flavoured cakes, and since we have 500 orange trees, I really think we should start making more use of them in cakes like this. i make a walnut cake that uses a lot of orange flavour, and i’m willing to try this one out too.
Mmmm, I love dense cakes like this – especially with a dollop of whipped cream!
Great recipe Peter. I love the third photo. The lighting of the wedge is just awesome with a wonderful Depth of Field.
Oh, wow, this looks absolutely amazing, Peter! I love citrus and I REALLY love almonds so I am bookmarking this one for sure.
What a fascinating recipe! I’ll have to try this when oranges are again in season.
It looks beautiful. I am not crazy about orange, but I would try a slice of this cake, because it really looks good!
I totally love the dark shots and then that amazing looking cake. I love citrus flavors and this is a bookmarked recipe now!
I’m crazy about oranges and almonds together even when they’re mild. But if they’re “intense,” then this must be one rockin’ cake!
I so want to make this cake!. Oranges are my ALL time favorite fruit and cooking ingredient, and well, cakes..I will def bake this cake very soon.
Agree with the commenters above, you are such a talented photograher, I’m also willing for some talent chanelling!
I love citrus. and the recipe seem easy and tasty .The photo is stunning , le always, in ALL your blog is stunning.
Have a nice week end
I am such a huge citrus fan, and this cake sounds like such a lovely summer dessert. Yum!
Lovely site! Fabulous pictures! Very inspirational!
intense orange is all i need to hear peter! beautiful!
I make a very similar cake to this, the great thing is that it is naturally gluten-free. Love the dark backgrounds of the photos. I’m sure it was a lovely dinner party.
This cake sounds so wonderful right now. I haven’t eaten anything sweet … say like in a few months, totally lost my sweet craving, and surprisingly this cake is got me craving sweets again . Got to have it !
Had to come and see what the wider angle shot that everyone was talking about was all about. Love it too – it’s very “Gourmet Mag”.
I’ve used the Claudia Roden recipe many times – an absolute doddle to make, and one of the most delicious cakes you will ever eat. Great if you have a glut of oranges. Cut down on the sugar if it’s tasting too sweet, add cardamon seeds (though you need loads to make an impact) if you want a bit more complexity, if you somehow manage to overcook it and it’s gone a bit dry, make a light syrup with rosewater and drench. Mmmmm!
I just made this, it’s in the oven now. It looks delicious! I can’t wait to see how intense the orange flavour will come out..
it think it might be time i reopened ‘the bible’ LOL that looks delicios
lol i think a lot of mom’s make orange cakes in the middle east that they’ve named it so… at least the ones i know make this kind of cake a lot!! im gonna recommend that they give your recipe a go though! looks delicious, and your pictures…out of this world! the black works so well!!
I MADE THIS CAKE. LET ME TELL YOU, IF YOU ENJOY THE FLAVOR OF ORANGE & ALMOND THIS CAKE IS OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD!! I AM MAKING IT FOR A DEAR FRIEND ON FATHER’S DAY. I KNOW HE WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. WILL MAKE THIS CAKE MANY, MANY TIMES THOUGHTOUT THE YEAR. IT IS THAT GOOD!
Hi Peter, thank you for the recipe. I just made the cake. It turned out very well. My parents love them! Free free to drop by on my blog to see my final result! Cheers!
I’ve made this cake twice now and I’m addicted!! But the best part about it is that it is sooooo easy to make!
Very moist, easy to make and absoultely delicious. There was not a crumb in sights!! Thanks very much