Blood Orange Cake

Found an unposted blog article from 2014 when my garden was pumping out blood oranges. I was unable to find pictures of the Blood Orange cake but thought best to post this recipe before I lose it! Here's some pictures of my blood orange harvest instead.

June 15, 2014

I have been on a cake making kick of late. The Rosemary Pear cake is one I have made often. I love the slightly gritty texture of the pear and cornmeal in this  moist slightly sweet cake. It has become the base of my "clear the fruit basket cake." I have used over-riped fruits such as mango as a substitute with equally delicious success.


It set me on a hunt for a similar texture cake. I came across Nigella Lawson's Clementine cake which uses almond meal instead of flour. A reviewer had used Blood Oranges instead of Clementine with some success. At this time of year my blood orange tree is loaded with more oranges than I have recipes for! Finally this weekend, I had some time to make the cake. The house was so deliciously perfumed while the lovely blood oranges were being boiled. That alone is reason enough to make the cake. Plus the cake is incredibly easy to make.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's Clementine Cake

Ingredients
13 oz Blood Oranges ( or Clementines or other citrus)
6 large eggs
2 1/4 cup almond meal
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put the Blood Oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 1 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz in a food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC/375ºF. ( I baked mine at 350 convection oven). Butter and line a 21cm / 8 inch Springform tin.

Beat the eggs by hand adding the sugar, almonds and baking powder, mixing well, then finally adding the pulped oranges. Or, you can then add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover with foil or greaseproof after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the tin. When the cake's cold, you can take it out of the tin. 

Comments
The original recipe calls for baking it for 1 hours and covering with greaseproof paper after about 40 minutes. I set my oven to bake the cake for 40 minutes at 350 convection so that I could cover it at that time. However, the cake was fully cooked by the 40 minutes. The next time I might bake it for 30 minutes at 350 convection and check on it. If it is browning too much, I would cover it after 30-35 minutes.

By the way, the cake was deliciously moist and aromatic! Did not miss the flour. Will definitely be making cake with other flour alternatives.