Flourless Orange Syrup Cake is one of those treats that make you wish it was orange season all the time! Using whole oranges and almond meal this cake is jam packed with flavour. It is dense and moist, and it will soon also become one of your family favourites.
The oranges need to be boiled for a while to remove any bitterness before they are blended whole, so there is a little planning needed. Apart from that though it's a very straight forward bake!
The cooked cake is topped with a sugar syrup which makes it moist and sticky. I've added orange peel and rosemary to the syrup to give a zesty taste.
There is no oil, butter, or milk in this cake. So it is dairy free, and can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free baking powder. Just magic.
Ingredients:
- 4 medium sized oranges
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Sugar syrup for the top:
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- Orange peel or herbs for flavouring if desired
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease a 24 cm spring form cake tin.
2. Place oranges in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Our oranges were picked straight off the tree, so I was sure to give them a good scrub and make sure all the stalk ends were removed.
3. Cook the oranges for 15 minutes. Drain the water, cover with cold water again and bring back up to the boil. Cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until soft.
4. Take the oranges off the heat. Drain and rinse under cold water.
5. Blend the whole cooked oranges in a food processor. Yes, peel and all!
6. Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. This aeration of these ingredients is very important as it gives the cake it's lightness.
7. Sift the almond meal and baking powder together. Mix sifted ingredients into the blended oranges.
8. Fold into the egg and sugar mixture until just combined.
9. Bake for 1 hour in the pre-heated oven.
10. While the cake is cooking make your sugar syrup. Heat the water on the stove, mix in the caster sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat and add in your zest or herbs to infuse and add flavour.
11. When cooked, remove your cake from the oven. Prick the top with a skewer and carefully spoon over a few spoonsful of the sugar syrup. It will absorb into the cake.
12. Serve with any leftover syrup, slices of orange and vanilla ice-cream.
TOP LOCAL TIPS:
ORANGES // It's orange season! Now at the end of winter our oranges are starting to taste beautifully sweet and juicy. I cut and freeze some of the oranges in wedges and then put them in the kid’s lunchboxes come Summertime. It keeps their lunch cool, and they also get to eat the fruit cold.
ALMONDS // I buy Australian almonds and make my own almond meal. It's so easy. We have one child who drinks almond milk, and by using the whole almond we get both the milk and the meal for less than the cost of buying both in packets #winning
SUGAR SYRUP // It was cocktail night on Friday, and I made a simple sugar syrup to flavour the Olive Oil Gin Sour (check out the recipe on Insta or FB), I repurposed the left-over syrup by flavouring it for this cake.