Makes 12 servings
Total Prep Time: 1.5 hours
Ingredients
2 oranges
1 tablespoon (15 ml) butter, melted
3 pastured eggs
½ cup raw honey or maple syrup
3 cups (720 ml) almond flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking powder
½ cup slivered almonds
Directions
Put oranges whole in a pot. Add enough water to cover and bring to boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, until you can easily poke through the skins with a skewer. Remove oranges. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop and transfer to a food processor. Process until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Grease a 9-inch/22 cm spring-form pan with butter and line with parchment paper.
Break eggs into a mixing bowl together with the honey and beat till fluffy. Add in orange pulp, almond flour and baking powder. Beat till well combined. Pour into pan, sprinkle with almonds and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. When you insert a skewer into the centre of the cake and it comes out clean, it's cooked. Remove and transfer to wire rack to cool. Serve with whipped coconut cream.
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Orange and almond cake is made from whole oranges — skins, pith, and all — boiled until tender and blitzed into the batter. The result is a famously moist, intensely citrusy cake with nothing but almond flour, eggs, and honey holding it together. Slivered almonds on top toast into a golden crown while it bakes.
Pro Tips
- Simmer the oranges the full hour and a half until a skewer slides through the skins. Under-boiled peel leaves the finished cake bitter and grainy.
- Roughly chop the cooled oranges before processing. Large pieces will never break down into the smooth pulp the batter needs.
- Beat the eggs and honey until genuinely fluffy before adding the pulp. That air is the only lift in a flourless cake like this one.
- The cake keeps improving for a day or two as the orange flavor settles, so it is an ideal make-ahead dessert.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really boil the oranges with the peel on?
Yes — that is the whole magic of this cake. Two hours of simmering softens the peel completely and removes the bitterness while keeping the intense orange oils.
Can I use a different citrus?
Whole lemon cake follows the same method and gives a sharper, more grown-up flavor. Adjust the honey slightly since lemon is more sour than orange.
How should I store orange almond cake?
Covered at room temperature for two days or refrigerated for up to a week. Serve it with whipped coconut cream as the recipe suggests — the cool cream against the dense citrus crumb is perfect.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Method
- Put oranges whole in a pot.
- Add enough water to cover and bring to boil.
- Then lower the heat and simmer for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, until you can easily poke through the skins with a skewer.
- Remove oranges.
- When cool enough to handle, roughly chop and transfer to a food processor. Process until smooth.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC.
- Grease a 9-inch/22 cm spring-form pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Break eggs into a mixing bowl together with the honey and beat till fluffy.
- Add in orange pulp, almond flour and baking powder.
- Beat till well combined.
- Pour into pan, sprinkle with almonds and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
- When you insert a skewer into the centre of the cake and it comes out clean, it's cooked.
- Remove and transfer to wire rack to cool.
- Serve with whipped coconut cream.
