blood orange and almond cake
Now whenever blood oranges are in season I try to find new ways of using them. It's not just the colour that's so appealling, the flavour is a bit more astringent than that of a regular orange.
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Last year I made a version of this cake and due to jet lag, it was a bit of a disaster. I thought I'd revisit the cake which I made with a few modifications to the recipe. My polenta flour has gone AWOL, so I left it out entirely making this a blood orange and almond cake.
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I made a mini version of the recipe and bought 3 blood oranges at the fruit market and I used every-one of them in the recipe. Blood oranges are a bit smaller than regular oranges so you made need a 4th orange to cover the top of the cake.
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When the cake came out of the oven I decided not to douse it with blood orange syrup. Instead I glazed the top with some warm apricot jam thinned down with blood orange juice.
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Here's the recipe for you.
BLOOD ORANGE ALMOND CAKE
250g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
Finely grated rind of 2 blood oranges
3 eggs
1½ cups self raising flour
½ cup almond meal
The juice of 1 blood orange
2 - 3 blood oranges, rind, pith and seeds removed and sliced horizontally
Apricot jam to glaze
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and flour a 23cm/9 inch tin and line the base with baking paper.
Sift the flour and almond meal together into a small bowl. Set to one side. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, orange rind and caster sugar. In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs then mix into butter mixture. If the mixture starts to look curdled, add a spoonful of the flour mixture.
Add the remaining flour mixture to the batter alternating with the orange juice to make a soft batter. If the batter looks too thick add a little more juice. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and arrange the blood oranges slices on top.
Bake the cake in the preheated 180°C/350°F oven for about 45 minutes or until the top is lightly golden and cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.
If desired, just before serving glaze the top of the cake with warmed sieved apricot jam.
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I took the cake into work with me today and by lunch time there wasn't a morsel left - always a good sign. I had a little slice and I have to say this is a winner. I'd still make a few changes though. Almond meal is heavier than flour so the cake didn't rise as much as I'd hoped - perhaps a teaspoon of baking powder would help. I'd also add a bit more grated orange rind to give the cake a bit more oomph.
I hope you enjoy the cake as much as I did.
Bye for now,
Jillian
Its always a delight to pop by your blog. Not only are you pictures beautiful, but your recipes are creatively simple... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. I like to think of my recipes as uncomplicated food for busy people.
ReplyDeleteJ