orange and lemon cake

This orange and lemon cake is actually an adaptation of the infamous Clementine Cake by Nigella Lawson. It’s one of my absolute favourite ‘go-to’ cakes.  If truth be told I usually make it at Christmas because its rich almond nuttiness and intense clementine fruitiness is perfect for the holiday season but looking back over the years I realise I haven’t actually made it for about 8 years! So now seems the perfect time to resurrect an old favourite.  It’s also a great cake to make if you have an abundance of citrus fruit left over from last year.  I always seem to have a few stragglers left in the bowl that really need eating.

The classic calls for just Clementines but I’m 2 satsumas, 1 small orange and 1 lemon.  Which works perfectly well.  I’ve upped the sugar measures slightly to compensate for the bitterness from the lemon but as you probably know by now I love that sharp/sweet taste so I haven’t gone too sweet.  I’m also erring on the side of making a lemon icing.  If there’s one in the picture you’ll know I have!

This orange and lemon cake is perfect for those on a gluten-free, dairy-free and fat-free diet and as Nigella says, it’s one of those cakes that tastes better the day after its made and continues to get better!

• 375g citrus fruit (I used 1 lemon, 1 small orange and 2 satsumas)
• 6 large free-range eggs (I used the wonderful local Scaman’s Eggs)
• 250g white sugar
• 250g ground almonds (I ground my own, skin on, which is why the cake is slightly flecked)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Put the fruit in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil, partially with the lid on and cook for 2 hours. Drain and discard the water and, when cool, cut the fruit in half and remove the pips. The fruit can now go into a food processor and be whizzed to a pulp. (Can be done in a bowl with a stick blender too.)

Preheat the oven to 170°C Fan. Butter and line a 20cm / 8 inch tin.

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

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour, 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.

As you can see from the top of this cake I was too impatient with the cooling process and turned it out too quickly and it cracked.  Still tasted amazing!

Eat and of course, enjoy!