Orange Almond Cake (gluten-free)

I'd give credit if I knew where this came from -- but it's been passed around in email and on the 'net for quite a while now!

Orange and Almond Cake

(choose oranges with unblemished skins as the whole fruit is used in the sauce.

Ingredients
2 large navel oranges, washed
5 eggs
10 ozs/1.1/4 cups caster (superfne) sugar
9 ozs/2.1/2 cups ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method
1. Preheat oven to170C (325F/Gas3)

.
2.Grease and line the base one 9.1/2 inch spring form tin. [I use 2 9" layer pans, greased, floured, and lined with baking paper]
3.Place the whole oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, for 1 hour, ensuring that the oranges remain covered with water.Drain and cool.Chop the oranges into quarters, discard any seeds then place the chunks into a blender and puree until smooth.
4.Beat the eggs with sugar until thick then add the orange puree, grounds almonds and baking powder - mix well.
5.Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour. Leave the cake to firm up in the tin for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the baking paper and flip over to finish cooling the right way up. This cake definitely mellows with a little time and can be prepared 48 hours in advance.


6.To serve you can decorate with sifted icing sugar [I use orange marmalade between the layers]

LaFee, that sounds wonderful. I use almond meal in baking, but have never tried it to use it to replace all of the flour in a cake.

What about a little drizzle of melted semi-sweet chocolate around the top? (I love dark chocolate with oranges or almonds)

What is caster sugar. Is that the same as granulated sugar in the USA?

I do want to try this recipe soon. Thanks so much for providing it.

I'd never made anything like this before, either -- the almond meal is delicious, and the cake has a super-moist texture that keeps (and freezes) well.

Yes, I've drizzled it with dark chocolate, and it's AMAZING.

Caster sugar is our superfine sugar -- most stores carry it as superfine, but you can whiz regular sugar in a blender or a food processor for a few seconds, too. (No, you can't use powdered sugar, as it's TOO fine). Regular granulated sugar won't dissolve right, and will leave it grainy.

I was intrigued when I first saw the recipe, as boiling the oranges and using them whole seems so strange...but it works!

super fine sugar, ok. Thanks again.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone, whether you celebrate today or Saturday.