Lately I bought so nice oranges from Sicily that I couldn’t resist and use them also for some baking. My orange cookies are a hit and so great, I am sure I will make them many times and especially when I am invited somewhere.
But the other day I ‘stumbled’ over a Moroccan Orange Almond cake that is naturally gluten-free (like many original dishes and treats are, I found out). I looked at the original recipe that was actually a video and I was immediately intrigued by the fact that the whole oranges are cooked previously and then just blended.. with the peel. That is genius!
Basically the recipe has just three ingredients, the rest is for taste. Two oranges, two cups of almond flour and 6 eggs. Sweetener, vanilla and salt are for taste and it depends also by the oranges, you can omit all of it. The baking powder gives more fluffiness which I think is important.
I used instead of the conventional sugar raw honey and 4 eggs instead of 6. The honey has already a lot of moisture. I didn’t want to use coconut sugar as it has a strong taste. But I think next time I will try with coconut sugar and cinnamon as well. I found recipes that have also a little bit of cardamom which is used very often in the Arabic cuisine and gives a great taste (did you ever tried it in coffee? Sooo good!).
The almond orange cake is called Meskouta and seems to be done everywhere a little bit different. I found it also under name Persian Orange Cake.
It’s a perfect winter coffee cake, because winter is the season of oranges. Use only organic ones and maybe try the cake with lemons instead sometimes. As decoration: very thin orange slices are perfect. But also chocolate sprinkled on the top, icing sugar or simply ‘nude’ for breakfast coffee. Yummy
- 2 oranges
- 4 eggs
- 125 ml raw honey
- 1 tsp bourbon vanilla
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp sea salt
- The evening before you want to bake the cake put the two whole oranges in a pot with water and boil them for two hours. Take away from the heat and let them cool overnight out of the remaining water.
- Next day preheat the oven on 180°C/375°F.
- Cut the two oranges in halves and take out the pips (if they have any). Then put the whole oranges into the blender and blend until they are a smooth cream. Add the eggs, the honey and the vanilla, pulse again until all combined. Add now the dry ingredients and blend until it forms a smooth and even cream.
- Line a cake pan of 8" with parchment paper and transfer the cake dough into the pan. Bake for around one hour or a toothpick in the middle of the cake come out clean.
- Take the cake out of the oven, let it cool a little in the cake pan and then transfer the cake on a cooling rack.
- Garnish with icing-sugar and/or thin orange slices.
THE ALMOND ORANGE CAKE DOES IT NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED AFTER
Hi Jennifer, no, I didn’t. It is fine for a couple of days at room temperature, if you are not in a super hot country. But if you prefer to leave it in the fridge, it is OK as well. That case the orange cake becomes more refreshing when you serve it, maybe with ice-cream? Enjoy! And a Happy New Year!