When eating out, how many of us would opt for a main and dessert over a starter and main? One of the best bits about going out for a meal is having things you wouldn’t normally get at home, and often, this can be dessert. If you’ve set yourself a goal of eating more fresh, home-cooked food, then that doesn’t have to mean missing out on puddings! My orange and almond cake recipe is a perfect way to round off a meal. Or, why not enjoy a slice with a good cup of tea or coffee, and bring your coffee and cake outing home, too? I created this recipe as part of the #DIYDineOut challenge, so the whole cake – which you’ll get at least eight generous slices from – costs £9.30 to make!
Ingredients
2 whole oranges
5 eggs
200g almond flour
3/4 of a teaspoon of baking powder
270g caster sugar
Juice of two oranges
1-2 tablespoons of water
Icing sugar
Marscapone
Method
1: Fill a pan with water and bring it the boil. Drop the oranges in – skin and all – and boil them until completely soft. This takes about an hour
2: Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin.
3. Let the oranges cool slightly, then add to the bowl of a food processor along with the eggs, ground almonds, baking powder and 200g of the caster sugar. Blitz into a smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 mins to 1 hour, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the tin before attempting to remove it.
5: While the cake is cooling, make the orange syrup. Combine the orange juice, caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and gently heat to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and cook until the amount of liquid has reduced by half, and the mixture should be syrupy.
6: When ready to serve the cake, dust with icing sugar, then drizzle over the syrup. Serve with a generous dollop of marscapone!
