Flourless Orange Cardamom Almond cake (Dairy-free, Gluten-free)

..a walk through a sunny orange orchard, breathing the zesty air!

It was a very special blessing to live so close to an orange orchard since I love all things citrus. The sight of all those bright sunny oranges never failed to cheer me up and truly California is sunnier with all those orange and lemon trees everywhere!

You would have seen many citrus desserts on this blog, but nothing quite like this cake, made with whole oranges, boiled in their thick orange skin and flour less and butter less to boot! Sounds pretty crazy right? I thought so too!

I was introduced to these at that bakesale we had taken part in. There was a sea of colorful baked goodies- iced sugar cookies in all shapes, gorgeous layer cakes under glass domes, cupcakes piled high with frosting.....but what caught my eye were these tiny clementine mini muffins with a very intriguing ingredient list: Whole clementines, eggs, almonds, sugar, baking powder. No flour? No butter?! Curious, I bought a bunch to share with friends and wow! was I rewarded! 

Each little bite was  incredibly tender and moist, more like pudding than cake, with a heady citrussy flavor and fragrance. I loved them so much I had to have the recipe which the lovely Andrea who baked for the sale, mailed to me. They are made in the food processor or mixie and are quite easy to make too. 

They are perfect to nibble on with a cup of tea or strong coffee ( in my case) and simply perfect for the Mad Tea Party today. What could be madder than a flour less, butter less cake I say ?!

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Flour less Orange Cardamom Almond cake

Recipe Source: Since I was making it with oranges instead of clementines, I used the measurement of ingredients from here, but otherwise stuck to Andrea's email of Nigella Lawson's recipe from Claudia Rodin's Middle Eastern Orange Cake. Whew! 

Ingredients:

• 2 large oranges
• 6 pods of cardamom ( optional- my addition)
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder ( optional- my addition)
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 250 gr (2 1/3 cup) of *ground almonds / almond meal
• 250 gr of sugar (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons OR ¾ cup agave syrup + ¼ cup brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

*Note: I used almond meal from Trader Joe's but you can just grind almonds with or without their skins doesn't matter, until fine and powdery, but not too much or it will become oily)
Nigella says that you can also use an equal weight of clementines or lemons instead of oranges, if you are using lemons, increase the sugar to 1 and a half cups ( I haven't tried this) 


Method:

• Boil the oranges ( whole, in their skins, do not cut or chop them), just about covered in water in a covered saucepan for 2 hours to cook them so that they won't taste bitter- this step is essential. If you want you can add the cardamom pods to the boiling water to infuse some subtle cardamom flavor.
• Drain the water and leave for about two hours to cool. Since I ran out of time I left them covered in the fridge overnight and baked the cake the next day. 
• Once the oranges have cooled, cut them open, remove any seeds and chop into rough segments, including the peel so don't throw the peel away! 
• Preheat the oven to 190 deg C and butter and flour an 8 inch springform pan (I used a loaf pan and also used some of the batter to make 3 mini cupcakes) 
• Blend the oranges and eggs well in a food processor.
• Mix the ground almonds, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and add the orange mixture and whisk it all together with a whisk or a spoon until well mixed.
• (If you like a stronger cardamom flavour you can also mix in 1/4 tsp of cardamom powder to the batter.)
• Pour the batter in the cake tin and bake for 30 mins to 1 hour ( the baking time may vary depending on your cake tin as well as oven so check with a toothpick inserted in the center after 30 mins as its better to check early than burn the cake) *Note times for muffins below
• Once cooled turn it out on a cake rack and dust with icing sugar or a sprinkling of ground or chopped pistachios or even almond slivers.
• This cake is one of those that taste better and get moister with every passing day, so if you can save yourself some for the following or even third day, you will be amply rewarded. I stored it in a box on the counter for about 4 days, though if it is really humid where you are don't store it for longer than three as it is so moist it could get mouldy after that. 
• If you are packing this, do make sure it has completely cooled ( even overnight) 

Andrea also sent the baking time guidelines for making: 

Mini muffins = 20 – 25 min.

Regular muffins = 25 – 30 min.

Giant muffins = 30 – 35 min.

Cakes or Loaves = 45 min. - 1 hr.

Serve with thick cream ( I liked it on it's own, especially with a strong cup of coffee) Enjoy! 

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Oh and it's my birthday in a few days :) I can't help feeling excited about it, even though ( or probably because) I gave up counting it more than a few years ago :P 

Most of the excitement is just because I love having an excuse to bake and will be baking my own birthday cake, in fact the husband has strict instructions to NOT buy me a cake this year, and I could really use your ideas. I have some things in mind but am still open for ideas! After all what better excuse to bake a fancy, pull out all the stops cake and eat it too- than one's own birthday right? ( birthday cake calories don't count, really!) 


Some of the suggestion so far from some friends and awesome bakers when I posed the question on Fb:


Cool Lassie: "Red Velvet Cake is a grand option if you ask me."


Bindu Nair Varma ( no blog as of yet, but I live in hope :)  " I heart pineapple upside down cake but am not sure if it qualifies as special.The caramelized slices of pineapple taste amazing & is a huge family fave!"


Aparna: "Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake is a good one. Or Martha Stewart's Ruffle Cake or Caramel Cake."


Soma: "I had done a Syrian Walnut-Semolina Cake with Figs and Chocolate which I really heart. Don't know if it is special or the birthday cake kind, but it is so different. love Ina's Double Chocolate Layer Cake (Strong Coffee flavor which makes it sooooo good). and I LOVE fresh pineapple and whipped cream cake, black forest is an all time favorite and David Leb. Ginger Cake (not a Bday cake at all :(" 


Shabs: "Cherry crumble cake?...no decorations and icing as such and looks good on its own., same with blackberry peach crumble cake!"


All these suggestions sound soo good! Quite excited to try the ruffle cake which I also saw on Rosie's blog and loved.Do you have a suggestion for me? do add please, will link it in my sweet post tomorrow :)