Glimpse into orange and almond cake

I have just had the energy to make a cake! Sure, it was after I lay in bed til gone 11am, but I will take small achievements!!! So as I sit here and drink my green smoothie lunch, the smells of an orange and blueberry almond cake waft from the oven!!

This cake is gluten free. It is also fodmap friendly (just be mindful of your tolerance level to almond meal), egg free and dairy free. I have made this cake multiple times now and it is delicious! Everyone loves it and there are never complaints about the ingredients, or lack of!

I have only made it as an orange and almond cake previously. Today, I was inspired by the fresh punnet of blueberries in the fridge. So when I had made the batter, I poured 3/4s of the mix into the prepared pan, then sprinkled the blueberries evenly on the batter, and then covered them with the remaining cake mix.

2 large navel oranges
Egg replacement for 5 eggs
1 1/4 cups glucose or caster sugar
2.5 cups almond meal
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Line a cake pan with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, boil enough water to cover two large navel oranges. Place the unblemished oranges into the water, and simmer, covered, for an hour. Make sure the oranges stay under the water.

Drain and slightly cool the oranges. Chop them into small chunks, remove seeds and put them in a blender. Blend until you have a smooth purée. If you don’t get all the rind into a purée, don’t worry because I find that small pieces of the rind makes for an interesting and tasty texture!

Make up enough egg replacement for 5 eggs (or use 5 eggs if you can!). Beat with 1 1/4 cups of glucose (aka dextrose) until thick (you can use caster sugar if you can tolerate it). Add the orange purée, 2.5 cups of ground almond (sometimes I go half half with ground hazelnuts too for a change in flavour and texture) and 1 tsp gluten free baking powder. Mix well.

Pour into the pan and bake for an hour. Watch that the top doesn’t burn!
Leave for about 20 minutes to cool and firm up. It can be made up to 48 hours in advance as it really improves with time!

Sometimes I melt dairy free, fructose friendly chocolate with dairy free butter and spread on the top. Or grate dairy free chocolate over the top. Or sprinkle orange zest and almonds or toasted coconut over the top. Serve with goat’s yogurt or lactose free yogurt, or coconut icecream!

Enjoy! It is nap time now :-)….and cake sampling time 😉