Looking back at the two weeks I just spent in Spain, I remember eating way too many tapas and numerous pounds of Jamón Ibérico, but the one thing I didn't eat a lot of was dessert. Mostly because I was too full to even think about dessert but also most of the offerings were full of cream or butter.
While this cake isn't Spanish it was inspired by two of it's biggest crops; oranges and almonds. I'll admit this isn't your normal, "refined" cake. It has more of a rustic quality about it. The texture is coarse, it's not too sweet and it's slightly bitter from the orange peel, three things I find very appealing.
2 large, seedless navel oranges
6 large eggs
11/2 cups ground blanched almonds
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Garnish: powdered sugar, non-dairy whipped topping
Place unpeeled oranges in a saucepan and add enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until very soft, about 25-30 min. Drain, cool and cut in quarters. Remove any seeds.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and flour a deep 9-inch cake pan or springform pan.
Purée oranges in a food processor until chunky. Add eggs and process until smooth. Add ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and salt and process until very well blended. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 400° about 50 to 60 minutes or until well set and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.
Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar and serve with non-dairy whipped topping. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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