Orange and Poppy Seed Flourless Cake

Here I go my first venture into the world of gluten-free baking. It's exciting and slightly nerve wrecking trying to imagine the world where baking doesn't require the conventional ingredients.

A couple of weekends ago I  decided to give this a try when I had a friend who has given up eating artificial sugar visit. Which is great and I think very brave,  I only wish I had that sort of courage.

I had an orange and poppy seed cake on my mind for a while which was followed by a light bulb moment to try to make a healthy version of this without using artificial sugars. Cue Teresa Cutter recipe for a flourless orange cake.

I added about 1/4 cup of poppy seeds for a touch of texture and I may have gotten little carried away with dark chocolate streaks and toasted coconut on the top, but it was delicious! What I loved about this cake was the sheer simplicity of it all. Boil a couple of oranges and then put everything food processor, flex that button pushing finger and in about 1 min you have your cake batter.

The cake turned out moist and delicious, I served it with some vanilla yoghurt which seemed to help balance out the citrus flavours. The recipe does say to use sweet oranges but how you can guarantee your oranges are gloriously sweet before you use them is beyond me.  Mine seemed to have tad bitterness but perhaps that was from the rind, which I was also completely surprised that you really do throw the whole boiled orange into the food processor skin and all!

This recipe is simple, delicious and with the natural ingredients, this is a dessert you can feel good about. I suggest you try it and let me know what you think.

The recipe below is courtesy of Teresa Cutter.


INGREDIENTS (1 CAKE)

1 – 2 whole sweet oranges (350 g total) use the whole orange – skin and all.
3 eggs
125 g honey (raw or manuka) this should be about ¼ - ⅓ cup (see notes)
1/4 cup poppy seeds 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
1 teaspoon baking powder
200 g (2 cups) almond meal

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 160 C.
2. Steam or boil whole oranges for 1 hour until soft – drain and allow to cool.
3. Roughly chop steamed or boiled whole oranges and place in a food processor.
4. Process until smooth.
5. Add eggs, honey and vanilla then process again until smooth and creamy.
6. Add almond meal and baking powder then processes again for the last time.
7. Stir in the poppy seeds.
8. Line a 20 cm baking tin with baking paper on the base and sides.
9. Spoon orange cake batter into the tin and smooth over with the back of a spoon.
10. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until cooked through and golden.
11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 1 hour before removing from the tin.
12. Enjoy this flourless orange cake as is or top with caramelised oranges and lush coconut or lush natural yoghurt.