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. 

Orange Marscapone Tray Cake.....

                                                                                                                     by the Konstant Kraver                                                                 

I  opened up my fridge and found a tub of Marscapone which needed to be used, that stuff is a little too pricey to let it just go past the used by date unused and unappreciated. So I scoured the internet for possible uses and came across this sort of tray cake, well I call it more a tray cake. The original recipe was for blondies, but the texture is more cake like, and moist.It was so easy to make , I literally used one bowl and had it all ready for baking in its little tray in 10 minutes.

The result was a moist cake just bursting with flavours of oranges, the dark chocolate on top was perfect in cutting through the sweetness without being to overpowering, and the nuts they just added a lovely crunch.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
8 ounces of mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons of orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons of orange zest
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup of all-purpose flour

50 gr melted dark chocolate 

handful of roasted chopped walnuts

Method
  

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour an 8X8 pan. Whisk together the melted butter and sugar in a bowl.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.

Add the orange juice, zest, and mascarpone cheese and mix thoroughly.
  

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, mix it all together.
  

Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Melt the chocolate and drizzle on the cake and sprinkle the chopped roasted walnuts

Cut into squares and serve.