Clementine Cake

I had not baked anything in a while. As in, baked sweet delicious little things.. I have baked asparagus, brussel sprouts and other food for weekday dinners. But dessert had been somehow outside of the radar. But it was March, weather was getting better and it was one of my friend’s birthday. Perfect reason to bake with some seasonal sunshine! I had got California cuties home and it got me thinking. I had stumbled upon this inviting recipe some time back and I was happy to have an opportunity to try it out with a few tweaks..

Fresh and juicy clementine is a perfect bite sized recipe for mood enhancement. Cake with this goodness is only better. Interestingly, this recipe asks for whole clementines, so there are chunks of the peel that will burst flavors into your mouth in a surprising fashion.

This isn’t a typical cake though, I must warn you. And it gets better when it’s a day old. Brilliant with tea, coffee or some such warm beverage. Excellent for a breakfast! And best of all (at least from my perspective) is that, this isn’t sugar overload. Nope, not even close. It’s just the right amount of sweetness, where after one portion of cake, you will want to eat another.

This is quite the sunshine cake I call it. Flavors and fragrance all remind you of spring and summer. Just what people need for getting out of the cold!

Your Map to Clementine Cake

Author: Nigella Lawson’s recipe (link above) with some tweaks

Serves: yields two cakes

Total time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

1. 5 clementines
2. 6 eggs
3. 1 cup sugar
4. 1 cup ground almonds
5. 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6. 1 teaspoon baking powder
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Place whole clementines in water enough to cover. Bring water to boil and cook covered at low heat for 2 hrs.
2. Grind almonds in your food processor and keep all ingredients measured and ready.
3. When clementines are cooked, drain and cut each in half. Finely chop each half into small pieces, skin, pith everything.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Line both 9 inch cake pans with buttered and floured parchment paper (original recipe recommends using spring foam pan).
5. Beat the eggs. Add sugar, vanilla extract and baking powder. Mix well and add almonds and flour. Mix together with handheld mixer or whisk or large spatula. Add chopped clementines and stir everything together.
6. Add the mixture into cake pans, splitting half into each. Bake for 25 minutes or till skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool cake completely, garnish with powdered sugar and sliced clementine. Enjoy!

Notes and Tips

1. I used some flour instead of all almonds, therefore this version of recipe isn’t gluten-free. However, substitute flour with ground almonds and you have a complete gluten-free cake.
2. If you only want to make one cake and intend to use flour, use only 4 eggs instead of 6. 
3. This cake tastes better the next day.. But it is delicious straight out of oven too.