One of my very good friends in college, Alice, used to make this Orange & Almond Cake for us once in a while when we’d have a ‘floor supper’. I asked her recently for the recipe because I thought it might be a nice ‘healthy cake’ to have for work snacks and breakfasts… Then I saw that the recipe used 1.5 cups of sugar! Wow!
I decided to try making the cake exactly the same as the prescribed recipe but just ditched the sugar altogether. Turned out totally fine! I mean, it’s by no means a ‘sweet’ cake, but it’s sweet enough (especially when I’m eating it as a regular snack/breakfast), and you could just add a couple of Tbsp of honey to the batter or just drizzle some on top when you serve yourself a slice.
This recipe is VERY simple to make – just 4 ingredients and free from added sugar (unless you add some optional sweetener)!
If you like the Orange & Almond Cake recipe and the idea of cake for breakfast 😀 and guilt-free healthy snacks, try my Balsamic Raspberry & Apple cake – also gluten and dairy free but definitely delicious – or my Red Velvet Brownies !
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian, refined sugar free.
Serves ~8-12
Time 2 hr 15mins
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Almond Meal
- 3 large oranges
- 6 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Optional Sweetener – Honey/Maple Syrup/Rapadura Sugar etc.
Method (for both versions):
- Place 2 of the oranges (whole oranges, peel and all!) in a saucepan, just cover with water and boil for about an hour (covered). The water should reduce down over the hour.
- In the meantime, grease a cake tin or line with baking paper and pre-heat your oven to 180degC (with about 10 mins to go).
- Once boiled, roughly chop the oranges and place in a blender/food processor with the eggs, almond meal, baking powder and sweetener if using.
- Blend until smooth.
- ALTERNATIVELY, for a lighter/fluffier cake – separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Add only the egg yolks to the blender with the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Transfer to bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they’ve tripled in volume before folding into the batter until just combined.
- Pour into cake tin, decorate the top with segments of cut oranges (from the 3rd orange).
- Bake for about an hour until firm.
- Allow Orange & Almond Cake to cool before slicing.