Orange and almond cake

I've realised that autumn is definitely here on my blog - look at all those warm tones! All I need now is something pumpkin-based. Don't worry, I'm on it, I may just have to grab a few more pumpkin spice lattes first. You know, for inspiration ;) When you're in a place like Dubai, Starbucks may be well the best (and tastiest) way to track the seasons.

I adore citrus cakes. They tend to be made with tons of eggs and butter, their comforting richness lifted by the sharp zip of lemons, limes or oranges. One of the lovely editors at HQ, Victoria, is actually famous for her lemon drizzle cake. When she walks in with that loaf tin, you know it's going to be a good day.

I wanted to make something similar, but eggless and dairy-free. If you haven't noticed it already, I've created a new 'Allergy-friendly' category just for all you other special people out there. I've been developing this recipe for a while and you know what, I think I've cracked it. This is an amazingly soft and juicy orange cake. The batter combines spelt flour, ground almonds, olive oil and oranges, which are ingredients that all work in perfect harmony. Once this bakes up into a lovely, fluffy cake, I drench it in a zesty orange syrup and scatter over a handful of lightly toasted slivered almonds. Talk about nom! If you can't have nuts, do not worry. Just swap out the ground almonds for more flour and skip the slivered almonds, for an equally delicious orange drizzle cake. Anyone can have this cake and everyone will want a slice.

This is another one bowl recipe without any weird or hard-to-find ingredients. What I'm actually saying is, you can probably make this right now. The only thing, and this is important, is you need to give the cake at least a few hours before you dig in. I know, I know, I'm crazy. But in those few hours, all that lovely orange syrup you've poured over the cake will have settled in and all those wonderful flavours will come together. If it's too much temptation sitting out on the counter, hide it in the fridge! It tastes delicious cold. Trust me, it's worth the wait.

Makes one 8" cake.

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 cups flour (plain or spelt)*
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ground almonds
Zest of 1 1/2 oranges*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup orange juice*
1/4 cup milk of choice (I used soya), or more orange juice
2 tablespoons yoghurt (I used Provamel soya yoghurt)
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1-2 handful of sliced/slivered almonds

METHOD

Preheat oven to 175°C. Lightly grease one 20cm or 8" round tin and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

To toast the sliced almonds, spread an even layer on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at the same temperature for 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a cool plate and leave to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, ground almonds, baking soda and salt. Add the olive oil, orange zest, vinegar, yoghurt and orange juice. Combine with a spatula until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is still hot, poke about 20 holes into the cake with a fork or toothpick. Pour over 3/4 of the orange syrup, scatter over the slivered almonds and drizzle over the rest of the syrup. Leave to cool.

Notes: I haven't tried using gluten-free flour in this recipe but I suspect it may work. If you try it, let me know how you get on! I used two Valencia oranges (about 200g each) which are tart rather than sweet. If your oranges are sweeter, you may want to reduce the amount of sugar to 180g. 3/4 cup orange juice took about 1 1/2 of the oranges, and I reserved the leftover orange half for the syrup.

Hi.

Oct 11 Orange and almond cake