Orange Cake
Yum. Gluten Free and Dairy Free Orange Cake. There's something special about oranges. Such a simple fruit yet, bursting with flavor and possibility, they remind me of winter, specifically Christmas.
A while back I told ~M, one of my favorite readers, that I would post my version of Claudia Roden's
Orange Cake
- 2 oranges
- 4 eggs
- ¾ cup agave nectar
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Wash the oranges and boil them whole (peel and all) for 1 ½ hours, or until soft
- Place whole oranges (peel and all) in a food processor
and blend until smooth
- Process in eggs, agave, almond flour, salt and baking soda until well blended
- Pour batter into a greased 9-Inch round cake pan
- Bake at 375° for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean
- Cool in the pan for 2 hours
- Serve
Serves 6-8
This cake was also popularized by Nigella Lawson, though her version is made with clementines. I think it would be fun to make this with lemons, though imagine some adjustments would need to be made if experimenting with this more intensely sour citrus fruit.
Whether served at Thanksgiving, Channukah or Christmas, this cake ends a holiday meal with flare. Enjoy!
PS. head on over to A Gluten-Free Day where Emilia rounds up more fruit desserts for her "Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free" monthly gluten-free blog event.
More cakes and desserts you might enjoy:
Don't forget Pesach! :) I made it for Pesach last April with meyer lemons and used 1.25 cups sugar instead of the 1 cup + 2T sugar for oranges. You could probably even sweeten it less with meyer lemons (as opposed to regular lemons). I've also made it with satsumas. I think lime, lemon-lime, or even grapefruit could be excellent, too! I love the smell of the citrus simmering! By the way, this seems to be a very "forgiving" recipe since I used relatively course almond meal (with the skins on) and it worked beautifully and tasted great, albeit rich!
Thanks so much for posting this!
I make this same (almost) cake, using 1 2/3 c. almond flour. Also I use three eggs, but mix the egg yolks and sugar first, then add the fruit puree and almond flour, and then the stiffly beaten egg whites. I make it frequently using two or three lemons. I don't make any other changes, but it is tart!
I am SO going to make this tomorrow morning!! YUM!!
SO delightful-looking!!
Oooohhh.. My boys love orange.
When do you peel the orange? Or does the whole
orange, peel and all, go into the blender?
Just making sure... since you're cooking the oranges whole, I assume you put the whole orange (unpeeled) into the food processor??
Thanks.
This looks so wonderful and simple! I am going to try it this weekend. I am dreaming of a chocolate drizzle on top.... yum...
This sounds great & the picture looks irresistable! One question, though, do you blend the oranges with peel & pith? Thank you for all the wonderful recipes!
Hi Elana-
First I want to say I made your chocolate chip cookies(the ones with the grapeseed oil) the other day and they were FABULOUS! Thank you!
Question: In this recipe did you peel the oranges?
Hi there! I've just found your site and I can't wait to try *everything*. My step-mother is on a gluten-free diet, I'm diabetic, and we're both very much into healing through food.
Before I dive in to this one I wanted to make sure:
when you say boil and process the oranges "whole" you mean peel and everything?
Thanks!
Miranda
Sheer bliss! We all adore oranges or anything citrus-related. This recipe many times simplified reminds me of Sicilian almond cake sans marzipan.
Mmmm, I'm trying it this weekend....Thank you so much for sharing.
Mariella
P.S. Love your photography!
Hello,
I was excited to find your beautiful website which is very similar to the way I need to eat (minus so much sugar). I made your fig newton recipe, without the sencond sweetener, and was dismayed to find how oily the cookie "dough" was. Have you tried it with less oil? I did use your recommended brand of almond flour.
Magma
When I make this recipe, I food process the entire citrus (skin, pith, inside) minus the seeds/pips.
Wow Elana,
This sounds simply yummy. I love that you used almond flour and it intrigues me that it doens't need other GF flour combinations to make it work. so simple! Plus, no xanthan gum. wow. This is such a healthy and yummy looking cake for the holiday season. thank you so much. You have sold me on almond and coconut flours - gonna order some soon.
thanks,
sarah
This cake looks so moist, perhaps some fresh cranberries and toasted walnuts? A drizzle of icing would be perfection.
the flavor of this cake is great. but the outside burned a bit t 375 for 45 minutes. to prevent this, would i turn the oven down and bake longer? thank you.
As soon as I saw this, I immediately thought of Nigella's recipe which I have always pondered, but never tried. Yours looks easier. I have two oranges that I bought to make wassail for my support group's open house tomorrow (that recipe is from Stephanie's A Year of Crockpotting blog, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/), but I am very tempted to make this recipe this evening and buy more oranges tomorrow morning. ;-) Not sure if I have enough almond flour though. :-( Ordering that is on my "to do" list. If not, I will make this VERY soon. Thanks!
I've made at least half of the recipes on this site and only use Oliovita delicate and mild olive oil for baking rather than the grapeseed oil and love it. The oil is so light and basically has no taste.
~M -Thanks for your comment and for inspiring me to post this recipe. I am looking forward to trying it with other citrus!
Pat -Your lemon version sounds delicious.
Chrissy -Hope you liked it as much as we did :-)
Veggiegirl -Thanks!
Ruth -Peel and all; thanks for pointing out that the instructions weren't clear enough, I edited that to be more straightforward.
Sue -Peel and all :-)
Robin -I like the chocolate drizzling idea.
Laurinda -Yup, peel and all; you are welcome!
Cate -You are welcome, and no, don't peel the oranges.
Miranda -Yes the whole thing; glad you found us here :-)
Mariella -You are welcome; thanks for your comment.
Magma -Removing/substituting even one ingredient in a recipe will change the entire recipe and you may need to make significant adjustments when doing so --as you are basically experimenting and will achieve varied (and not always good) results. In this case, I would just recommend rolling the dough in a bit more almond flour to make it drier. This is generally the trick for oily dough (no matter what type of flour you are using).
~M -Thanks.
Sarah -Thanks for your comment. Have fun baking sans the xanthum.
Hayley -That sounds delicious!
melissa -Thanks for your comment. I would first get an oven thermometer to see if your oven is baking correctly at the temperature it is set to. If it is, then I would remove the cake at 35-40 minutes and reduce the baking time, rather than turning down the heat. Also, you could try to bake it on a lower oven rack than you did the first time...Hope this helps and let me know how it goes.
Shirley -Thanks for another great comment. Enjoy the cake!
Terri I like the idea of using a mild olive oil in place of the grapeseed. Thanks for sharing your substitution tip.
I finally found agave nectar in a health food store, but could someone please tell me how much ml 1 cup of agave nectar exactly is?
And does anyone know how much grams are in 1 cup of almond flour, I think it is around 100 grams per cup. It would be greatly appreciated if i could get the precise numbers ;)
I would like to try this recipe with another fruit puree---passionfruit.
How much does the two pureed oranges measure out, so that I could make an equivalent substitution?
Looks fantastic! Can't wait to make it :) Thanks for all your recipes. I love that they are wholesome, flavorful & satisfying. I'm always looking forward to browsing through all of them, both old and new! I'm grateful to find other people who eat similarly & are as passionate about food as I am.
fran -I take it you are not baking in the U.S. You can go to this website for conversions; I found it by googling "convert ml to cups." For the exact weights of specific ingredients I would weigh them on a scale and then use the aforementioned chart to convert the recipes, though if you don't have a cup to measure out the ingredients, then this wouldn't work so it might not be a helpful suggestion. You could always post this question in my forums, there are lots of helpful folks over there and many from Europe.
MamaBear -Thanks for your lovely comment; I also enjoy connecting with people passionate about food.
I just made this cake, and my house smells wonderful. When I boiled the oranges, I threw in half a dozen whole cloves. When everything was done boiling, I tossed the cloves in the food processor too - not sure if they'll make a difference in the cake since I probably boiled all the flavor out of them, but I couldn't help it. It's just such a lovely combination of flavors and scents. I can't wait to try the cake! I'm taking this and another non-GF cake to work tomorrow for my birthday - let's see which one goes faster! :) Thanks, Elana!
Someone wrote that they loved your pumpkin apple soup recipe. Could you post or send it to my e-mail. I'd love to serve it at our thanksgiving meal.
Thanks for your website and fabulous recipes!
Kim -I bet that smelled amazing, though sounds as if it might taste a little too strong --did it work?
Chris -I haven't posted a pumpkin apple soup recipe, though wish I had one, it sounds divine.
Elana - Thank you so very much for this yum recipe! Our whole house smells like lovely oranges - I added whole cloves and a cinnamon stick to the boiling water to really take advantage of the citrus fragrance :)
SherryQ,
Thanks for your comment and hope it tasted as good as it smelled.
Elana
I tried making this on Thanksgiving and I almost had it, except that when I tried to transfer the cake from the pan to the cooling rack it broke in half:( I was really disappointed, but I want to try it again, even just for the smell of warm citrus. What can you recommend for me so that this doesn't happen again. In the old days I would have "floured" my pan, but that's not a possibility anymore. I'd really appreciate the input. Thanks!
carolyn,
Thanks for your comment. I changed the instructions to read "cool the cake in the pan" after you left it. I think this will do the trick. Let me know how it goes.
Elana
Just a note to Carolyn, Elana gave you a solution for this cake :-), but I just wanted to mention that you can still flour your pans even if GF. After you grease them, you just pour a little of your GF flour into the pan and tilt it and turn so the flour will go over the greased area. Then dump out the excess. (It shouldn't be much left to dump out, if any.)
Shirley,
Thanks for the great tip. You can also grease the pan and then flour it with almond flour, that also works quite well.
Elana
Thanks Elana. One last thing, to grease the pan or to not grease the pan? That is the question.
Duh, I just read you and Shirley last posts. Thanks for the tip. I'll try it again. The smell of warm citrus was amazing!
carolyn,
Good luck and let us know how it goes this time.
Elana
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I decided it would also make beautiful carrot spice muffins - so I went with your original recipe and added cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg alone with a few grated carrots and a couple of handfuls of raisins. You may need to increase the almond flour by 1/2 cup. They were fabulous and very moist.
Next up - banana cranberry oat muffins using this as the basis and certified GF oats. Thankyou!
Dawn,
That sounds amazing!
Elana
I modified the Orange Cake recipe yesterday to make a Lemon Poppyseed Cake. I used 6 small lemons in place of the oranges. Everything else I kept the same, except that I added 20 drops of stevia and 1T poppyseeds. It turned out well, very moist and tasty. Not too tart, not too sweet and very filling. Thanks for the inspiration!
Kristin
Kristin,
That sounds amazing!!!! I will definitely be trying it.
Thanks,
Elana
Hi Elana,
I'm starting to audition Pesach recipes and bought some Meyer lemons (on sale!) to make a version of this cake. I weighed out the Meyer Lemons to be 1 lb because Nigella's version calls for 1 lb of citrus. Would you say that the 2 oranges you used are equal, more, or less than 1 lb? I hope you are enjoying the navel oranges over there as much as we are over here! Thanks!
Thanks so much, as always!
~M
~M,
Hmmmmm. My guess would be that 2 oranges would weigh in at more than a pound, not sure exactly how much more though. Maybe go for 1.25 pounds? I have been meaning to make this cake with lemons (of any and all sort) and bet it will be amazing with the Meyers.
Let me know how it goes :-)
Elana
Elana - have you tried the new Starbucks Gluten Free Valencia Orange Cake? It's a copycat of your recipe. in a muffin form with sliced almonds and an orange syrup on top. All in an individual wrapper. Truly fabulous! They should re-name it Elana's Gluten Free Valencia Orange Cake! So nice to have a gluten free alternative at Starbucks.
Hi just for comments sake: I tried the orange almond cake using my own home made blanched almond flour and it didn't hold together quite as well :( I blanched EVERY almond myself. Oh well. But still yummy mush like goo mhh
I have been looking for a recipe like this since starbucks came out with their cake. I just bought the last seasons worth of valencias from the farmers market sat and am super excited to make this cake. Maybe tonight...
As soon as I found this recipe last night, I dashed into my kitchen and made this cake. I didn't have blanched almond flour, so I grinded my own almonds (not blanched, however). I didn't grind the almonds fine enough but even so the cake was DELICIOUS! Next time I will splurge on blanched almond meal. Thanks for such a delicious treat!! Perfect orange flavor.
Thanks for your comments! This recipe won't work if you blanch the almonds yourself, unless you let them dry out for a couple of days --otherwise you will get as Carin did a "mush like goo." When switching ingredients, unfortunately, unpredictable results usually occur. Hope this helps :-)
Elana -I am a doctor who specializes in gastrointestinal health, and kids are becoming a prevalant component of my practice. I am currently putting together a cookbook for my gfcf kids and their parents (emphasizing lunch at school ideas). I don't have time to put together original recipes, but I like to use recipes I find on the internet and then give credit to the creator of the recipe. Working parents with ADD and autistic kids don't have time to peruse the internet, yet, they desperately need a variety of suggestions with recipes to be able to feed their kids in the healthy and restricted diets. I would love to be able to use some of your recipes for this book. Each recipe will be giving you credit, with your web site. Is it ok with you?
PS I was looking for ideas for my breakfast and found this wonderful recipe - that is how I happened to be on this page with my question.
I just recently found your site and I LOVE IT. I am kind of dubious about agave nectar - it is recently getting some bad press - acts like corn syrup! Any comments?
Thanks so very much
Dear Dr. Cynthia, what you are doing sounds fantastic. I will contact you to discuss this question :-)
Dr.Cynthia,
I have many allergies besides the gluten. I cannot use corn, but am doing well with agave. Sometimes I add a little pure maple syrup, too, for flavoring.
I would love to have your book when you are finished.
This cake is so pretty. I hope you will participate in June's Go ahead honey, it's gluten-free event. I'm hosting it. Check it out http://simplygluten-free.blogspot.com/2009/05/go-ahead-honey-its-gluten-free-june.html
Elana,
Thank you for participating in Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten Free! I just wanted to set the record straight and let you know that although the wonderful Emilia of Gluten Free Day is hosting this month, it is in fact a monthly event with many hosts - next month is hosted by Carol at Simply Gluten Free.
If you, or any of your readers would like to host a month just pop over to my blog and drop me a comment, they don't even have to have a gluten free blog, just be prepared to try out something that is gluten free.
x x x
I love recipes that are gluten free by nature, and almond meal cakes are a great example. The orange flavour must be beautifully intense with whole oranges included. You've taken a lovely picture too!
Thanks everyone for more lovely comments!
Hi Elana!
I have been wanting to make this for so long, and after I saw yours I decided to dig in. I referenced your recipe as well as two cookbooks that I used. Thanks for turning me onto Claudia Roden's books. I love the history of food and culture.
Amazing! The first gf cake I've made that doesn't taste gf. Mine was done cooking at about 35 min and only about half of it cooled in the pan for for the full 2 hours:) So glad I found your site Elana
Mine turned out SO GROSS. I went wrong somewhere, like maybe my navel oranges were too large, but I still feel like boiling the oranges turned their fresh appeal into something flabby and a little acrid.
Does anyone know the purpose for boiling whole oranges? I can't get my head around it and this recipe's been a success for so many of you posters. I'm jealous.
This cake has now become my family's favorite! I have Insulin Resistance and can't have carbs at all, except nuts & beans, so this is perfect. I can't have agave but the natural sugars in the oranges don't seem to bother me. I used Splenda and to combat that "sugarless" feel on the palate, I added the juice of 1/2 lemon, rind from 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp vanilla. No one could tell it was "sugar-free".
Absolutely delicious!
This cake is wonderful, dense, fulfilling. I adapted this and Lawson's recipe and made it with 8 clementines. Fantastic. I post about healthy living at: http://www.joanspear.comn
I love your website and have made many of your recipes. The orange cake sounded good so I followed your recipe, but the idea of boiling the oranges didn't sit well, so I tried it again. I zested the oranges, and used all the rest except for some of the pith. I just blended the raw oranges and zest in my Vitamix and then added the other ingredients. Much better, fresher tasting, not as bitter. Same consistency too. Like an orange cheese cake, almost.
How can I figure out the amount of carbs in this recipe?
This looks great but I am scared to make gluten free cakes now. I use xylitol instead of agave nectar and every time I make gluten free cakes, there is always this green goo at the bottom of the cake. Am I using too much oil?
Elana,
This cake is absolutely breathtaking I am soo pleased with the results in fact it was so good I turned right around and made a second one before the oven was cool haahha...Love it thank you so much....My 14 yr old and I changed our diet about 3 months ago (he lost 26 lbs and I lost 36 lbs and still counting) We feel so much better not only because of the weight loss, but because we are no longer putting junk in our bodies....Your website (although I do use others) is my main resource for cooking and baking. Cindy from Kansas
Tip for this recipe, make sure your using oranges with thin peels, otherwise the cake will turn out very bitter.
Hi,
My husband has Type I diabetes. These recipes look like they would be great for him, but I was wondering, is there any way to get the nutritional information, especially the amount of carbs per serving, since that is how he determines how much insulin he gives himself?
Thank you,
Jacqueline
Dear Jacqueline,
Thanks for stopping by :-)
Please see my FAQ's for links to sites that help you calculate nutritional information.
Have a lovely day,
Elana
I just made this cake, and it was a huge hit! I will be making it again today for a friend's birthday. One thing I did differently was to add two dried vanilla beans to the batter when processing the orange and agave. It added beautiful vanilla specks, and an awesome orange/vanilla flavor. Love it! Thanks for this recipe!
This was delicious! Made for guests and hubby loved too. However, we think it is best the next day cold. Thanks for the recipe Elana!
Just made this for our Passover Seder (I am newly GF), and it turned out looking and tasting WONDERFUL! I didn't have time to look into any extras for it - glaze or anything else - but I definitely will be making this again, and not just for Passover. Thanks for this recipe!!
Hey Elana-
i'm planning on making this orange cake for my mom's birthday-
do you have any thoughts or suggestions for an icing or frosting that would work with this cake? in an effort to make it more "birthday-ish"-
it's awesome on it's own, btw!!
any advice is gratefully appreciated-
david from chicago
Actually I was thinking of an orange glaze. Using some of the orange puree that was made (use 1 or 2 tablespoons) and adding conf. sugar and just using it sparingly on cake.
I made this for a friends birthday last weekend and it was sooooo good! As it was a special treat I topped it with a frosting of mascarpone, whipping cream, orange juice, and confectioners sugar (not healthy but it was oh so good on the cake). Served with sliced strawberries over it and it was very pretty.
Elana your website has made gluten-free baking fun and delicious, thank you very much!
I made this for a brunch this past Father's Day Sunday. My niece has Celiac disease and others in the family are following a gf lifestyle. It was very moist and compared to a riccotta style cheesecake. Not sure if it was supposed to result in that format. It took about an hour and half to bake and still seemed to be so moist I was not sure it was done but took it out any way.
It really turned out great. I followed the recipe exactly as stated.
I will make this again. It is very refreshing and perfect for brunch.
thanks for a great website....
Anise.
Add a small amount (1/4 - 1/2 tsp) of anise for a nice counter balance flavor. It will be hard for folks to pinpoint the flavor but it brings a bit of an earthiness.
-Amy
I made some modifications to this cake - I found the original recipe too moist.
1 orange - boiled for 45 mins
3/4 coconut sap as sweetener (powder form, like sugar only better!)
2 eggs
bake in 8x8 square pan
still delish, but less moist
I’m gonna keep this recipe in mind! Sounds amazing!
In a jet lagged stupor, I made a double recipe of Orange Cake for Thanksgiving...but with a few modifications.
I had 5 juice oranges so I used them all. I used a combination of 1 cup Splenda (to reduce the carbs) and 2 squirts of agave. I measured a little more salt than double...caught myself before doubling the doubled recipe.
And here's the Big Booboo...I measured out 32 oz of Honeyville almond flour (double the doubled recipe)! I thought the batter was thicker than it should be, but proceeded anyway.
It baked in about the same time as the original recipe but it didn't fall in the middle like it usually does.
Best of all, it was terrific! The taste (glad I used that extra orange) and texture were just fine. It was not as moist and more cake-like.
Being diabetic, I love this cake and am happy to have stumbled onto a modification that gives me a choice of textures.
Thanks for the recipe!
I've made this cake a couple fo times, with oranges and with other citrus, and it is always fabulous! I have to share that I just ran into big bags of organic oranges (I will not go near non-organic citrus) on an amazing clearance rack at my local supermarket and am doing cartwheels of joy!! Guess I'm baking lots of orange cake this weekend - maybe muffins and mini-loaf cakes too for Christmas presents!!
Also, I'm going to boil most of them then freeze the puree in portions so can just thaw out and use as needed - yayyyyyyy!!!!
Hi Elana,
I love your site! I've had success with a few of your cupcake recipes and the coconut frosting was a huge hit! I'm going to try your orange cake recipe for a family party this weekend. I would like to try and use a bundt pan-- I was wondering what you thought of that idea, do you think I would be able to get it out of the pan smoothly after the cooling?
Thanks!
Hi everyone. I must admit that I have never left a comment regarding recipes before. Not for a lack of word, but for a lack of time. I have type 1 diabetes and Hoshimoto's thyroiditis so my M.D. told me to completely eliminate gluten permanently. I have purchased 25lbs of almond flour and now bake everything on Elana's website :) My children are happy, my husband is happy and now I can eat yummy sweets with them.
This orange cake is unbelievably moist, decadent and easy to make. It tastes so moist that my husband said that it was not done when he was cutting it with the knife. I had to hide it from him after 3 pieces LOL. I wonder what the proportions would be for pumpkin, carrot or squash instead of oranges. There would be less liquid than you would get from oranges. I will try to make it with other veggies and fruits and post a comment.
Thank you so much Elana for your tasty and easy recipes.