Tunisian almond & orange cake with thanks to Carrie Langford
(Comments in brackets are my adaptations to the original recipe)
Cake
45g slightly stale breadcrumbs (I used granary bread made into crumbs) (To make this cake gluten free, as I did for a very good friend, I have used Rice Crumbs or Gluten free bread)
200g caster sugar
100g ground almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (Gluten free if you like)
200ml sunflower or vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
finely grated zest 1/2 lemon (I used a whole lemon)
The ingredients
Syrup
Juice of 1 orange
juice of 1/2 lemon (I used the whole lemon)
85g sugar
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
(Recently I have added two Star Anise to the syrup and that makes it even more delicious!))
How to do it
- Mix breadcrumbs with sugar, almonds & baking powder.
Breadcrumbs, sugar, ground almonds and baking powder ready for mixing
- Add oil & eggs & beat well.
Oil added
Beaten eggs added
- Stir in zest.
All mixed with zests ready to be beaten in
- Pour into 8″ greased tin. (I don’t have an 8″ tin in my enormous collection of tins! Here I’m trying a new product from Lakeland, parchment lined foil, which I am told you just mould and it will keep its shape and the cake will not stick!)
The mixture in the moulded parchment lined foil
- Put into a cold oven & set heat to 190C, middle shelf. (Lower the heat to 180C if a fan oven.)
- Bake for 40 – 50 mins until cake is richly golden inserted skewer comes out clean. (Actually I find about 30-40 mins is enough.)
Baked until golden brown but, as you can see, the new product didn’t work quite as planned!
- Cool for 5 mins in tin then turn out. (I left the cake in the tin this time and added the juice here)
- While cake bakes make syrup. Bring all ingredients gently to boil in pan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 3 mins. (Don’t be tempted to simmer for longer as it goes all gloopy and so doesn’t soak properly into the cake.)
Juices, sugar, cinnamon stick and 2 cloves for the syrup
- Pierce holes in cake while still warm, & pour sieved syrup over, until all used up. (Now that I have made this a few times, I no longer bother sieving the syrup. We like the little juice sacs.)
Sieving the syrup
Beautiful syrup in Kath’s jug
- If in a hurry, you can leave out syrup but it won’t be as gooey. (Basically, do make this the day before and don’t be in a hurry! It needs the syrup to be the best it can be!
- Syrup soaked cake tastes best a day after it is made & will keep in fridge for 3 – 4 days.
Tunisian Almond and Orange Cake served with Caramelised Orange and Cornish Cream
- To caramelise the oranges, peel and slice them.
Orange peeled with a sharp knife
- Make the caramel by heating sugar in a hot pan until it turns dark Take care, it can catch very quickly.
Caster sugar in a heavy pan, just starting to brown
Caramel almost done
- When done, add the orange slices and leave to cool, turning once. (They will spit. Again, take care.)
Caramelised orange slices
Gluten free Tunisian orange and almond cake, as made for our World Food Night
Do let me know how it works for you if you try it! 🙂