Flourless Orange Poppy Seed Cake
Posted by Natalie in Uncategorized
I don’t know what’s going on this year with those small mandarin oranges I love so much. They continue to disappointed me. I’m not talking about your garden-variety mandarin either. You know those mini ones that are the size of large grapes? I look forward to those every year and for some reason it’s looking like this is going to be a really bad season for them not to mention every other mandarin orange variety I have purchased since November in Vancouver. It seems that no matter what variety I’ve come home with each week they are all sour and lacking in some way. I’m quite disappointed and have almost given up hope.
After a month of failed attempts, I recently decided to go in an entirely different direction with my orange consumption: navel oranges. While I don’t dislike these oranges, I was always a bit indifferent to them. They seemed too involved as a snack for work, considering I’m not the type to go and slice them up in the kitchen, not to mention that peeling a navel orange is tedious at best. But this weekend I found myself in my grocery store with a choice: give the navel orange another chance or become an apple eater. I went with the orange.
Does anyone else find eating an apple, by just biting into it, to be somewhat vulgar? I do eat and enjoy apples, I just don’t really like myself when I do. But that’s a story for another day…
Anyway, after coming home with a slew of oranges, I remembered a recipe I tried from Chocolate and Zucchini last year, which was an absolutely wonderful surprise. One of those recipes that turns out better than you think and instantly becomes a favorite. This recipe is not really an orange recipe so much as a poppy seed one but one that is so wonderfully highlighted by the the subtle flavors of orange that I knew I had to make it again. It was a breakfast item for us last holiday season, perfect with a cup of tea in the morning as it has that sort of coffee cake feel to it, but is still quite light in texture. Oh and did I metnion, it’s gluten free?
Flour-less Orange Poppy Seed Cake - Recipe adapted from Chocolate and Zuchinni
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup organic smooth almond butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
zest of one whole orange
4 eggs, separated
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 inch round baking pan, I used 3 4 inch round fancy snowflake pans, just remember to adjust the cooking time if you do use a different sized pan.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter, almond butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar and orange zest. Add in the egg yolks and mix until fluffy.
Combine the ground almonds and poppy seeds in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
In a medium bowl beat the egg whites and salt together until they’re fluffy and then add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until the egg whites look glossy.
Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the butter mixture along with 1/3 of the pooppy seed almond flour mixture and gently fold in. Repeat until all of the ingredients are incorporated, making sure not to over mix or you cake will be flat.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the hot oven for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for another 10 minutes before unmolding. Let cake cool completely before glazing.
For the glaze whisk together the powdered sugar and a little bit of the orange juice at a time until you get a smooth but no too thin consistency. Pour the glaze on the cake and allow it to set before serving.
