Claudia Roden gave us this cake recipe in her 1968 bible A Book of Middle Eastern Food. It became a baking ‘earworm’ and I remember it being on EVERY cafe counter in the late 1980s through to the 1990s. Ubiquity bred gentle contempt.
The thing that made me fall out of love with this cake was eating some versions that were too sodden and I think because it was so very, very moist, those cafes trusted with keeping the cake mistakenly pushed the shelf life out too far. Very moist cakes need boundaries too.
When I sat next to my mountain of mixed citrus last winter and had a deep think, I thought about how I could love it again. I chose steaming the citrus over the original boiling method so the fruit is less “gluggifying” - that’s a word. And add salt! Old timey baking recipes often don’t have salt in them and it is crucial to have that seasoned spark.
MAKES 1 x 23 cm square or round cake for 10-16 pieces
TAKES MIX 90 minutes to prep (lots of hands off steaming and cooling) and mix
BAKE 30-40 minutes
COOL 60 minutes minimum
KEEPS Room temperature for up to 2 days then chill. Freeze petite portions for snacks
BAKE at 170ºC fan forced
EQUIPMENT Food processor, 23 cm square or round cake tin
500 g citrus - orange, tangelo, mandarin or a combination of any
300 g egg (from approx 6), room temperature or warmed in their shell under hot tap water
250 g blanched almond meal
225 g caster sugar
5 g baking powder (you can use gluten free types to make it fully GF. Like this one.
2 g fine sea salt
40 g flaked almond to sprinkle on top pre bake
Glaze (optiona) I used a cumquat syrup that lurks in my fridge - a leftover from some truly delicious poached cumquats gifted to me by a fellow sweet tooth Sally Michail. Alternatively, warm marmalade with a splash of water, strain and brush. A light snowdrift of icing sugar is also lovely!
Heat the oven to 170°C. Line a 23 cm square tin with cooking oil spray and paper on the base and sides. You can cross hatch two pieces of paper or cut strips and then a square to line the sides and base OR cut strips for the sides and a square of paper for the base. See HOW TO LINE A CAKE TIN
Don’t choose a smaller tin than this as the cake is best baked ‘efficiently’ due to its high liquid ratio batter. A tin with smaller dimensions will mean the outside of the cake will be over-baked before the middle has cooked.
Wash the citrus and place in a steamer bubbling away on a medium, high heat. Top up the water as needed so it doesn’t boil dry. Steam for 30 - 40 minutes then set aside to cool with the lid off - this will also help curb the moist-ness. You can express chill in the fridge or freezer and cutting them open (with a knife and fork to avoid steam burns) will help cool them faster still.
Traditionally you’d boil the oranges in a few changes of fresh water to relieve the bitterness from the orange pith (the white stuff under the peel). This water just circulates any leached out bitterness back into the orange as it sits in the liquid.
A top tip to avoid the steamer boiling dry is to pop a timer on for 15 minutes to remind you to check the water level.
Swizzle the almond meal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a wide bowl and set aside. Crack the eggs into a jug and set aside.
When the citrus has cooled, slice the pedical (hello botanists! This is where it is connected to the tree) off and discard, Chop into chunks, pick out any seeds and pulse in a food processor until the white rind/darker peel pieces are the size of pinenuts.
Lukewarm is the optimal temperature - it won’t cook the eggs or prematurely activate the baking powder pre-bake. You can do this step the day before and chill the orange pulp but gently warm/bring it to room temperature so the cake batter doesn’t have a sluggish start to baking.
If you see the fruit is under steamed and the pith is more white than translucent, you can re-steam but if this is a fractional appearance, you can still whizz.
Stream the eggs in while the processor is continuously whizzing until you have a slightly bubbly orangey slush. Scrape into the almond meal bowl. Hand-whisk all the ingredients together.
Scrape the batter into the lined tin. Strew the almonds across the top. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the cake has a mottled orange and dark brown surface. A skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean/internal temperature is 95°C.
Cool the cake in the tin and I actually like to keep it in the tin for its (short) life on the bench.
If you want to brush a little glaze on, warm the glaze and brush lightly across the top. I really don’t think a cake this moist needs a soak-in kind of syrup.
Recipe by ©Natalie Paull 2024 ©Beatrix Bakes 2024
