Almond-Coconut Orange Cake

Moist orange cake. Gluten- and Dairy-free

Category
Dessert
Cuisine
French
Serves
8-12
Time
2 hours
From
Le Bal Cafe

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Adapted from Bistronomy

Beating pureed, boiled oranges into the batter makes this flourless cake taste like it's been soaked in citrus syrup. Alice Quillet and Anna Trattles of Le Bal Café first learned the recipe from Rose Bakery owner Rose Carrarini but have since made it their own, subbing shredded coconut for half the almond meal and flavoring the whipped cream with orange curd to match the cake.

This is quite good, and great if you need something gluten- and dairy-free (see Notes on cream)

Ingredients

Cake

  • 3 blood oranges or navel oranges, scrubbed
  • Unsalted butter, softened, for brushing
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2¾ cups (550 g) sugar
  • 2¾ cups (275 g) almond meal
  • 3 cups (275 g) unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 teaspoon (3 g) baking powder
  • ½ cup (50 g) sliced almonds
  • ¼ cup (75 g) apricot jam (for glaze)
  • 1 teaspoon water

Orange Cream

  • 2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) leftover orange puree (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Instructions

  1. Put the oranges in a large microwave safe bowl and fill with water up to where the oranges are half covered. Microwave 2-3 minutes at a time, rotating the oranges each time. Te oranges should be soft after about 6-9 minutes. You may need to do this in batches
  2. Drain. Quarter the oranges.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
  4. Brush springform pan with butter (or spray with oil).
  5. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with a parchment paper round and brush with butter/oil.
  6. In a blender or food processor, puree the orange quarters until smooth.
  7. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar to mix.
  8. Beat in 1½ cups (340 g) of the orange puree.
  9. Fold in the almond meal, coconut, and baking powder.
  10. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top using an offset spatula.
  11. Sprinkle the sliced almonds evenly over the top.
  12. Transfer to the oven and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  13. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whip the (coconut) cream until it holds a medium peak.
  14. Gently fold in the blood orange curd. I actually prefer to add vanilla instead
  15. Cover and refrigerate.
  16. Transfer the springform pan to a rack and let the cake cool slightly. In a small bowl, warm the jam with the water in a microwave oven until melted.
  17. Brush the jam over the top of the warm cake.
  18. Let the cake cool to room temperature in the pan.
  19. Run a knife around the side of the cake; remove the side of the springform pan.
  20. Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper. Be careful, this might need 2 people
  21. Transfer the cake onto a serving plate.
  22. Cut the cake into wedges and serve with the citrus whipped cream.

Notes

  • The cake can be prepared with other citrus fruit, such as lemons or tangerines. Or use only almond meal (use weight, not volume) instead of half almond meal and half coconut.
  • To make this dairy-free, use an oil spray instead of butter to grease the pan, and use coconut cream (not coconut milk) instead of regular cream
  • The cake can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.