Sarah knows how much I dig clementines. Every year, when the end of November rolls around the clementines fresh from Spain or Morocco are at grocery stores and produce stands, I go nuts and eat a kilo or more at a sitting. I love how sweet and tart they are. I love that I can peel them without any utensils. I love that there usually aren’t any seeds to bother with.
So when she spied this recipe, she knew it would be something I’d have to try. So we did.
We didn’t deviate from that recipe at all, except to use a glass 9×9 square baking dish. Ours didn’t come nearly as pretty as hers, but the flavor is surprisingly citrusy and it goes outstandingly with a cup of hot chocolate…and you know I’m not talking about the likes of Swiss Miss. More on the hot chocolate later, when we’ve perfected the recipe and eliminated the need for a weekly pilgrimage to Angelina in Paris.
Other perks: it’s got neither dairy nor gluten products in it, so great for those friends and colleagues who always have to fall back to their carob rice cakes when everyone else is pigging out on traditional desserts.
Here’s the Clementine Cake recipe, for posterity, with small cosmetic adjustments by yours truly:
- 4 – 5 clementine (about 375g total weight)
- 6 eggs
- 225g (just over a cup) golden caster sugar
- 250g ground almonds
- 1 generous teaspoon of baking powder
Put the clementines in a pan and cover with cold water, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a lively simmer. Leave the clementines bobbing away for 2 hours.
Drain and cool the clementines. Once cool enough to handle, cut the clementines in half and remove the pips and then mash everything, skin, pith, fruit into a pulp.
Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and butter and line a 21cm (8″) cake tin.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Add the sugar, ground almonds and baking powder and stir everthing together with a metal spoon.
Fold the clementine pulp carefully but firmly into the other ingredients using a metal spoon.
Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin and bake for about 50 mins to 1 hour, when a skewer comes out clean. You may need to cover the cake with baking parchment or foil for the last 20mins if looks like the top is browning too quickly.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. When he cake is cool, take it out of the tin.
The cake is without a doubt better after 1 or 2 days, according to her. We’ll see if there’s any left to judge.