Olive Oil and Orange Cake | Exquisitely Gluten-Free |

What is not to love with this easy to make cake whose wonderful dense dampness is provided by ground almonds. I have been making Olive Oil and Orange Cake for years. Its zingy flavour and beautiful texture make it a very versatile dish. I have served for afternoon tea and even as a dessert after dinner. You can even add chocolate powder to the recipe to add another dimension to the taste.

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Olive Oil and Orange Cake

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By Marc Spendlove-Kruger – Serves: 10

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 45 - 60 minutes

You can get fantastic results by using oils in cakes

Ingredients

• 1 large unwaxed orange, washed
• 1 large unwaxed lemon, washed
• 100ml/4fl oz fruity extra virgin olive oil
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 175g/6oz ground almonds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Icing sugar to dust
• Summer berries to serve

Instructions

1

Base-line a 20cm/8in loose-bottomed cake tin with non-stick baking parchment and lightly oil. Put the washed orange and lemon in a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes until soft.

2

Remove from water and leave to cool.

3

Cut the orange in half, discard the pips and put the skin and pulp in a food processor. Cut the lemon in half and discard the pips and pulp. Whizz the skin and the orange to a purée. Set aside.

4

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4. Beat the olive oil, sugar and eggs together until fluffy. Stir in the almonds and baking powder. Add the puréed fruit and stir until thoroughly mixed. Spoon into the tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until golden and risen. Cool. Dust with the sugar. Serve with berries.

Gluten Free baking has become a necessity in our household. By and large, my way of tackling gluten-free baking is simply to exclude flour altogether. And the cakes that result make no apologies for the omission – they stand proudly in their own right and have more than earned their places in my cooking repertoire, as they should in yours. Just be sure to check that your baking powder is gluten-free too.

Serving Olive Oil and Orange Cake

You can serve this wonderful cake simply by just dusting with icing sugar. Adding some thinly sliced orange when the cake is cooling adds a nice touch as in the picture. For a dinner party, I like to go mad and add soft summer fruits and some shavings of rich dark chocolate and lashings of mascarpone. Mixed Berries with Kirsch goes really well with dish as guests can help themselves to as much as they want.

Wine Matching

Call me old fashioned but I do like a nice white port with this dish. Check out the selection at Naked Wines for a nice surprise.