ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE

READY IN

1 hour 20 minutes

COOKING TIME

1 hour

PREP TIME

20 minutes

SERVES

8-12 people

ingredients

2 medium oranges

2 tablespoons orange liqueur

2 tablespoons olive oil

IN STOCK

300g caster sugar

300g almonds, preferably blanched Marcona

IN STOCK

2 teaspoons baking powder

6 large eggs

300g butter, well softened, plus a little extra for greasing

icing sugar and/or slivers of toasted almonds

"This recipe from Ana Barrera’s Madrid restaurant is in a class of its own: moist, flour-free and citrussy. Ana recommends serving the tart with vanilla ice cream and a glass of Moscatel wine or PX sherry."

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Grease and line a 25cm round cake tin with a removable base.
Grate the zest of 1 orange into a large mixing bowl. Peel the orange, cut into slices, discarding any pips, and add to the zest. Add the juice of the second orange to the bowl along with the orange liqueur, olive oil and 4 tablespoons of the sugar and leave to one side.
In a food processor, grind the almonds with the remaining sugar and the baking powder until very fine in texture, almost like flour.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they are lighter in colour and very creamy.
Transfer the orange mixture to a blender and blend until very smooth, then blend in the butter a piece at a time and return the mixture to the mixing bowl. Whisk in the beaten eggs until smooth, then gently but thoroughly stir in the ground almond mixture.
Spoon this batter into the prepared cake tin, then put into the preheated oven for about 1 hour, until the cake is set and the sides are pulling away from the tin. It should be a rich, deep golden colour.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin before lifting out.
Dust with icing sugar and/or slivers of toasted almonds.