Nigella?s clementine cake

As I mentioned in my apple cake post a few days back, I have been wanting to make Nigella’s clementine cake and this weekend I rounded up the stray clementines in the fridge and did just that. This unusual gluten-free cake contains whole clementines (skins, pith, fruit and all) which help to lubricate the cake so there is no need for butter or oil. It really is one of the simplest cakes to make – apart from boiling the fruit for a couple of hours, everything can be prepared with just a blitz in a blender or food pro. The resulting cake was super moist and smelled divine while baking. Don’t expect it to have the texture of a flour-based cake though, it comes out wetter and denser, but pleasantly so.

Nigella’s Clementine Cake

(adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe)

5 seedless clementines* (about 365g/0.8 lb)

250g (0.55 lb) ground almonds

1 heaped tsp baking powder

225g (0.5 lb) sugar

6 large eggs

Place the clementines in a pan with enough cold water to cover and bring to the boil. Cover pan with a lid, then lower the heat to medium and leave to cook for 2 hours. Check intermittently and top up with boiling water if needed.

Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF).

Drain the clementines and leave in the colander to cool completely. Give the fruit a light squeeze to remove excess water then pop into a blender and blitz to form a smooth purée (you can mash it by hand if you prefer small clementine bits in your cake).

Throw all other ingredients into the blender, give it a quick stir then blitz again until smooth (again, you can whisk by hand then fold in the fruit pulp for a rougher textured cake).

Pour the cake batter into a buttered and lined 21cm (8.3″) loose-based or springform cake tin and bake for an hour. After 40 minutes, check the cake and cover with foil if the top is browning too much.

When an inserted skewer comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool on a rack. Once cooled completely, flip the cake out onto a plate to serve. The cake can keep for several days and actually tastes better a day old.

* if using clementines containing seeds, cut open the fruit after boiling and remove the seeds by hand before blitzing.