Flourless Orange Cake Recipe
This flourless orange cake recipe is a delicate and moist gluten-free cake bursting with fantastic citrus flavor.
Orange Flourless Cake
Have you ever boiled oranges? I never had.
I’ve boiled their rinds and cut up orange slices for orange marmalade, but I’ve never boiled them whole.
At least, that was until I tried this gluten-free orange cake recipe.
As strange as it may seem to dump a whole orange with the rind on and everything into a pot of boiling water, just know that there’s a method to the madness.
If this recipe for flourless orange cake is any sort of proof of what boiled oranges taste like, then just know that they’re positively delightful.
Flourless Cake
One of the key parts to making a perfect flourless orange cake that has a light and delicate texture is to use almond meal.
Using almond meal, or almond flour, contributes to an incredibly tender crumb. Plus, it’s gluten-free friendly too!
The almond meal also adds a lovely almond fragrance and flavor, making every bite of this orange almond cake pure pleasure for your palate.
To ensure this cake ends up as airy and light as possible, be sure to sift the almond meal and granulated sugar before you mix them into the cake batter.
Orange Cake Recipe: Prepping Ahead
This flourless orange cake recipe requires a bit of advance planning. It’s not quite as simple and quick as something like my lemon ricotta recipe.
The reason for that is that you need to boil the oranges for this recipe for a couple of hours before you actually use them.
If you remember from my orange marmalade recipe, part of the trick to getting rid of the bitterness in oranges is to boil the rind.
It’s a trick I learned from Jacques Pepin, and while I don’t boil the entire orange for marmalade, I do for this recipe.
After the oranges have been boiled, they’re cut up into smaller chunks and tossed into a food processor, effectively puréed.
That’s why you can boil them whole and get away with it.
After that, the recipe is pretty simple to put together like most single layer cake recipes.
A combination of eggs, sugar, puréed boiled oranges, and almond meal make up this flourless orange cake. There is no oil and no butter.
How you may ask? Well, the ground almonds contain fat, which is enough to satisfy that part of the baking formula.
While I can’t call this flourless orange cake a healthy cake, per se, as it does have sugar in it, it’s at least healthier than a cake that would have used regular flour and any butter or oil, so there’s that!
Notes Before Baking:
- When making this cake, be sure to sift your almond meal and granulated sugar to get them as fine as possible. Doing this just helps guarantee the overall lightness and airiness of the cake.
- As strange as it sounds, you’re boiling the entire orange. Then, when you cut it up and add it to the food processor, you’re including all of its membrane, skin, seeds – all parts of the orange!
Orange Almond Flourless Cake
A light and delicate gluten-free orange cake made with almond meal and whole, fresh oranges.
Ingredients
- 2 medium oranges
- 6 eggs
- 265 g granulated sugar, note conversion below, sifted
- 250 g almond meal, note conversion below, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4-6 tbsp sliced almonds for sprinkling on top
- powdered sugar to dust on top, optional
- baking spray or softened butter for greasing pan
Instructions
- Place the oranges in a large pot and fill with enough water to cover the oranges. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Continue simmering for 2 hours. Then, drain the pot and let the oranges cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a small, sharp knife, carve out the stem/stalk from the oranges. Make the same kind of shallow, small carving on the opposite end of the oranges as well (the bottom of the oranges).
- Cut up the oranges (WITH the rind, seeds, membranes and all) into chunks and place in a food processor. Pulse until you've got a purée, and the only pieces of orange rind you see are the tiny specks; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs together until combined. Add in the orange purée and whisk. Add the vanilla and whisk again to mix. To the wet mixture, add the almond meal and baking powder. Mix until it's all combined well.
- Grease a 10 inch springform pan (or an equally deep pan) with baking spray (or softened butter). Pour the batter into your pan before sprinkling the top with sliced almonds. Bake the cake for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, checking on the cake at the 1 hour mark. Poke a toothpick in the center to check for readiness; it should come out with little to no crumbs.
- Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes before lifting the edges of the springform pan off the cake. Let it cool to room temperature, then dust the top with powdered sugar.
Notes
If you have a scale, please use it for this recipe! If not, please note the following conversion:
260 grams of sugar = approx. 1 1/3 cups
250 grams of almond meal = approx. 2.6 cups or a scant 2 2/3 cups
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 10 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 457Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 102mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 6gSugar: 43gProtein: 13g
I’m curious about using this recipe for an issue down cake with lovely orange slices on the “top”. Would this work?
Also wondering about any adjustments for making cupcakes instead of one large cake. Thanks!
I meant Upside-Down cake!
Hi Molly! This cake is super moist and delicate, so I’m not sure how it would fare with the weight of any fruit on top for an upside-down cake. Instead, I would recommend following a recipe like my plum tatin cake and substituting orange slices. For the orange slices, I would remove the peel from the orange with a knife so that you don’t get any of the pith (white layer) on the orange. And then I would cut the orange on it’s side in thick “wheel” slices and arrange it that way.
Another cake option with fruit on top that still has that almond meal cake flavor like this flourless orange cake recipe does is my peach almond cake. You could substitute the peach slices with the orange slices I described above.
As for cupcakes, I can’t say how they’d turn out as I’ve never tried, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you for sure. Typically, cupcakes don’t take as long as cake so I’d just check on them much sooner than you would for the entire cake. And I would guess you could probably fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way as the cake doesn’t rise too much.
Hi! I thought my cake ended up too wet. Is there a conversion on the 2 oranges to how many cups of processed orange should actually go on the cake?
Thanks!
Hi Cathy, I usually use two small to medium navel oranges. If you were to use the same, they should weigh a total of around 265 grams on the smaller side and closer to 300 grams on the more medium side.
I have made this cake 3 times and it has worked out ever time. It is a crowd pleaser!
Can you freeze this cake?
Thank you 🙏🏻
Hi Liese! Thanks so much! Because this cake is pretty “wet,” I would be careful freezing because cakes tend to get a little moist when you freeze then thaw. I would let it cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and foil, then let it thaw fully in the fridge if I were going to try freezing it.
Hi this isn’t the first recipe I’ve tried for this cake and each time I find the oranges much too bitter . I booked for 3 1/2 hrs plus I changed the water once. This time I removed the cooked skin and just used the orange meat too see if I find that helps . It looks beautiful but waiting for it cool. I also made the marmalade ,which I love, boiling the rinds three times and I still find that too bitter also. I shoulld mention I use monk fruit and swerve sweeteners .
Hi Maria! You shouldn’t have an overwhelming bitter flavor here, but if you’re finding that to be the case, it could be the sweeteners you’re using. Personally, I have never found a sugar alternative that doesn’t have an aftertaste. It could also be that your palate is particularly sensitive to the bitter notes of orange.
Can you make a lemon almond c are by boiling the lemons, fis she the seed before blending the boiled Lemmon?
I wouldn’t be able to tell you what happens with lemons, as I’ve never done that. I would assume, however, that using lemons may call for more sugar because lemons aren’t sweet the way oranges are.
Could I use blood oranges to make this cake? Thank you
Hi Mandy, blood oranges are fine, but you may want to play around with the amount of sugar you use as they tend to be slightly less sweet and more tart than regular oranges.
I boil several oranges at a time when they are in season. I then process them and freeze the required amount of orange mix for each cake in snap lock bags. It means when u make the cake you just have to remember to defrost a bag and you save a lot of time. Cake still tastes delicious.
Fabulous tip, thanks Breffni!
How come there is no salt added?
There must be a great reason.
Health reasons?
Not the right ingredients for the salt to enhance?
Hi Jill! So usually salt is added in desserts to enhance the flavors of the other ingredients. With citrus, it tends to make the citrus more tart, which is fine for something like a lemon tart, but I felt in this case that the orange flavor is pretty strong and doesn’t need that kind of effect. 🙂