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
Since oranges come in many sizes the amount of puree could differ substantially. Did you measure the quantity for the cake? I may have missed seeing that if you mentioned it. I tried something similar once before and thankfully saw the measurement for the puree. My girlfriend did not and her cake was a wet mess. Your thoughts?
Is there any way that I can use honey for this recipe in place of the sugar?
Hi Cheryl! I can’t tell you what the result would be with honey as I’ve never made that swap for this cake, but I would be a cautious because its a pretty “wet” recipe, which makes using a liquid sweetener a little tricky. But if you want to make that substitution, then I definitely recommend reading all about that kind of swap in King Arthur’s guide here. Hope that helps! 🙂
I made this cake for my mum and it was actually sooooo good!!! A lot of the recipes that I try don’t always turn out as I expect, but this exceeded my expectations. The cake was so moist and the smell is to die for. 100% recommend this recipe
Also a quick note as the water kept evaporating I did keep having to refill the pot but that was not really an issue:)
Hi Eesha! I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake! Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a comment with your feedback! <3
Can I freeze it? I love it and have made it before
Hi Mary, I’ve never frozen this cake before but if you try it, please let me know how it goes! 🙂
Great recipe! I really love the intense orange flavor of this cake! I used a pressure cooker (instapot) for the orange. I tossed it in and set it for 30 minutes and walked away! I also cut the sugar in half since my family doesn’t like their cake too sweet.
Fantastic, Patty! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
Can I boil the oranges the day before or do they need to be warm?
Hi Stephanie, yes you can boil them ahead of time! 🙂
What could I do with the leftover water in which the oranges boiled?
Thanks!
Actually another reader commented that she saved the water to use for in an orange simple syrup recipe. I personally haven’t tried that (I usually just discard the water), but it could be tasty and useful! 🙂
I have some large oranges, and some that are small. Is there a measurable amount of purée that goes into this? I look forward to trying it!
Hi Barbara! I would probably use 1 large orange and 1 small orange. I don’t have an exact measurement of purée, but what I can advise is that I usually use medium navel oranges, and 2 of them would typically add up to about 265-285 grams. 🙂
I have Cara Cara oranges, which are typically smaller than navels. two of them measured 315 g. I see from the comments I am not the only one questioning the amount of puree. Please could you help us with this?
Hi Helga! I never measure out the purée and it always turns out fine if you just stick to medium oranges, erring on the side of smaller than larger. So if your Cara Cara oranges are on the smaller side, you’re good! Technically, the average “medium” orange is supposed to weigh around 140 grams, but the ones I pick up from the farmers market and use tend to be closer to 160 grams each, and like I said, the recipe still turns out great! 🙂
Could this be made with lemons, maybe using less than oranges?
Hi Esther, I’ve never done this so I can’t say what it would turn out like. What I anticipate though is that it would need more sugar in this recipe as oranges are sweet on their own but lemons aren’t. I would advise that if you’re going to try it, try it with Meyer lemons. 🙂