Flourless orange and macadamia cake

We're moving into the cold season here in Australia! 

Reaping the benefits of food gardening in winter is incredibly rewarding! Many low FODMAP fruits, vegetables and herbs abound in the colder months like citrus, persimmons, carrots, celeriac, fennel, kale and parsley. 

In my garden I’ve got an orange tree dripping with ripe fruit so here is a simple recipe for a delicious recipe for orange and macadamia cake or mini cakes. The cake is very moist and keeps well but you will need a food processor to make it.

Flourless Orange and Macadamia Cake

Recipe makes 1 large cake (26cm or 10”) or ~12 mini muffin cakes (total weight 1050g or 2lb 5 oz)

Ingredients

• 2 (~600g or 1lb 5oz) Large navel oranges
• 6 large eggs
• 250g or 9oz macadamia nuts (ground in a food processor)
• 250g or 9oz sugar
• 1heaped tsp (8g or 0.28oz) baking powder
• ~1 tablespoon gluten free flour
• Canola oil spray

Method

1. Boil whole oranges for 2 hours in plenty of water (top up with boiling water if required). Alternatively pressure cook for 30 minutes
2. Drain oranges, cool and cut in half around the orange’s ‘equator’
3. Remove pips and purée to a fine pulp in the food processor 
4. Add eggs to the oranges in the food processor and blitz for 1 minute
5. In a large bowl add all the other ingredients and fold together with a spoon or spatula mixing well
6. Spray a spring form cake tin (26cm or 10”) with canola oil then dust with gluten free flour (shake off excess flour)

OR

1. Grease a muffin tray and line with patty-pans
2. Bake in a preheated oven at 180^oC for:
3. ~25 minutes for mini cakes
4. ~60 minutes for a large cake
5. Test with a skewer (it should be clean when removed from the cake)
6. Rest until cool in cake tin before removing

Tips

·Store your macadamias in the freezer as it stops the nuts going rancid.

·When grinding the macadamias in a food processor be careful not to overgrind them as they will turn into a paste. You need to grind them to the consistency of slightly course flour.

·This cake freezes very well in an airtight bag or container.

·Remove the stalk end from the top of the oranges before boiling