This flimsy and fluffy gluten-free Tunisian orange cake is drenched in citrus syrup for a aromatic, extremely delicious bake perfect with a cup of tea. The cake is delectably moist and very addictive, it makes a flawless dessert dish served with a spoon of créme fraiche or Greek yoghurt. I like to beautify the top with slices of candied orange but this is non-compulsory.
Polenta or bread crumbs?
The recipe for Tunisian orange cake demands for 50 grams of either bread crumbs or polenta, and for the last 15 years I have always baked this cake with polenta, the coarse variety, with much achievement. It gives a good yellowish hue and nice texture to the cake.
This time, nevertheless, I use up three heel ends (one seedy brown, two white) of gluten-free bread I’d taste-tested a few months ago. See how I always keep everything? In case they might be useful in the future, Who else keeps three bread heels in their freezer with this thinking?
I flew the crusts into breadcrumbs in my latest handheld food processor. This made quick work of the frozen ends to make a nice, fine breadcrumb, ideal for baking cake!
This new recipe also calls for caster sugar. I replaced this with golden caster sugar as I was trying to unfill the packets in my cupboard. I was also attempting to use up eggs, as I was anticipating another dozen gorgeous Shetland free-range eggs to come in my veg box that afternoon.
Ingredient:
Here are some important ingredients:
For Cake
- 200 grams caster sugar
- 50 grams panko breadcrumbs
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 2 oranges, only the zest of
- 1 lemon, only the zest of
- 4 large eggs
- 200 milliliter sunflower oil
For Sauce
- Juice of 1 orange
- 80g caster sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Candied orange slices (Your Preference)
Caster Sugar
Using caster sugar in place of granulated sugar in a Tunisian cake can make the cake texture fluffy and more tender.
Ground Almonds
Ground almonds are also known as almond meal are ground almonds which plays important role in this recipe.
They can be located in the baking aisles and should not be muddled with flaked almonds or almond flour, as almond flour has a finer quality.
Panko Breadcrumbs
Panko breadcrumbs work well for this recipe as their steadiness is ideal for the cake. You can normally find them in the Asian food aisle of most grocery stores.
For a gluten-free form, you can make your own breadcrumbs by mixing gluten-free bread slices in a food processor.
Spices
You will require one-star anise, two cloves and some ground cinnamon. You can alternate the ground cinnamon with a cinnamon stick.
Instruction For Making Tunisian orange cake
- Do not preheat the oven. The cake goes into an oven which is cold to assist with even rising.
- With the help of parchment paper line a 20cm/8″ springform tin.
Note: We merely line the bottom of the cake tin and that seems to be adequate. If you have a cake tin that have a tendency to stick, line it totally or use a non-stick spray of butter, Which will be great. - Now in a large bowl, add the 200g of caster sugar, ground almonds, panko breadcrumbs, baking powder, lemon zest and orange zest.
- Stir the dry ingredients collectedly. If little clumps forms because of the zest, break it up with your spatula / spoon as you merge the ingredients.
- Take a separate small bowl, beat (Whisk) together the eggs and vegetable oil by your hand.
- Combine the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together. You’ll simply need a spatula or wooden spoon, not a whisk.
- Make certain you get all the dry ingredients lurking at the bottom of the bowl too.
- Pour the cake batter into the ready cake tin.
- Now the cake tin should be placed into the cold oven and turn the oven on to 356℉ /180℃/gas mark 4.
- Bake it for nearly 45 minutes, up until a cake tester comes out unsoiled and the top of the cake is a rich golden brown. The baking time may differ slightly dependent on your oven.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin for approximately 10 minutes. To take away the cake tin’s collar, moderately run a palette knife along the sides of the cake to slacken it if needed.
Instruction For Making Syrup
- Around 10 minutes before the cake is done baking, you can start preparing the sauce.
- Add all the ingredients for the sauce to a small saucepan – lemon juice, orange juice zest, sugar and spices which we discussed earlier.
- Now the saucepan should be placed over medium heat and stir the sauce continuously to assist the sugar to melt completely. As soon as the mixture comes to a mild simmer, let it simmer for an extra 3 minutes on low heat, stirring infrequently.
- When the sauce has condensed slightly and has a syrupy constancy, take away it from the heat.
- After taking it away, collar it from the cake tin, delicately transfer the cake to a large plate. Take a toothpick or a thin sharp object and stab a few holes in the top of the cake.
- Take away the cloves and star anise from the sauce. Pour the hot syrup over the cake, making sure to cover the complete surface, as well as the edges perfectly.
- Allow the sauce to entirely absorb into the cake and for the cake to cool down before serving.
Tips
Get a flawless top
When you’ve taken the cake out of the tin, you can turn it upside down so that the bottom becomes the new top which is innovative. This will give you a faultless, smooth surface for decorating.
Adding Sauce On Perfect Time
Don’t transfer the sauce over the cake up until you have the cake on it’s serving plate. The sauce will make the cake very soft and moist, making moving it without any injury more difficult.
Zesting Easily
If you don’t like zesting, endeavor this trick: Rest your hand grasping the zester on a chopping board and move the fruit up and down over it with your second hand.
This makes zesting process faster, steadier and more reliable equated to holding the zester in the air.
Neat Orange Slices
If you got a mandolin, it’s fantastic for slicing the oranges for decoration. It’s trouble-free and gives you neat, thin slices.
Storing & Freezing
The cake can be kept in an airtight container similar to a cake tin or plastic box for up to three days.
You can for sure make this delicious cake a day in advance. It stays fresh, moist and tastes just as good the very next day.
You can also freeze This Tunisian orange cake, but we don’t endorse it. The high moisture content in the sponge may outcome in a soggy texture when defrosted. It’s great enjoyed fresh!
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