Flourless Orange Cake with Honeyed Raspberry Coulis

Ultimate gluten free – A Flourless Orange Cake made with whole oranges and no fat. It’s rich with almonds, incredibly moist and utterly delicious drizzled with Honeyed Raspberry Coulis.

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A Flourless Orange Cake – naturally gluten free and dairy free

This Flourless Orange Cake is amazing. Not only is it naturally gluten free, but it contains no butter or oil (so is naturally dairy free), is incredibly moist and it tastes FANTASTIC!

So, what the heck is it made of? Well… fundamentally, it is made with almonds, egg, sugar and (of course) oranges… WHOLE oranges… Yes that’s right… ALL of the orange, including the skin! Yet it isn’t bitter. In fact, it remains for me, one of the best cakes ever…

Originally a Passover Cake

To be fair, this is not a new recipe. Indeed, it has quite probably been around for centuries.

It is in fact, a classic Passover cake, which draws on the Sephardic Jewish traditions of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Morocco. Made popular by the esteemed Jewish cook and author Claudia Roden however, the Flourless Orange Cake has become iconic in its own right.

The Jewish relationship with Oranges

The ancient Jews had a special relationship with oranges and citrus. Indeed, you can probably thank them for the oranges and lemons that you buy today. For the Jewish community has been actively cultivating citrus for thousands of years. By the 13^th Century, they had cultivated what we now recognise as oranges and lemons… Shortly after this, both they and the Arabs began trading them across Europe.

With citrus being so central to Jewish Sephardic agriculture, it is unsurprising that oranges also became an important ingredient in their cooking. Whether preserved, poached in syrup, paired with meats and spices, or used in baked goods, they have survived the Jewish culinary tradition into modern day cuisine.

This Flourless Orange Cake may indeed have changed very little over the centuries.

A recipe for Flourless Orange Cake

There are many recipes for Flourless Orange Cake on the internet. All are roughly equivalent to each other, with only slight variations in ratios of ingredients and tweaks on whether oranges, clementines or other citrus fruit are used.

The recipe shared here is fractionally adapted from Claudia Roden’s Orange and Almond Cake from “A New Book of Middle Eastern Food”. I used one less egg (mainly because the eggs I use are large) and added a Honeyed Raspberry Coulis both for colour and flavour contrast. The result is a perfectly balanced, perfectly textured bake which is elevated to something incredibly beautiful and worthy of the most decadent of tables (as a Passover cake or not).

The perfect cake for Coeliacs

Many of you will have already tried an orange cake recipe like this one. But for those who haven’t, I beg you to make it. It is THE bake which renders flour and fat irrelevant in cake… And makes you wonder why you throw away orange skins. It is indeed heaven on a plate for Coeliacs and dairy-avoider’s.

Apart from the addition of sugar (which can be forgiven in dessert), it is also amazingly healthy. The high almond content may not be cheap, but it makes for an unexpectedly nutritious bake which may even have some added health benefits, including lowering your cholesterol levels. As cake goes, this one may be pretty good for you…

Which Oranges to use in Flourless Orange Cake

Flourless Orange Cake is not fussy when it comes to variety. So, you can use any type of orange to make it… And even vary with an equivalent ‘weight’ of clementines or tangerines.

The cake made here used Navel oranges. They were super sweet and beautifully juicy, giving it a deep, sun-sweet oranginess that was full of summer warmth.  Set against the rich moistness of the ground almonds, the cake has a pleasantly-dense nutty texture and flavour which gives it more substance. Yet it is not over-sweet. The slight bitterness that comes from the pulped orange skin is offset by the sweetness of sugar. But the added sugar too is well-balanced, in complementary harmony with the natural fruit sugar, so that orange still remains the star of the show.

Decorating Flourless Orange Cake

Flourless Orange Cake needs no lavish frostings. In fact, I would go so far as to say avoid anything creamy and fat-based at all costs. Frostings and buttercreams will only smother the vibrance of colour, texture and flavour and the pure simplicity of citrus that is its core.

On the other hand, straight out of the oven, this is not the prettiest of cakes… Dusted with a layer of icing sugar, it looks okay… But I wanted something more eye-catching… A Flourless Orange Cake that was distinct and beautiful, but in keeping with its unadulterated naturalness…

So, while you can eat the cake fresh baked and ‘naked’, the addition of a simple Honeyed Raspberry Coulis not only enhances the visual attraction, but also harmoniously unites with the flavours of the sponge.

The result? A blissful cake which will not only turn heads, but will remain memorable for a very long time.

Ready to make Flourless Orange Cake?

Are YOU ready to make a flourless orange cake? This really is one you can’t miss… But when you make it, please let me know you have found the recipe here and let me know what you think. Leave a comment, rate the recipe and tag me on social media (links at the top). While you’re there, why not give me a follow? Or subscribe to the newsletter (subscription box below). That way you won’t miss any updates.

Orange Season

Oranges are at their best in the Autumn when they are just harvested and super-juicy. At Gluten Free Alchemist we love using them… If you love them too, I can recommend these recipes :

For everything else, head over to our Gluten Free Recipe Index.

Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

Flourless Orange Cake with Honeyed Raspberry Coulis

Ultimate gluten free… a Flourless Orange Cake made with whole oranges and no fat… It’s rich with almonds, incredibly moist and utterly delicious drizzled with Honeyed Raspberry Coulis.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr

boiling the oranges2 hrs

Total Time3 hrs 15 mins

Course: Cake, Dessert, Sweet Treats

Cuisine: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Jewish, Passover

Keyword: almonds, coulis, orange, raspberry, sponge

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: 394.2kcal

Author: Cake by Claudia Roden ~ Coulis by Gluten Free Alchemist (Kate Dowse)

Key equipment

• Kitchen scales
• large saucepan
• sharp knife
• blender
• Oven
• large mixing bowl
• wooden/silicone spoon
• 9 inch/23 cm round spring-form cake tin
• Small saucepan
• sieve

Ingredients

Flourless Orange Cake

• 2 oranges any, but Navel work well.
• 6 eggs or I used 5 UK large
• 250 g golden caster sugar
• 250 g ground almonds
• 1 tsp GF baking powder
• extra sugar for sprinkling

Honeyed Raspberry Coulis

• 120 g fresh raspberries
• 50 g runny honey
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• raspberries for decoration optional

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Flourless Orange Cake

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
• Wash the oranges and place whole into the boiling water.
• Boil for 2 hours until soft and then drain and set aside to cool.
• Once the oranges have cooled to room temperature, remove the ‘stalky’ bit from the end and cut into quarters.
• Remove any pips and then liquidise the orange (including the skin) in a food processor so that you have a smooth, even purée.
• Preheat the oven to 190 C (170 Fan)/375 F/Gas 5.
• Lightly oil the inside of a 23 cm/9 inch springform round baking tin and then base-line with baking paper.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the caster sugar until well combined and airy.
• Add the baking powder and ground almonds and mix well.
• Add and mix in the orange puree.
• Pour the batter into the cake tin and smooth the top. Lightly sprinkle a little extra caster sugar across the top.
• Bake for about 1 hour until the cake is set, the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out 'just' clean.
• Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool completely in the tin, before transferring directly from the tin to a serving plate.

Raspberry Coulis

• Place the raspberries and honey into a small saucepan and heat over a low to medium setting.
• Bring to a simmer, crushing the raspberries against the wall of the pan and allow to cook, stirring for a few minutes until the raspberries are nicely pulped.
• Remove from the heat and force the coulis through a fine sieve (using the back of a spoon) to remove the pips and fibre so that you have a smooth sauce.
• Add a tablespoon of maple syrup and stir through.
• Drizzle over the cake and serve.

Notes

* Note: nutritional information is an estimate & may vary according to portion size/ingredient variants.

Nutrition

Calories: 394.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 50.9g | Protein: 11.3g | Fat: 18.7g | Saturated Fat: 2.1g | Cholesterol: 122.8mg | Sodium: 48.4mg | Potassium: 196.2mg | Fiber: 5.1g | Sugar: 42.8g | Vitamin A: 251.9IU | Vitamin C: 21.4mg | Calcium: 130.8mg | Iron: 2mg

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Flourless Orange Cake shared with:

• Cook Blog Share with Lost In Food
• Fiesta Friday #354 with Angie and Spades, Spatulas and Spoons
• Blogger’s Pit Stop #247
• Full Plate Thursday #510 with Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
• What’s For Dinner #288 with The Lazy Gastronome
• Over The Moon #252 with Eclectic Red Barn and Marilyn’s Treats

Previously shared with – Love Cake with Ness at Jibber Jabber.