Orange and Almond Cake

Star Q

i.  And They Stand To Lose.....

ii.  The Choice Is In Your Hands

Last Saturday, during my weekly visit to the Saturday morning market, I chanced upon this new fruit seller who was selling oranges!  Not that there was no other people selling oranges, but this guy was literally giving his oranges away.  Navel oranges which usually went for RM5 for 10, was sold at the same price but for 25 oranges!

It didn't really matter that I didn't see any navel on the oranges (Navel oranges are supposed to have navels!) as long as they were sweet.  And after turning ten of them into fresh orange juice, I decided to try this recipe from BBC Books, which used one whole orange; peel and all!

• 1 medium orange
• 6 oz butter, softened
• 6 oz light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 6 oz self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 oz ground almonds

Preheat oven to 190 C.  Grease and line the base and side of a 9-inch round deep cake tin.  Cut the whole orange - skin, pith, flesh, the lot - into pieces.  Remove any pips, then blitz the orange pieces in a food processor to a finely chopped puree.

Tip the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, bicarbonate of soda and almonds into the processor and blitz for 10 seconds until smooth.  Pour into prepared tin and smooth top.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until well-risen and brown.  Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning on to a wire rack.

I served the cake with 100 ml of whipped cream whisked until soft peaks with 1 tbs icing sugar.  I dolloped a spoonful of cream on the side and top with pomegranate seeds.