Had one of those weekends where I acted like a 12-year-old at a slumber party. Snickers, goldfish, pizza, sour patch kids – binging on all the snacks and candy I “wasn’t allowed” to have at home because IT’S A PARTY PEOPLE.
Except now I’m an adult. And that means snacks, candy, and booze.
And now I know what “not allowed” actually feels like as an adult because everything hurts. Yea it’s Tuesday and I’m still hungover that’s what I’m trying to say.
I see you looking at me.
I used to stress out over weekends where I was “bad” (ugh I hate that language) and promise I’d eat salads forever and never eat dessert again.
Glad that phase of my life is over.
Like, let’s just get back to life that includes vegetables AND dessert. Dessert still needs to happen. And I’ve got the perfect one today.
I found this clementine cake on Smitten Kitchen but it’s originally from Nigella Lawson. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to make this cake.
IT USES WHOLE CLEMENTINES.
It’s not clementine season so the ones I bought were a little more tart than usual. I thought for sure this cake would be meh and I’d go on to live my life like this never happened.
But everything’s changed. I’ve changed.
Now I wanna know what else I’ve been peeling that I don’t need to be peeling. Could I do this with apples?? Lemons?? BANANAS?! Too far?
This clementine cake actually turned out to be quite wonderful.
– I’d consider this cake medium in density but it’s still light given there’s only a handful of ingredients.
– The sweetness is balanced out by the tartness so you can eat a slice of this and not feel like you have to brush your teeth immediately.
– The texture is dreamy, and really how often can you say that about gluten-free cakes?
Light, semi-sweet, dreamy. That about covers it.
I picture this clementine cake being served at a tea party. You don’t host tea parties? How uncivilized.
Clementine Cake
Start making 2 hours and 45 minutes before you want clementine cake
375 grams of clementines*
6 eggs
1 cup sugar**
2 ⅓ cups ground almonds (aka almond flour)
1 tsp baking powder***
Powder sugar for dusting the cake
*I made some changes to the original recipe. The original states 3-5 clementines but mine were super tiny, I used more like 8. I suggest weighing the fruit and if you don’t have a scale, weigh them at the grocery store. But know you need slightly less than a pound so get on your bathroom scale with the fruit if you have to.
*The original suggests a little more sugar than mine but the cake was plenty sweet as is. Do you.
***I used a heaping tsp like the original suggests and it turned out to be too much (the middle of the cake rose then sank, a tell-tale sign).
Start by boiling a pot of cold water with the clementines. You’ll leave these boiling for 2 hours. I used a lid on mine so the water didn’t evaporate too fast but you still may need to add a little water throughout the keep the clementines covered.
Once cooled, chop or blend the clementines into very small pieces. You’re using the whole fruit here but remove the seeds if you can.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease and line an 8 inch springform pan (honestly, I think I used a 9 or 10 inch and it turned out perfectly).
Beat the eggs, add the sugar, baking powder and almond flour. Mix in the blended clementines.
Pour batter into your pan and bake for 30-50 minutes. Why such a variation? It depends on how big your pan is (the bigger the pan, the thinner the cake) and how hot your oven actually is. I checked at the 30-minute mark and it it was almost done. My toothpick came out clean at the 40-minute mark.
If the Great British Bake-off has taught me anything – check your bakes earlier than you think.
Another note, you may need to cover your cake with foil at the 30-minute mark so it doesn’t over-brown.
Once fully baked, you’ll remove the cake and let it cool on a rack. Once cool dust some powdered sugar on top and marvel at your beautiful creation. Suggest eating with tea, coffee or champagne because you deserve it.
Danielle
