Gluten-free Orange and Almond cake with Orange Scented Mascarpone
Swati Bansal Rao
Posted on February 4th, 2013
Today was some learning about the Jewish food culture. The orthodox Jewish kitchen is governed by ancient rules that are strictly adhered to. For instance, devout Jews have two kitchens and two sets of everything – sinks, plates, cooking pots etc.- to separate foods into ‘milk’ and ‘meat’, which must not be eaten together. The kosher laws are derived from the Torah, the five books written after God spoke to Moses, which sets out a blueprint for the Jewish way of life. ‘Kosher’ basically means ‘proper’ and these laws relate to what is to be eaten, how it is to prepared, what it is to be considered with and, finally, how it is to be served. Fascinating!
This flourless orange and almond cake is a classic Passover dessert drawing on the Sephardic traditions of the Jews community. It is dense, super moist and very forgiving too. AND it is gluten-free for all of us who are trying to follow a GF diet!
Great for morning tea, afternoon tea or even a dinner party when paired with mascarpone and candied orange slices or just mascarpone scented with orange zest/Cointreau. It’s perfection every time!
Serves 10-12
2 oranges
250 gm caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
6 organic eggs
250 gm almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar for dusting in the end
1 small tub of mascarpone cheese
zest of one orange
few crushed almonds for sprinkling
1. Wash the oranges and cook in boiling water for 2 hours. Drain and allow the oranges to cool before pureeing them in a food processor. They are pureed, with skin, pips and all. This can be done ahead of time.
2. Preheat the oven to 160 degree centigrade. Butter a 20 cm springform cake tin and dust it with a little caster sugar.
3. Place the eggs and 250 gm of caster sugar in a mixing bowl and beat well. Stir in the orange puree followed by the almond meal and baking powder.
4. Pour into the tin and dust the top with more caster sugar to give the cake a beautiful golden crust.
5. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, until the top is golden brown. Dust with icing sugar.
6. Mix the mascarpone cheese with the orange zest and top it over the cake to serve.Sprinkle some almonds to give some crunch. One could also add a dash of orange liqueur like Cointreau to the cheese to give some more depth.
Recipe inspired from Batia Slater’s Orange and Almond Cake for Food Safari
Happy days!!∗
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It looks delicious… I have a Jew friend who wouldn’t eat at our home coz she’s so particular about the cooking utensils!
Thanks Ishita!! It was a treat baking as well.. such an easy recipe. Also learnt a bit about the Jewish culture, so was icing on the cake:)
A reader Randi left a comment on my blog after reading my comment here. I am copy-pasting her comment, and my reply that followed her comment – so that it may reach out to her if she hops in. I like open conversations – hence thought I should put it down here coz I hate hurting anyone’s sentiments.
Randi says: “IshitaUnblogged I saw your post here: http://swatibansalrao.com/2013/02/04/gluten-free-orange-and-almond-cake-with-orange-scented-mascarpone/. You refer to people of the Jewish faith in a derogatory manner. Calling someone a “Jew” is a tone of disdain. Also you mentioned your Jewish “friend” wouldn’t eat at your house because of the utensils. Perhaps this is because they practice keeping kosher or it was Passover so the dishes are cha GED in a Jewish household. Before criticng another faith it would be helpful to learn about it.”
My Comment: “Dear Randi. I apologise if I have hurt your sensibilities. I have been brought up in a very secular family and I am born a Hindu but we’ve had friends who belong to different religion. And we celebrate different festivals. If I have written a recipe that is traditionally enjoyed by Muslims so have I written about Christmas and also Bengali festivals that I’ve grown up experiencing. I didn’t criticise Jewish faith – I have many Jewish friends and all I have said is that they wouldn’t eat at our home because of the ‘utensils’ problem. In one of my post I’ve mentioned our staunch Veg friends for whom our freezer has a separate ‘veg’ section and ‘non-veg’ section. Have I criticised them or written about Marwaris (they are Marwaris coming from Rajasthan) in a bad light? http://ishitaunblogged.com/2012/10/07/baked-gulab-jamun-rabri/
Look forward to your further reply. This blog is supposed to break all barriers, non-judgmental or non-political, non-religious. I hope I’ve been able to explain myself to you.”
Swati!! I baked the cake this evening and just had a slice! Oh good God!! Thank you so so much for bringing something new and divine to my life.
xx
Neelu, you are most welcome and thank you for trying out this wonderful recipe. Even my hubby enjoyed it a lot so I guess, this is def a keeper:))
Hello- IshitaUnblogged, “Jew” is a derogatory term. “Jewish” is ok. Your “friend” probably didn’t eat in your home because there are special kosher laws related to Passover or keeping kosher. Or it’s the fact that you called the person a “Jew” which is derogatory.
It would be appreciated if recipes were in oz, cups, farenheit and an inch sized cake pan, for those of us who are not British and have no means of recalculating. also, what is caster sugar?
Hi Nadia, I normally use the below link for temperature conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit: http://www.metric-conversions.org/temperature/celsius-to-fahrenheit.htm . Also found this online converter for cooking measurements: http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/ .Castor or caster sugar is the name of a very fine sugar in Britain, so named because the grains are small enough to fit though a sugar “caster” or sprinkler. It is sold as “superfine” sugar in the United States. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions..happy to help:) Happy Baking!
please clarify what inch size ‘tin’. thanks
Around 7.87 inch equals 20 cm to be precise. So anything between 7 to 8 should be good
made this tonight for passover. could not have been easier or more delicious!!! everyone at the table was in awe and wanted the recipe. they said this was the best passover dessert they had had! this one is a keeper for sure. thank you so much.
I am so glad Amy that it turned out good and you are right..this is def a keeper:)
Hi dear Swati, just wondered if I did not have mascarpone on the side, would that still taste ok?
Hi Rasa! yes of course it would taste nice..mascarpone is just an accompaniment really. I personally love the cake on its own without any distractions:))
Cool, making it tomorrow! Off to buy the ingredients. Thanks