Syrupy Orange Cake

Sometimes you've just got to indulge.  Last weekend was such a time.  It was a wonderful day and boy, did we indulge!  We met at Gracebrook, a little boutique winery out at Whitfield where they grow their own everything from vegetables and herbs to goat and pigs.

We were seated under a shady tree with friends and family overlooking row upon row of green grapevines and in the distant the bluish mountains rose in a panoramic view that would do justice to any visual magazine.

We ate from large grazing platters full of cold meats, soft cheeses, pickled onions, salami, pickled capers, lettuce, nuts; taste tested the plentiful and superb wines; and then after a tremendous rendition of Happy Birthday indulged in syrupy orange cake with cream. Whilst the adults bopped '60' balloons around, talked, laughed, and drank the fabulous wines, the children explored the avenues of grapevines, the roses, the animals that sometimes sport tiny piglets, horses, cows, and chicken, turkey and other fowl.

It was great. A day to remember.

And a cake to remember!   It was a syrupy orange cake both gluten and dairy free. Yum ! As promised on www.facebook.com/TheTatongNaturopath - here is the recipe.


Here's what you will need:

2 large oranges (or 3 small).  I used valencia oranges.
6 large eggs
250 gm ground almonds.
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
250 gm raw sugar
Filtered water
Icing sugar (gluten free).


Here's what you do:

Put the oranges in a saucepan and cover them with the water.
Bring these to the boil and then simmer for 2 hours.  The longer you boil them, the less bitter the peel

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Grease a 25cm spring form pan
Line the base with baking paper and grease it in the tin with coconut oil.

Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale.
Combine the almonds and the bicarbonate of soda.

Cut the cooled oranges into quarters, remove the core and any seeds.
Pulverise in a food processor.

Now mix everything together ie the eggs/sugar, the pulverised oranges, the almonds/bicarb until well combined.
Pour this into the greased tin.
Bake for an hour or until the cake is shrinking from the side or a skewer comes out clean.  Cool in the tin.

I decorated mine with organic dark chocolate (that did not mention milk in the ingredients) that I poured into heart chocolate moulds and after removing them lodged them on the cake with icing sugar mixed with coconut cream; and sprinkled everything with icing sugar.

If you can resist the temptation and you can leave it for a couple of days without touching it, a lovely syrup will develop under the cake making it moist but oh so tasty.  Here's to indulgent eating - when the occasion calls for it.

Until next time, here's to your very good health.

Linda.