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Easy Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake
Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake is a take on Claudia Roden’s, famous Orange and almond cake. This cake is incredibly moist, and is delicious served with ice cream, cream or a little marmalade thinned with orange juice as a sauce.

Roden first introduced this interesting cake in her 1968 cookbook, ‘Book of Middle Eastern Food’. The cake was originally created for passover, hence the use of almond meal (flour) instead of wheat flour.

This recipe has been adapted by the fabulously talented Valli Little from Delicious magazine in Australia. Sadly, Valli passed away in 2017 but this esteemed writer, journalist, recipe editor and prolific cookbook author has left us all with thousands of dependable recipes.

Valli has kept Claudia’s recipe but added cocoa powder, and we added Dutch processed cocoa powder for the depth of colour.

At a Glance This Is What You Need To Make Easy Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

Pantry

eggs
caster sugar
baking powder
bi carb soda (baking soda)

Shopping List

almond meal (almond flour)
baking powder
dutch processed cocoa powder

Oranges

We used navel oranges for this cake. Navels are a deliciously sweet orange with less tang than a Valencia orange. You could substitute mandarins when making this flourless chocolate orange cake for an equally delicious but different cake.

Boiling The Oranges

The cake has an unusual step of boiling the oranges first till they are soft. Using oranges that weigh around 200g (7 ounces) each will take a good hour or so. Keep an eye on the water level as you’ll have to top it up as they boil.

Once boiled the oranges are very soft and tender. You simply throw the oranges in a food processor and whizz away.

Cocoa Powder: Regular Versus Dutch

Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

All Cocoa powders are not made equal.

– Natural cocoa powder has a different ph level ( acidity ) to Dutch processed cocoa, so depending on what you are cooking will determine what type of cocoa powder to use. Eg: if baking and the baked goods need to rise then it is important to follow which cocoa powder is called for as they both react differently with different raising agents for example baking powder v baking soda. On the other hand if you are just making an icing or baked goods that do not need to rise then feel free to use either variety. Just be aware that both varieties taste different from each other.

Food Processor

all ingredients added to a food processor to make Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake
once the oranges have boiled everything can be prepared in the food pro

You can use a food processor to make the cake, or a stick blender will do the same job. If you don’t have either you can hand chop the orange segments as they are incredibly soft after boiling and the skin is very tender.

Either way the cake is ready to bake in minutes after boiling the oranges.

Freezing This Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

This moist cake will freeze like a dream. You can freeze it whole or cut into slices so you’ll have a delicious dessert or lunch box addition.

Once the cake is completely cooled wrap the cake well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to three months. Allow about 30-40 minutes for the cake slices to thaw.

Watch How To Make our Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake

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Scroll down below for the Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake recipe

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What’s your favourite chocolate cake recipe? We would love to hear from you in the comments below when you make this delicious Flourless Chocolate and Orange cake.

Flourless Chocolate and Orange Cake
Yield: 12 serves

Chocolate and Orange Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

This cake is one very easy cake to make. The time spent boiling the oranges is the longest part of an otherwise quick to put together cake.

It can be made in a food processor and is incredibly moist, chocolaty and infused, and scented with orange. It's perfect served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Ingredients

  • 2 whole oranges weighing around 200g (7 oz) each, (we used Australian navel oranges)
  • 6 large eggs
  • 250g (9 ounces) caster sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups almond meal (almond flour)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder, plus extra to dust

Instructions

  • place whole oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water
  • bring to the boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to a rolling simmer (you can place a small side plate on top of the oranges to keep them submerged)
  • simmer for an hour or so or until very soft (top up the water level as necessary)
  • remove oranges and cut into quarters removing any pips and allow to cool slightly
  • preheat oven to 180c (355f) on bake, not fan
  • grease the base and sides, and line the base of a 22cm (8 1/2 inch) springform pan with baking paper
  • turn your food processor on and feed the orange quarters into the bowl of the food processor
  • add eggs, then sugar, almond meal (flour), cocoa, baking powder and baking soda and blend, scrape down the sides of the bowl and blend till smooth
  • pour batter into your pan, and then tap the pan 2 or 3 times on the bench ( to settle any air pockets)
  • bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
  • cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the outside of the pan
  • release cake and allow to cool completely on a cake rack
  • dust with cocoa powder
  • serve and enjoy!

Try not to spill your cocoa powder over your foot whilst dusting the finished cake!

Notes

  • cake keeps well for 5 days refrigerated
  • cake can be frozen

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 198Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 93mgSodium 77mgCarbohydrates 11gFiber 4gSugar 3gProtein 9g

Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.

Cooper

So as the weather has started to cool, Cooper has taken up residence in front of the fire. Happy to lay for hours snuggled up. What a life!

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4 comments

  1. Hi lovely ladies, your recipes are fabulous, thanks very much for sharing. I have been making the flourless orange cake for a few years and usually get 12 large muffins from one batch. Adjust the cooking, then once cooled, wrap and freeze like the slices. So easy to add to a lunch box, picnic etc. For a wow factor, julienne some orange strips, remove all pith and poach in a small amount of sugar syrup. Cool and decorate the top. Oooh, I must try your chocolate Recipe and put the strips on top of the choc icing!!?

    1. Recipe Winners says:

      Hi Marilyn, thanks so much for sharing. That’s a great idea to make the cake into individual serves and freeze them. The candied orange zest just adds a lovely flavour and look, and we think it would look great on the chocolate brownies too. Regards, Jo and Jen

  2. Love this flavor combination. Wanted to check the amount of orange together good results. It’s 14 oz or 400g total, right? My oranges may be smaller than 7 oz.

    Thanks! I’ve made a non-chocolate version with clementines (small mandarins) and it’s fabulous. This may be even better!

    1. Recipe Winners says:

      Hi Marlene, yes the weights are correct. We used two medium sized oranges weighing around 200g or 7 oz each for the recipe. Weigh your oranges to get 14oz. You may have to boil 3 oranges if your oranges are quite small, none the less your looking for 14 oz. Love to hear how you like it. Regards, Jo and Jen

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