A light and fluffy gluten free orange and almond cake soaked in citrus syrup.
I had a proper day off yesterday.
I woke early with no imminent deadlines to worry about, it wasn’t raining, and I could fill my day with what I pleased.
It was bliss!
I spent most of the day pottering about in the kitchen. The sun was supposed to be shining brightly later on that day so I made some homemade lemonade for the kids, freezing some of it into fruit packed ice lollies. This left me with a load of lemon pulp that I didn’t want to throw away.
I fancied baking a cake with that lemon pulp. I began preparing the Tunisian Orange Cake recipe which has been written in my little notebook for nigh on 15 years. It was given to me by the lovely Bo Simmons who used to own The Olive Tree cafe in the Toll Clock Shopping Centre in Lerwick, Shetland. This cake is still served in that cafe.
The recipe calls for 50 grams of either bread crumbs or polenta, and I have always made this cake with polenta – the coarse variety, with much success. It gives a nice yellow hue and pleasant texture to the cake.
This time, however, I used up three heel ends (one seedy brown, two white) of some gluten-free bread I’d been sent to try out a few months ago. See how I never throw anything away? Who else keeps three bread heels in their freezer just in case they might come in handy in the future?
I whizzed them up into breadcrumbs remarkably easily in my new Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor (I’ve got a giveaway for one of these and a Zyliss knife set running until the 3rd of August if you fancy your chances at winning one!). I was really impressed with how quickly the blades cut through the 100% frozen ends to make a nice, fine breadcrumb, ideal for cake baking!
I ended up not using the lemon pulp as I was worried all the pith would make the cake bitter, and after making the lemonade I was out of lemons, so I only used orange zest and juice this time.
The original recipe also calls for caster sugar in the cake, which I replaced with golden caster sugar as I’m trying to empty the packets in my cupboard. I was also trying to use up the eggs in my fridge as I was expecting another dozen of gorgeous Shetland free range eggs to arrive in my veg box that afternoon. This recipe uses four – ideal for a fridge clear out!
The cake turned out beautifully!
I will be making this cake with breadcrumbs instead of polenta from now on – it is such a light and fluffy cake and soaking it in the citrus syrup takes it to a whole new exotic level. I don’t know how authentically African this cake recipe is, and I’m not sure where the original recipe actually came from, but regardless, it’s a gorgeous cake – remarkably light for being gluten-free.
Table of Contents
Tunisian Orange Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 50 grams gluten free bread crumbs or polenta
- 200 grams golden caster sugar
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 200 ml sunflower oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 lemon zested
- 1 orange zested
For the syrup
- 1 lemon juice only
- 1 orange juice only
- 75 grams caster sugar
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
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Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8 inch round cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Don't preheat the oven!
- Combine the bread crumbs, golden caster sugar, ground almonds and baking powder together in a medium sized bowl.
- Whisk together the sunflower oil and eggs until light and fluffy and add it to the dry ingredients.
- Add the citrus zests and combine well.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and place into a cold oven.
- Set the temperature for 180 C/ 160 C fan and bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the citrus syrup.
- Put the lemon and orange juices into a small saucepan along with the sugar and spices. Bring slowly to a rolling boil.
- Simmer for two minutes and then set the pan aside to cool.
- Allow the cake to cool for five minutes after removing it from the oven and pour over the syrup. Leave to cool completely.
- This cake is delicious with yogurt or creme fraiche as a dessert.
Environmental Information
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OTHER GLUTEN FREE CAKES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Gluten Free Coconut Rice Pudding Cakelets by The Crafty Larder
Flourless Orange Cake with Honeyed Raspberry Coulis by The Gluten Free Alchemist
Gluten Free Raspberry Chocolate Cake by Sew White
You might also like this Cassava Cake by Recipes from a Pantry. It only has 2 tbsp flour in the topping which I’m sure can be substituted for gluten free flour.
Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was sent a Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor for review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are our own. This is not a paid post.
Daydream adventurer. Expat Canadian. Foodie. Calls Shetland home, for now. One eye is always on the horizon.
Cat says
Hi polenta is a dish not an ingredient. Do you mean cornmeal? Thanks
Elizabeth Atia says
I just had to double check that the fine polenta I bought the other day to make this recipe with does indeed say polenta on the packet! Perhaps its a UK name? Yes, it’s fine cornmeal. Happy baking!
Dominique says
Cornmeal is the common US name I believe, many other countries (including Oz) call it Polenta (despite what Cat says)
Jenny says
Can this cake be frozen?
Elizabeth says
I’ve never tried freezing it before, so I can’t tell you from experience. I’m moving house just now, and when I’ve moved I’ll make one and try freezing it to see what happens. Watch this space! 🙂
Carol says
This is an alternative to the original Tunisian cake recipe. However, using Polenta instead of breadcrumbs makes it Gluten-free. I’ll stick with Polenta (also use olive oil) for health and taste reasons.
BellaBlake says
Yes I also use olive oil and I adjusted the sugar and oil into half and the cake still turned out great!!!
It’s our fav and super easy to make !!!
Kate | Veggie Desserts says
What a gorgeous cake! A perfect showcase for the lovely citrus flavour.
Andrew Petrie says
A great recipe and the texture will be fantastic.
Herbert Appleby says
what a mouth watering cake!!!
Sarah Cooper says
This looks wonderful!
Francine Lamoriello says
Can you tell me if ground almonds is the same as almond flour or almond meal? Could all of these be used in this recipe? Thank you
Elizabeth says
Ground almonds tend to be a bit more coarse than almond flour or almond meal, but it would be well worth experimenting! I don’t see why not. 🙂
Heather Haigh says
Cake I can eat without making substitutions and it sounds and looks fantastic! Will certainly have to give this one a go. Thank you.
Nazima Pathan says
ooh I do love a good orange cake – I add cardamom to mine. This one sounds delicious with cinnamon and cloves. Perfect!
bev says
definitely on the list to make
jenny says
This looks absolutely amazing and delicious. I have pinned it for later to try out. Popping over from #recipeoftheweek
Ness says
I love cakes with orange in. You get such a lovely tang to them and they are so moist. The spices must added another dimension to the flavour.
West Essex Mums says
I’m always looking for new gluten-free recipes for my cousin – this looks delicious! #RecipeoftheWeek
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Oh wow this looks like such a deliciously moist cake, I love citrus cakes so would love this x #recipeoftheweek
John says
Looks absoluty delicious…..
Jean McRae says
A wonderful cake. I want to try
Alison says
That looks gorgeous. I have never used polenta but I must try
Camilla says
Fabulous cake, I can just imagine it’s lovely citrus rich dense flavour:-)
Kate | The Veg Space says
What a stunning-looking cake! Bet that tastes absolutely delicious. Great recipe!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
What a lovely light cake, and it sounds like it is full of flavour too. I love that you could use polenta as well.
Dom says
what a divine texture to that cake and so incredibly moist too… I adore cakes like this and in fact have something similar waiting to be posted on the blog… it’s those oranges they call to me!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
What I would not give to have a slice of this for breakfast – esp as I have the Zyliss easy pull too so can try and whip up my own breadcrumbs pretty quickly.
bakingaddict says
This looks like a really moist and citrusy cake and it’s gluten free as well! Please send a slice over. Thanks for entering AlphaBakes- completely acceptable.
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
What a wonderfully sticky-looking cake. Love that it is GF too. It would be perfect at Christmas me thinks!!!
ana says
I have never been a fan of polenta but this cake might just change my mind. It looks so good!
Olivia Jade Thristan says
You’ve made me SO hungry right now, I could happily eat that! Please send me a piece 😉 x