Turkish Orange Cake

gisele · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:22 am Post subject: Turkish Orange Cake

This is my favourite cake at the moment!! It also doesn't use any flour, which I like. It's delectably moist and is perfect with some plain yoghurt on the side.

I found this in a magazine several months ago, and its really easy to make. It may be a good idea to start this the night before due to the oranges in the recipe.

Serves 10-12

2 large oranges
6 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups ground almonds
icing sugar

Put the unpeeled oranges into a suacepan. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and leave until oranges are thoroughly cold (several hours).

Cut into quarters, remove the pips, place ina food processor and process until pulverised. Add the eggs, sugar and lemon juice and process for 1 minute.

Add the baking powder and ground almonds and pulse only to mix. Be careful not to over process.

Pour into a well-greased and lined 23cm cake tin. Bake at 180C in the middle of the oven for 50-60mins until golden and an inserted cake skewer comes out clean. Stand in the tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.

Dust with a thick layer of icing sugar. heat 2-3 metal skewers over a gas flame and when red hot, drag them through the icing sugar to make toffee stripes or a diagonal pattern.

Rainey · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:47 pm Post subject:

How very interesting! Can you describe the texture? I'm having trouble imagining it but the flavors sound delicious.
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Griffin · Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 932 Location: England

Yeah, I'm thinking of trying it, but then I noticed the bit about unpeeled oranges with nothing removed but the pips! Er, not even the pith? Or the skin of the segments? ... and if so, how IS the texture? A little chewy possibly?!

That said, the "It's delectably moist and is perfect with some plain yoghurt on the side." did make me copy and print the recipe... I was thinking of creme fraiche tho'... after all, there's yogurt and there's yogurt. Our usual yog is very slightly sour, which could be rather nice with the orange, but there's also the 'Greek' style yog which is smoother and creamier.

It occurs to me tho' that a good dark chocolate sauce would be good with it. But I am a chocoholic and therefore biased. Embarassed

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Confusion comes fitted as standard.

Rainey · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:33 pm Post subject:

I'm thinking dense and rich like a financier?
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

gisele · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject:

Rainey - I'm not quite sure what a financier is? The cake is very moist, due to the amount of liquid the oranges create, not chewy, more melt-in-the-mouth. It's the sort of cake you eat with a fork because it can fall apart, more because of the wetness of the cake than anything else. I hope that helps...I do have a pic of the cake from the magazine I swiped it from, so I can post that if you like.

Griffin - greek style yoghurt would be perfect for this. That's the sort of yoghurt I tend to eat anyway so always forget to say so. Very Happy

When you boil the oranges, the juice from the oranges infiltrates the pith and the skin making it really soft and mushy. The bitterness is sort of drawn out of the orange. The idea of throwing in the entire orange had me a bit worried too, but after I boiled the oranges and cut them in half I was quite surprised at how different the orange looks after it's been cooked like that. The oranges are even juicier afterwards than they were before cooking...it's quite weird. And no, the cake isn't chewy at all.

Griffin · Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 932 Location: England

Rainey,

Rainey · Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:56 pm Post subject:

A financier is a very rich cake that's made without flour but with lots of eggs, butter and almond meal.

The batter of the financier that I'm fond of is thick and liquid like mayonnaise. Baked up, it rises somewhat from the eggs but is much less airy than a cake with flour and conventional levening. It looks and cuts like cake but has a dense, moist texture. They're quite delicious.

Here's a link http://chocolateandzucchini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=561&highlight=financier to the financier recipe I posted once for comparison.
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

gisele · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:56 am Post subject:

gisele · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:59 am Post subject:

http://www.taste.co.nz/recipes.aspx/view/805

I've just done some searching to see if I could find the recipe on the magazines (where I found it) website. The above link is the recipe, and it has a pic so you can see what it looks like.

georgia · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 456 Location: california

I suspect the key is the amount of ground almonds, which probably serve to hold the whole thing together, along with the eggs. Think of all those flourless chocolate cake recipes that are so popular; many of those contain ground almonds as well. Isn't that exactly what a classic reine de saba cake (have I got that right?) is? I'm also thinking that seedless navel oranges would taste better than thin-skinned juice oranges.

Would this recipe work for Passover?

clotilde · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:28 am Post subject:

This recipe reminds me a little about this one, which was adapted from a recipe that can be found in Trish Deseine's and Nigella Lawson's books (Nigella herself credits Claudia Roden). I can testify to the fact that the boiling of whole oranges is weird (wait till you smell them as they boil and feel their texture once boiled!) but the result is truly outstanding, and unlike any orange cake I'd ever tried before.

I found it very interesting that Gisele calls it Turkish, because it is my understanding that it is also a Jewish recipe: since it is made with zero flour, it is a good dessert for Passover.

gisele · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:42 am Post subject:

Clotilde - I thought the turkish part of the name was odd when i saw it as well, but that was the name attached to the recipe when it was given to me.

I like the sound of ginger in it...i'll try that next time i make it!

Kabbles · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Australia

I have been making this cake for several years. The original was found in Claudia Roden's recipes. It has since been adapted by many cooking mags.It is always well received. To make it even more decadent you can ice with beautiful chocolate and have a jaffa cake. (jaffa are a choc/orange lolly here in Australia)
Enjoy!

Rainey · Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks so much for the link with the lovely photo. I was able to add both to my database so I can try it when I'm cooking again.

I particularly enjoyed the effect of the burnt sugar on the top. Such a simple thing to produce such a charming effect!
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

emilyj · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 184 Location: London, UK

I tried this cake yesterday and it worked beautifully. I didn't have a food processor so I used my blender which probably made the batter a bit smoother than it should have been (I mixed in the almond meal and baking powder in a seperate bowl). I can honestly say that this is one of the easiest cakes I have ever made. Apart from the 1 hour boiling time I had it all mixed and ready to go in about 10 minutes.

It was very different from any cake I have ever tried before, not too sweet and the rind of the orange makes for a nice tang.

Thanks so much for the recipe Gisele Smile