Valencia Orange Cake

Orange cake goes back centuries. It originates from the traditional Spanish sponge cake that uses Valencia oranges (or other oranges). It is thought that the best oranges are produced in Valencia, Spain. This reminds me that the best clementines I've ever had were from Spain, but they are hard to find here in the United States. But not Valencia oranges - they are grown here as well. So you shouldn't have a problem finding some sweet, organic Valencia oranges.

I highly recommend organic oranges for this recipe because you are eating the entire orange (and pesticides tend to be highly concentrated in the skin), and you're only buying two of them.

This cake has a sweet, tangy, orange flavor, and it is very moist. It is great on its own, or it goes well with crème frâiche, whipped cream, or a scoop of ice cream. This recipe has been worked over by me, but my original references are from a website by Elana Amsterdam, and these two recommended cookbooks:

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York

Outstanding in the Field: A Farm to Table Cookbook

Ingredients

• 2 organic Valencia oranges
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of honey
• 2 cups of blanched almond flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Preparation

1. Place two whole organic Valencia oranges in a pot with enough water to cover them. Add a tightly sealed lid. The oranges will float, but they should be mostly covered. Simmer them in the pot for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. When you can easily glide a toothpick or fork through them, they are ready. You can add water to them while they are cooking, if necessary.
2. Cool the oranges for a few minutes, slice them into wedges and remove any pits or inedible parts (like the nub where the stem was).
3. Process the oranges until you have a smooth, orange paste without lumps.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (I bake using a convection oven setting, so I place the temperature at 300 degrees F).
5. To get a slightly lighter cake, separate the egg yolks and egg whites, and then whip the egg whites separately until stiff peaks form.
6. In a bowl, beat eggs (or egg yolks if separated) until well blended, and then beat in the honey and dry ingredients (baking soda, salt, and almond flour).
7. Fold in the almond flour and orange paste into the egg and honey mixture and blend well.
8. If you whipped the egg whites separately, here is where you want to fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter.
9. Use a spring form pan or a well buttered baking pan. Butter or oil the bottom of the spring form pan. No need to butter the sides of the spring form pan.
10. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Make sure to bake it thoroughly, especially in the center, or it may settle when it cools. Even if it settles, it still tastes wonderful.
11. Enjoy!

Comments

[Julia @ Imagelicious]

This sounds delicious. Can I use regular oranges? I am not sure if my local supermarket carries Valencia oranges. And also would Maple Syrup work instead of honey? Unfortunately, honey is one of a few ingredients that I can't eat.

[Erica]

I think it would be fine to use maple syrup but I haven't tried it - let me know how it goes. Valencia can be somewhat seasonal - so any orange can be used. Valencia oranges are a bit on the big size, about the size of naval oranges, so if you use a smaller orange, you may need 3 or 4 of them. Hope that helps.

[Julia @ Imagelicious]

Thank you very much. I'm hoping to make this cake in the next couple of weeks if nothing changes.

[Anon]

I think Starbucks copied this recipe for their gluten free Valencia orange cake. :-)

[Jeanine]

What a fantastic looking cake! Love the orange colour too. Great job!

[Kelli]

This looks so absolutely delicious. I love moist cakes and with the orange spin, yummy!

[Karen]

I just discovered you blog and wanted to say it is lovely. The photos are especially nice. Thanks for all the great recipes, I can't wait to try donuts, curry chicken salad, lemon freeze pie and cheesecake!

[Erica]

Thanks :)

[Beth]

Thanks for the recipe! Starbucks has that new gluten free valencia orange cake, too!

[Erica]

I guess I need to go to Starbucks and check it out. I haven't been there in a while - sounds like they're getting gluten-free, maybe?

[Steven]

Do you peel the oranges at any point?

[Erica]

The whole orange goes into the pot. I don't peel it at all. But if you did peel it I imagine the cake would taste a bit milder in flavor since the orange peel contains quite a bit of flavor.

[Heather]

I just made this and it is fantastic. It came out of the oven about 10 minutes ago and I've already eaten a hefty piece.

I used about 1/3 cup of Splenda instead of the honey and it turned out plenty sweet enough for my taste.

Thanks for the recipe, your blog is great.

[Erica]

Great to know. Thanks for sharing this! I've never used Splenda, so I'm glad it worked out.

[Can Eat!]

What a wonderful Recipe! Now that Starbucks have discontinued their Valencia Orange Cake I'll be using this recipe to get my fix! Thanks! Oh and I love your blog - I've added you to my blog roll at Can Eat! http://www.can-eat.blogspot.com :)

[Erica]

I wonder why Starbucks discontinued it. I guess I'll never found out how it tastes.

I'm extremely flattered when anyone adds me to their blog roll or links to me - thanks for the kudos!

[Erica]

oops, I meant "find out"...

[Karen Mallaber]

Thanks for the recipe. I have almond flour and have been unable to find a recipe for it using regular ingredients. I'm looking forward to it as I love orange.

[susan robinson]

Is almond flour anything different then ground blanched almonds?

[Erica]

Blanched almonds have had their skins removed, usually almond flour is made by grinding up blanched almonds. Almond meal has the skins on before it is ground up. So if the flour is white then it is blanched almond flour. If it has brown flecks in it, it's almond meal. See this post for more on almond flour: http://www.comfybelly.com/2009/01/the-scoop-on-almond-flour.html

[susan robinson]

Thanks. Another question for anyone who has made this cake: I need to do a lot of cooking for a big Spanish themed event, and want to do some in advance. Has anyone had any experience freezing it?

[George@CulinaryTravels]

Oh my goodness that looks utterly gorgeous. I've always put off making that cake but you've inspired me.

[ana]

this batter tastes and smells awful! and why arent the salt and baking soda in the instuctions??

[Erica]

Ana, thanks for pointing that out. I somehow left out the point at which to add the dry ingredients (no editor on staff :). So that's fixed. Really though, it doesn't matter when you add the dry ingredients if you're blending everything well. One thing that works well is to blend all the dry ingredients together and then add the dry ingredients to the wet, blended ingredients.

Not sure why your batter smells - bad oranges? It's usually pretty aromatic from my perspective, given the orange oil action in the batter.

[lilly flower]

csn i mske it with orange juice instead? telll me how much ishould use?