Jaffa deliciousness

Mandarins appeared in our fruit and veggie shop this week.

I love them. Who doesn't?

I eat the soft skins, which my children think is hilarious. I explain to them that the skin is soft, and this reminded me of an old Nigella recipe, a Clementine cake, where you boil the small oranges and blend them to make a cake.

I have long since lost my copy of Nigella's How To Eat, in which that recipe appears. (The book disappeared in a house move some years ago. I am still grieving for a stash of classic cook books that, I imagine, are being enjoyed by someone else somewhere around the Alice Springs region...)

But a similar, and perhaps even more delicious replacement recipe has been adapted, which I shall bake this week, with the new seasons Mandarins.

It is a cake that contains no flour, so is gluten free. (It uses almond meal instead of flour.)

It is THE most moist cake I have ever baked or eaten. It keeps all week, so is ideal for school holiday morning teas. It is divine and decandent served, warm, with ice cream and berries.

Jaffa Chocolate Cake

3 Mandarins
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
50g butter
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
150g almond meal
1 tablespoon cocoa

 
1. Place the mandarins in a saucepan. Cover with cold water & bring to the boil. Reduce to a low heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the oranges and set aside to cool. Cut in half and remove any big pips. Puree all the mandarins in a food processor until finely chopped.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave, stir to combine until smooth and blended.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 22cm cake pan with non-stick baking paper. OR, line a large muffin tin with greased muffin papers.
4. Use an electric beater to beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until well combined.
5. Fold in the almond meal, cocoa, orange puree and chocolate mixture until well combined.
6. Pour into the cake pan or into muffin cases. Bake for about an hour for a cake, or 30 minutes for muffin sized cakes. A skewer inserted should come out clean. Allow to cool in the pan.
7. Dust with icing sugar and serve with ice cream and berries.

Let me know what you think?

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Total calories inhaled - 1335 ~ Exercise calories burned - 566 ~ Glasses of water sculled - 10 (!) ~ Weight lost since last week - 0.8kg   ~ Hours of glorious sleep - 6.5