Tjuz.com: Orange and Almond Cake Decorated With Glazed Oranges And Sugar Syrup.

Last week Sunday was an absolutely freezing cold day. So in an effort to warm up the house, I fired up the oven and baked a lovely orange and almond cake. There's a couple of hours preparation required, so expect to spend half the day in the kitchen. (Which was fine by me. At least I was warm). In this case, the results are well and truly worth the effort. This is a rich luxurious cake that I usually would only bake for special occasions. Or on this particular occasion, so my work mates could enjoy a nice morning tea.

Ingredients:

6 oranges (3 x for boiling, 2 x for juicing and 1 x for glazing)
200 grams of almond meal
1 cup of Self Raising Flour (Gluten Free)
1 cup (200 grams) of Castor sugar
6 x eggs
2 x teaspoons of vanilla bean paste
30 grams of butter (for greasing the cake tin only)
Canola spray (also for greasing the cake tin)

Method:

Glazed Oranges First:

Slice one orange in to thin slices and lay them out in a large fry pan (The size of the rings layed out should be roughly the same size and your cake tin)
Add 1/3 cup of Castor sugar
Add 1 x teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste
Juice and strain two oranges, then add the juice to the pan
Add to a very low heat on the stove top and gently simmer for around 2 hours. Turn the orange slices every 15 minutes or so.
Peel the two oranges that you just squeezed with a potato peeler then slice into thin strips and set to one side.
The liquid will eventually turn to toffee and the oranges will appear clear. That's when you know they're ready)
You are not trying to fry them. It's just a gentle warming process for a couple of hours.

Preparing Your Oranges:

Add three oranges to a saucepan, cover with hot water from the tap and bring to a boil.
Once boiled, immediately tip out the water, refill again with warm water from the tap and boil them again, this time for one hour. (Add more water if you need to keep them covered).
The reason for repeating it twice is it takes the bitterness out of the peel.
After the hour, drain the water and let them site for a couple of minutes to begin cooling down enough so you can handle them.
Cut your three oranges into quarters and remove any of the white core that may be left. (Again to take away the bitterness).
Place your sliced orange pieces in the food processor and pulverise for around 30 seconds. (They should disintegrate pretty quickly)

Making the Cake:

Use a little butter and kitchen paper to heavily grease your spring form cake tin.
Line the tin with a cooking paper base.
Spray heavily with canola oil spray. (This is me being paranoid that it's going to stick).
In a mixing bowl add your orange pulp from the food processor.
Add 1 x teaspoon of Vanilla paste
Add 6 x eggs
Add 1 x cup of Castor sugar
Add 1 x cup of Self Raising Flour
Mix you ingredients with a spatula or spoon until well combined to form a batter.
Pour your batter in to your cake tin and pop it in your oven at 170 degrees Celsius for between 1 hour and 1 and a half hours.
Test it at the 1 hour hour mark with a skewer, it's cooked in the center when the skewer comes out clean.
Remove your cake when it is done and place it on a wire rack.
Leave it in the tin.

Make A Sugar Syrup:

In a small saucepan add your strips of orange peel to 1/3 a cup of water and 1/3 a cup of Castor sugar.
Bring it to the boil then remove it from the heat and allow it to begin to cool.

Decorating Your Cake:

Gently remove your cake from its spring form tin and place on a plate. It should still be warm.
Lay out your glazed oranges on top of the cake and pour over any left over syrup/toffee that may be left.
Now gently spoon over your warm sugar syrup which contains the strips of peel. (Maybe 8 spoonfuls max).
You don't want the cake to be soggy, but you do want it to soak up the syrup into its center.

Yum!