About the bake
This flour-free orange and lavender cake recipe is taken from Eric Lanlard’s book Home Bake (page 39). The flavours marry together beautifully to make this delicious cake. If you prefer a cake with a slightly less dense texture, substitute 50% of the ground almonds for semolina.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan 160ºC, gas mark 4). Grease a 20cm (8in) cake tin with extra oil, then base-line with baking paper.
Step 2:
In a mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, sugar and baking powder, mixing together well. Break in the eggs and add the oil, mixing gently together.
Step 3:
Using a fine grater, grate the zest from the lemon and oranges into the mixture then add the dried lavender and mix together.
Step 4:
Turn the cake mixture into the prepared tin, and bake in the preheated oven for an hour. Cover the top with a piece of foil after about 20 minutes.
Step 5:
Meanwhile, make the syrup. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemon and oranges into a small pan. Add the sugar and spices, and mix together well. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
Step 6:
Once the cake has been removed from the oven, pierce it several times with a skewer or small, sharp knife. Using a tablespoon, spoon the syrup over the cake, allowing it to soak in.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 400ml Sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing)
- 350g Almonds (ground)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 3 tsp Baking powder
- 8 Egg(s) (free range)
- 1 Lemon (zest only)
- 2 Orange(s) (zest only)
- 2 tsp Lavender (dried)
For the syrup
- 2 Orange(s) (juice only)
- 100g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 3 Cloves
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Lemon (juice only)
Recipe Reviews
Delicious!
I made this recipe as individual cupcakes and reduced the baking time and they worked very well . I didn’t use all the syrup ( next time I think I would reduce the sugar to make it sharper) and made a water icing with the leftover syrup to make a light glaze on each cake. Have to say I couldn’t taste the lavender and probably wouldn’t bother next time. I also substituted polenta for some of the almonds - a good move.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 400ml Sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing)
- 350g Almonds (ground)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 3 tsp Baking powder
- 8 Egg(s) (free range)
- 1 Lemon (zest only)
- 2 Orange(s) (zest only)
- 2 tsp Lavender (dried)
For the syrup
- 2 Orange(s) (juice only)
- 100g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 3 Cloves
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Lemon (juice only)