A CakeWalk with Sharon Archer

I changed blogging days with Bronwyn Jameson who must have had baked delicacies on her mind because she put Sharon Archer/CakeWalk into the roster instead of CatWalk!  And since I've definitely had baked delicacies on my mind, I took it as an omen!

We went camping with a group of friends on the banks of the Murray River a couple of weekends ago...

This is our camp site!

... and Carol brought a flourless orange cake to share.  It was TO-DIE-FOR delicious! 

This recipe has been passed from friend to friend and now I have it, too!  Thanks, Carol!

I doubled the recipe because we've got visitors coming at the weekend and I've got a course on as well, so I'm planning ahead.

So this is the recipe...

Flourless Orange Dessert Cake  
(NB this has semolina in it so is not gluten-free)

• 4 medium oranges
• 370 gms butter
• 2 cups caster sugar (unless you run out like I did, in which case 1 1/2 cup caster and 1/2 cup brown)
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup semolina
• 2 cups almond meal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Syrup

• 1 cup brown sugar (because I'd run out of caster sugar -see above!)
• 2/3 cup reserved "water' from cooking the oranges
• As soon as the cakes are out of the oven, heat sugar and "water" in saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.

 Method

• Coarsely chop whole oranges (remove seeds) and place in a large microwave bowl. Cover with boiling water. 
• Cook in microwave for 10+ minutes on high until orange skins are tender. (The kitchen smelled divine while these were cooking!)

• Cool, drain oranges. Reserve the "water' for the syrup.
• Blend until smooth.

• Prepare 2 x 22cm cake pans - grease and cover base with baking paper. (My cake pans were slightly smaller so I prepared a 6-muffin tray as well)
• Heat oven to about 160 degrees C
• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
• Mix in dry ingredients and orange puree.
• Pour mixture into prepared cake pans. (I got a little carried away with beating in the eggs so I had to spoon my mixture into the pans!)

• Cook cakes for 1 hour (I did the muffins tray for 35 minutes)
• Stand for 5 minutes then turn out on to a rack.
• Pour hot syrup over hot cakes.

Do you like the caption on the tea-towel?  I bought it as a gift for someone because it really tickled me... but then I wondered if it could be taken the wrong way so I kept it.  If you'd seen the kitchen when I finished cooking you'd know how very appropriate this tea towel is for me!

The little muffins!

Slices of heaven!

I was thinking about this and wondered if you could use polenta instead of semolina if you wanted to make a gluten-free version of this cake.  Any thoughts? 


So now I'm off to make a cuppa and have an early morning tea!