If you like the bitter taste of orange marmalade, this cake is for you! What’s even better than the marmalade is that this cake does not taste too sweet, even though there is a lot of sugar in it (which is needed to cut the bitterness). But, here’s the deal – choosing a wholesome sugar instead of refined sugar cuts down on sweetness and adds nutrients that are stripped from regular sugar. For this cake, I chose Sucanat sugar (another name is Rapadura sugar), which is basically dried up cane juice, unrefined, with all the molasses that the plant provides. Of course, it is still sugar and meant to be eaten like a treat or used as a condiment. But, the great thing is that it does not rob your body of essential nutrients like white sugar does. Other examples of wholesome sweeteners are coconut sugar and date sugar, while turbinado and Sugar in the Raw are still refined sugars. At home, I only use Sucanat, coconut sugar, and maple syrup for baking.

Back to this delicious cake. Last fall, we hard-pruned our Valencia orange tree and had plenty of oranges to give away and use ourselves. When asking friends for ideas, three suggestions came up: orange marmalade, orange ice cream, and orange cake. While I find orange marmalade often too sweet, and orange ice cream too cold in late fall, the orange cake looked appealing. And, it stood up to its promise! (I have to admit, I liked it so much that I went into mass production.)

The slight bitterness of this cake makes it very satisfying. A small piece is usually enough to round up a meal. According to Ayurveda, all five senses should be present for a meal, as should all six tastes. One reason that people crave coffee is that bitterness is often missing, while the other tastes – sweet, sour, salty, astringent, and pungent – are more often present.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 large oranges
• 6 eggs
• 1 ⅔ cups (250g) Sucanat sugar 
• 3 cups (300g) ground almonds, or almond meal
• ¼ tsp sea salt

Directions

1. Cover oranges with water and let simmer for two hours. Place them in a bowl, and, once cooled, remove seeds and any hard parts where the stem was attached to the orange. Use a hand blender to puree the whole oranges, including the peels. (This can be made the day before.) 
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
3. Prepare a springform (11 in or 28 cm) or a regular cake tin by lining with parchment paper or with butter and flour. 
4. Beat the eggs and sugar for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy. Mix under orange puree and salt. Stir in almonds.
5. Pour batter in prepared baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Carefully remove cake from the baking dish and let cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

• The original recipe stated less ground almonds (2 ½ cups, 250g) but I’ve noticed lately that more almonds (3 cups, 300g) result in a less soggy cake which is still moist and as flavorful as with less almonds.
• This is a very moist cake. It will taste better with time. (I normally make it the day before I need – well, want – it, or even two days before.) 
• It freezes well and is a fabulous treat out of the freezer! To freeze, cut cake into squares, and freeze pieces on a plate before transferring into a container.
• For mass production, I simmered six oranges at a time. After pureeing them, I divided them into three equal portions to freeze them, so the next two cakes can be done very quickly.
• I like to use ground almonds instead of almond meal, as it results in a more fluffy cake. If using almond meal, ½ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp baking powder can be added for more fluffiness.