Gluten-free, Dairy free Orange & Almond cake

I always though Gluten-free cake tasted like cardboard, but boy I was wrong! This was the first gluten-free cake I made at the start of my food journey, and its the best one I have made of late. Its light, fluffy, zesty and sweet! It’s quite fidley to make when you’ve not made it before, but once you’ve done it once and know what you’re doing its much easier for us spoonies

Ingredients 

• 2 large oranges, roughly chopped (with skin)
• 5 eggs, separated
• 200 g (7 oz) caster sugar
• 225 g (8 oz) ground almonds
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds

Directions 

1. Put the chopped oranges in a small saucepan, discarding any pips. Add 1 tbsp water, then cover and cook gently for 30 minutes or until the oranges are soft and excess liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC / gas mark 4. Line the bottom and sides of a 23 cm (9 in) springform cake tin with baking parchment. Finely chop the oranges in a food processor or blender.
3. Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form stiff peaks (I used an electric whisk as my arms are too weak to whisk manually). Gradually whisk in half the caster sugar, then whisk for 1 minute.
4. Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining caster sugar in another bowl for 2–3 minutes or until pale and quite thick. Whisk in the finely chopped oranges, then carefully fold in the ground almonds.
5. Stir in 3 spoonfuls of the whisked egg white to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
6. Bake for 50–55 minutes.
7. Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then turn it out.

Its lovely with a dollop of crème fresh!

Let me know what you think if you decide to give it a go! Good luck xxx