Moroccan orange & cardamom cake

Replace sugar with xylitol and swap butter and oil for a puréed whole orange in this light and zesty cake, with ground almonds and polenta

Prep:15 mins
Cook:2 hrs 5 mins

Serves 12
More effort

Nutrition per serving

kcal 257
fat 26g
saturates 3g
carbs 2g
sugars 9g
fibre 1g
protein 13g
salt 0.3g

Ingredients

2 oranges, scrubbed
seeds of 6 green cardamom pods, crushed
225g pack xylitol (we used Total Sweet)
6 large eggs
200g pack ground almonds
50g polenta
25g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp flaked almonds
Greek yogurt or cream, to serve

Tip

Microwave the oranges

If you are short of time, you can cook the oranges in the microwave – simply pierce them all the way through with a sharp knife, then microwave in a covered bowl with a dash of water on High for 6 minutes.

Method

Put the whole oranges in a pan, cover with water and boil, covered, for 1 hr until a knife easily pierces them. If the oranges won’t stay under the water, place a small saucepan lid directly on top to keep them submerged. Remove the oranges from the water and cool, then quarter and remove any seeds and obvious pith where the stalk was. Blitz the oranges to a rough purée with a hand blender or in a food processor and put in a large bowl.
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line the base and sides of a 21cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Beat the cardamom, xylitol and eggs into the orange purée, then mix the ground almonds with the polenta, flour and baking powder, and fold in until well blended. Scrape the mixture into the tin, level the top and bake for 40 mins.
After 40 minutes, scatter over the almonds, quickly return to the oven and bake 20-25 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Serve sliced as a cake, or with Greek yogurt or cream as a dessert.