Flourless Almond & Orange Cake
This Flourless Orange & Almond Cake I have ever had! It is packed with bright orange flavour, super moist and so delicious! This cake is Paleo, Refined Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Diary Free, and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal.
With just 7 ingredients, this Grain Free Orange Cake is incredibly simple but packed with delicious citrus and nut flavour. So what’s the secret?
Simmering the oranges in a pot of water before pureeing and adding to the batter results in a super moist cake with a deep citrus flavour in every bite.
When pureeing the orange, you can put the entire orange into the blender which will give the cake a slight bitter taste (which I love) or alternatively using a sharp knife you can remove the peel from one or both of the oranges before blending which will result in a sweeter cake.
To really maximize the orange flavour I topped the Grain Free Orange & Almond Cake with slices of dried orange which are super simple to make in the oven. I also brush the top before serving with a sweet orange and honey glaze, which gives the cake a nice glistening sheen. You can easily skip one or both of these components and you will still have a delicious cake.
This Grain Free Orange & Almond Cake is great served with afternoon tea, or as a simple dessert topped with a scoop of ice cream.
Here are a few other dessert recipes that you might enjoy!
- Lemon Layered Cake with Strawberry Filling and Ombre Icing
- Pumpkin Mug Cake
- Carrot Cake Mug Cake
- Upside Down Banana Bread in a Skillet
- Lemon & Mixed Berry Cupcakes
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Orange, Pistachio & Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 2 oranges
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1 cup ground pistachios
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Topping
- 1 orange*
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp honey
Instructions
- Rinse the oranges and place them in a pot. Cover with water and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour drain the pot and place the oranges in a blender. Blend for approximately 1 minutes until the oranges have formed a puree
- To make the ground pistachios place them in a coffee grinder or food processor and grind until there are no chunky pieces and everything has ground down to a fine powder.
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Grease a loose bottom cake pan
- In a bowl combine the orange puree, eggs, honey, ground pistachios, almond flour, vanilla extract and baking soda. Pour into the greased cake pan
- Bake for 1 hour. If the top begins to brown too quickly, cover with tinfoil. The cake will be done once a cake inserted into the top comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, in a small pot combine 1/2 cup orange juice with 2 tbsp honey and allow to reach boiling point before reducing the heat to simmer. Allow to simmer until the amount of liquid has reduced by approximately half. Remove from the heat and set aside until the cake has come out of the oven.
- Once the cake is out of the oven, brush the orange and honey mixture over the entire surface. Top with the slices of dried orange. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen before unclasping the outer ring.
Notes
Nutrition
Came out delicious!! Thank you for a fabulous recipe. I followed the exact recipe, and just added a little cardamom to the batter – worth it. My cake took about 70 minutes to cook all the way through, and I covered it with foil the last 5 mins. I skipped the syrup after baking, and instead made a simple frosting: mascarpone, mixed with a little honey, almond extract, and half of a lemon’s juice. Was lightly sweet and a big hit! I cut the cake in half, and put the frosting in between the layers, and a light layer on top, followed by dried oranges and sliced almonds. I will be making this again!!
The mascarpone icing sounds heavenly!! I absolutely love that idea! So happy that you enjoyed the cake!
Ok, I just made this and used the orange peel, but way too bitter, might be better without
What size is your loose bottom cake pan? 20 cm, 22cm?
I use 20cm
Could you by chance recommend a spring form pan? I’ve looked at a number online, but it seems many leak. Just curious what you’re using. Thank you! Super excited to try this for our Christmas dinner!
After boiling Do you purée the oranges with the peel on or do you remove the peel?
Keeping the peel on will give the cake a slightly bitter texture which I like, but you could alternatively remove the peel if you prefer it to be sweeter.
Should this be stored in the refrigerator, or kept on the counter?
I prefer to keep it in the fridge so that the cake remains moist, this will also extend its shelf life for another day or two.
Just made the cake. I used gluten free flour as opposed to almond flour. I think the almond flour would have given it a more delicate texture but I didn’t have any on hand and I wanted cake! I also used agave because I read honey processes in your body just like sugar. The cake is really good. Thanks for the recipe. Oh and I added cardamom to the syrup that we put on top the cake. That just kicked it up a notch. Thanks!
LOVE the idea of adding cardamom to the syrup, I bet that was delicious! So good to know that the cake works with gluten free flour, almond flour makes the cake more moist and dense.
About how much orange purée do you wind up with? I am hoping to replace the orange with fig! I can make a fig purée with fresh reduced figs but need an approx measure of how much the orange purée was.
Ooohh I bet that would be delicious with figs! I would say approximately 2/3 cup pureed orange. Let me know how it goes!
Are the pistachios roasted and/or salted?
Hi Erika, they are not roasted or salted 🙂
Thanks, I’m thinking I should be able to find them at sprouts. I can’t wait to try it out!
Let me know how it goes!!
Just a question about the oranges, before you simmer, are they peeled, or how do you prep the oranges?
No you leave the peel on the oranges, it gives the cake a slight bitter flavour but its masked by the honey.
I tried this but it did not rise at all and burnt on the bottom. Any suggestions. I followed the recipe to the t!
I’m curious to know what suggestions they would provide!! Seems like they missed this comment/review?
My apologies for the very delayed response!! Im sorry to hear it didnt turn out well, my guess would be that the batter for the cake was over mixed which caused it not to rise. With regard to the burnt bottom my first instinct is that your oven temperature is off? Maybe in future raising the rack would help.
Hi,
This looks so gorgeous would love to try it.
I am currently eating low fodmap foods as much as possible and cannot have pistachio nuts (or cashews) which are one of my favs…can you suggest something that would go well with the other flavours? I like walnuts but not sure if they would over power it? Maybe pecans or hazelnuts?
Many thanks
Thanks Rose! I think that ground hazelnuts or pecans would probably work as a substitute. Alternatively you could also just use more almond flour in place of the pistachios. Let me know how it goes!
Has anyone tried to make this ahead and freeze it?
I have two in my freezer at the moment 🙂 I normally make two of these at a time and keep one in the freezer to bring out for visitors. It freezers really well
Is there nutrition info for this cake? I am doing paleo with macros and I would love a break down in calories, protein, fat, etc.
I couldn’t find it on here? Thanks
Hi Brittany, I’m putting together the nutritional info now and will post it shortly.
Oh my God!!! I ve done this cake yesterday.. soooooooo delicious . One of my really favourites . It s not just a tea cake .. it s a very prestigious one . The taste is soooo yum I cannot even describe . Thank u so much .
Yea!! I love receiving comments like this! I’m so happy you liked it!
Hi Carmen – I also have similar health problems and I’m continually looking for suitable recipes. One look at your cake recipe and I got cooking. The cake is a great hit with my grown-up kids and several friends. A keeper for sure! Thanks for the recipe; I’ll try some of your other ones too.
Hi Peter! I’m so sorry to hear about your health issues but so happy that you enjoyed the cake and that even non diet following friends and family liked it too. Let me know if you make any other recipe!
Hi, The cake looks amazing! Can you tell me is there any substitute for eggs? As I want to make an eggless cake.
To be honest I am not too familiar with using flax eggs in baking recipes but I think that they may work in place of eggs in this recipe. Let me know if you try it!
I actually tried it with banana and it worked really good! I love this cake.
Can I use coconut flour instead of almond?
Unfortunately coconut flour absorbs liquid more then almond flour so they cannot be swapped. You could try using a different nut flour such as pistachio or cashew instead but I can’t guarantee it will work.
What size springform pan did you use for this cake?
Sorry for skipping that info in the recipe! I used an 8 inch spring form pan.
This sounds delicious and I want to try it. I have one question for you. At the end, you have a note, but it doesn’t show as finished. “flipping half way through baking to…”
Whoops! Thanks for pointing that out Karen, all fixed! Let me know if you make the cake, would love to hear how it goes.