Friday 18 February 2011

[Square] Clementine Cake

The cake is square, but the Clementines are definitely round. I baked this cake in a square tin simply because I could get more slices from it. If I were to bake this in a round tin, I could only get 12 slices; but in a square tin, I got 36. Yes, they are smaller slices, but I think it's nicer for my friends to be able to have second or third serving rather than just 1 if that makes any sense.


I am really into cakes made with ground almond these days. I love the texture (that's true), your friends with gluten-intolerance would appreciate that (also true), and because they're so moist, they last longer (so not true!).

This could possibly be the easiest cake recipe, ever. There are only 5 ingredients; you put everything in a food processor, blitz to mix and you have the batter. Yes, the clementines need to be boiled for a couple of hours until really soft and then let to cool, but whilst they're cooking and cooling, you could be doing other things, like hoovering, cooking dinner, eating dinner, washing dishes, reading blogs, watch 3 episodes of Friends, 2 episodes of Scrubs and one 2 hours long episode of American Idol; or whatever you fancy doing.


The cake is so so moist and smelled like Christmas while baking. The taste was utterly delicious, full of orangey goodness. It's like eating bright beam of sunshine; and however impossible, it does sound nice and poetic, right?

Clementine Cake
Recipe by Nigella Lawson
For ingredients and instructions, click here.

17 comments:

  1. Looks great, i too just recently made my first cake like this. I also love Scrubs.

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  2. I love Nigella. This looks like a fantastic cake.

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  3. Michael, this sounds wonderful. I, too, love baking with ground almonds. And I happen to have some on hand! Good idea to bake it square and cut into lots of smaller servings.

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  4. What a magic cake. Hooray for square tins!

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  5. I love this cake and made it for Christmas this year... I prick it as it comes out of the oven and drizzle whisky over it... naughty but AMAZING!

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  6. This does sound incredibly good! Nothing compares to baking with almonds - it adds such a richness and great flavor too.

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  7. looks great love adding citrus to cakes :-) have a good weekend

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  8. Just made one blood orange cake with almonds. :-)) Yours looks a bit like Japanese sponge cake.

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  9. Michael-I bookmarked this fabulous recipe, from Nigella.
    You are so sweet to share it with us. Such a lovely, spongie cake with the rich aroma, and flavor of the almonds, and clementines. We certainly have our share of them here, in S. Florida, at this time!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  10. Nigella does a lot of things in a blender...I am always so impressed! Saw her make a chocolate cake yesterday in one.
    I do love citrus (luckily as I live in Florida!) and much prefer almond flour too. This cake looks easy, tasty and I like the idea of square!

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  11. Hi Michael - I love this cake. When we signed on our house in France in 2008 I made this and a whole bunch of us ate it on the terrace accompanied by a couple of bottles of Lanson Rose. Lovely!

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  12. Oh MY gosh!! I have a been on an orange cake rampage. (Yesterday I made 3 to try to get a recipe the way I Liked it :)

    Wanted to invite you to share this amazing recipe at my weekly event- Seasonal Sundays!

    xo, Brittany

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  13. Looks lovely, Michael! I need to try using ground almonds next time I bake. I don't need to have a gluten free diet, but a little less gluten in my life would not be a bad thing!!

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  14. love nigella, love clementines, love this! glad to have found your blog!
    -meg
    @ http://www.clutzycooking.blogspot.com
    @ http://www.myscribblednotebook.blogspot.com

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  15. Yum! I love clementines! And I think a square piece of cake is much more fun than a triangle...

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  16. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments. The cake was so delicious, I baked it again the next day to take to church and they went down very nicely. :)

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  17. That makes perfect sense...you cake does look wonderfully moist and delicious :)

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