Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern orange cake

This recipe was first featured in 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food' published in 1968. In those days there were no food processors and you had to rub the cooked oranges through a sieve. It is a very moist cake that can be served as a dessert.

At a glance

- Cuisine Middle Eastern
- Recipe Type Dessert
- Difficulty Easy
- Preparation time 80 mins
- Cooking time 60 mins
- Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2 Oranges
6 Eggs
- 250 g (8.8oz) Ground almonds
- 250 g (8.8oz) Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking powder
1 Splodge of butter and sprinkling of flour for the cake tin

Step-by-step

1. Wash and boil the oranges unpeeled, in water to cover for 1 1/2 hours or until they are very soft. Let them cool, then cut them open, remove the pips and turn them into a puree in a food processor.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients, mix thoroughly and pour into a buttered and floured cake tin with a removable base if possible.
3. Bake in a preheated moderately hot 190ºC oven for about 1 hour. If it is still very wet leave it in the oven for a little longer. Cool in the tin before turning out.