Orange and Almond Cake

This cake is so delicious and as elegant as it is rustic, but just so simple to make. Yes there is a little time involved from the first step in making this cake until it is ready to eat, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and it doesn't necessarily mean it will take a lot of your time at all. Let me explain...

At 7.45am this morning I realised the builders were on their way to our house (we're renovating) and they would be expecting something delicious for smoko.
I had to leave for work by 9.30 and I was still in my bathrobe and yet to have a shower!!
Normally I probably would have whipped up a batch of blueberry muffins but on a quick check in the pantry (for the buckwheat flour) and the freezer (for the berry's) I was missing crucial ingredients. And besides, they had muffins the other day and I wanted to change it up! What  I did have was an orange, almond meal, eggs, baking powder and  Brown Rice Malt Syrup (Fructose free and about 50% as sweet as regular sugar)

So this is how my morning went...

7.50am:
1. Switched on oven to preheat to 175 degrees
2. Washed 1 large organic orange and put it in a pot of  water to 3/4 cover it, and whilst waiting for it to come to the boil I greased an 18cm round cake tin and then lined it with baking paper. By 7.56am the orange pot was boiling, so I put on the lid, turned down to a medium boil and set the timer to cook the orange for 30 minutes.
3. Whilst orange was cooking I had a relaxing shower, got dressed, made the bed and fed the cat.
4. When my trusty timer alerted me my time was up I returned to the kitchen and checked the orange was soft then removed it from the water and set it on my chopping board. I gently cut it into 1/8ths and left it to cool a minute while I got out the food processor and all other 4 ingredients!
5. I placed the orange in the food processor and blitzed it until it was pureed but not perfectly smooth (about 1/2 a minute)
6. I added 3 medium sized eggs and 1/2 cup Brown Rice Malt Syrup and blitzed it again for a couple of minutes until the mixture was thick and creamy.
7. Lastly I added 1 1/2 cups of ground almonds and 1 scant teaspoon of Baking powder and pulsed the food processor until the almonds were just mixed in.
8. Into the prepared tin and into the preheated oven the cake mix went, timer set for 45 minutes, and off I went to gather all my things together to take to the office, load the car, clean up the kitchen and chat to the builders.

At 9.20am my buddy the timer hailed me back to the kitchen and she was right, the skewer came out clean and my cake was light gold and perfectly cooked. Onto the cooling rack and with the baking paper peeled off the cake looked delicious!

The men stopped for smoko early due to the rain so I was able to grab a photo (above) before I left.

Please note: this cake is exceptionally divine with my new favourite thing - Coconut yoghurt! mmm mmm

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