It’s a rainy cold day in Sydney today. A perfect day for baking! We had some friends over today, and one of their children also has allergies. Children with allergies often miss out on sweet treats, so I always try to make something safe and yummy, that everyone can enjoy.
Back in our pre allergy days, I used to love orange and almond cake. Deliciously orangey and moist, with a lovely density from the almonds, I’ve been trying to come up with an alternative for a while.
I first made this cake for our New Years celebration, and tried to cater for all of our families allergies. (There are a LOT of different allergies amongst the children). Baking egg free can be a bit tricky. Puréed fruit, a little extra oil, and some extra baking powder, works as a excellent substitute for egg. This cake is deliciously moist, with a lovely, very slightly bitter, orange flavour.
You’ll need a large bowl, wooden spoon, measuring cups/spoons and blender or stick blender.
Prep time: 1 hour 10 minutes (allow extra time for the cake to cool before icing)
Cooking time: 50 min
Gluten, dairy, nut, soy, legume and egg free. Vegan.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 orange
- 2 cups of gluten free self raising flour
- 2/3 cup of shredded coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/2 cup of vegetable or coconut oil
- 2/3 cup of coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- dairy free spread for greasing loaf tin
Drizzle Icing
- 2/3 cup of icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water
- 1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice
- zest of one orange
Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
- Place orange in a sauce pan, and cover with water. Bring to the boil, and simmer for one hour.
- In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and dried spices. Stir in brown sugar and shredded coconut.
- remove whole cooked orange, and cut in half. Remove seeds, and put in the blender. Add in oil, coconut milk, vanilla essence, orange water and blend until smooth.
- Make a well in dry ingredients, pour in wet ingredients, and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Pour into greased loaf tin, and bake for 45 – 50 minutes, at 170 degrees. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Mix icing sugar with orange juice, orange blossom water and zest. Drizzle over cooled cake.
