Why not dive into a little bit of North African flavours with this gluten free almond and orange cake. This Tunisian Orange Cake is not only fabulous, it’s gluten free and a whole lot easier than it looks. Surprise your family or friends with this special cake sometime soon!
If you are familiar with Middle Eastern or Moroccan and North African desserts you will be well aware they are quite different to the type us North American’s are used to making. Generally much denser and quite often sticky and generally very moist. Not to mention, full of flavour and delicious! This cake, much like the Citrus and Pistachio Cake is a complete treat!
What Makes This Tunisian Orange Cake Great
- Fantastic flavour – this cake is bursting with a wonderful citrus flavour
- Gluten free – this cake doens’t use any flour which makes it naturally gluten free. Instead almond meal is used to create the cake.
- Moist texture – because of the oil, ground almonds and a syrup poured over the top, this is a super moist cake.
- Easy to make – despite the appearance of this cake, it comes together quite quickly and is easy to make.
- Keeps moist for days – because of the ingredients in this cake, it stays moister for long than most other cakes that would be make with butter and flour.
Ingredients to Make This Tunisian Orange And Almond Cake
- For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 4 Eggs
- Zest of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 3/4 Cup caster sugar
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 Cup sunflower oil
- For the syrup:
- Juice of 1/2 orange
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- For the glaze and decorating:
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 3-4 Tablespoons orange juice fresh
- Zest of one orange
- 1/4 Cup pistachios roughly chopped
REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions is always found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- Preheat oven – Grease and flour a 7 inch spring form pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Combine dry ingredients – In a medium bowl combine the almonds, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
- Make the egg mixture and finish batter – In a large whisking bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil until foamy. About 2 minutes. Stir in the zest of the orange and lemon. Stir the dry ingredients into the whisked eggs.
- Bake the cake – bake in a preheated oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Leave to cool – remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cook.
- Make the syrup – in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the juice and sugar bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and let cook and reduce for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
- Make the glaze – In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar with the orange juice and whisk until it’s smooth.
- Glaze and decorate cake – Remove the sides from the cake and transfer to a serving plate. Pour the syrup over the cooled cake. Drizzle over the glaze. Top with pistachios and orange zest. Ready to serve.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- I used a spring form pan for this recipe but you could use a tin the removable sides without the spring if that is all you have. You need to use a tin with high sides because as you can see it rises quite high. So don’t use just a regular cake tin because I think you will be disappointed.Â
- Can use almond flour – I used almond meal in this recipe, but almond flour will work just as well.
What Flavours go Great With This Cake
- Coffee – of course, you know it will go great with a cup of coffee.
- Vanilla Ice cream – serve ice cream on the side
- Fresh whipped cream – whipped cream is always a great choice
- Mascarpone cheese – it would be great served with whipped mascarpone cheese
- Caramel – you can even top it with Homemade Caramel Sauce.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Almond meal is made from raw almonds and almond flour is made from peeled almonds. Almond meal is a little coarser in texture.
Although pistachios were only used to top this cake, yes you can add them to the batter as well. If doing so, make sure to roughly chop them. As well, toss them in a little almond flour or almond meal before adding them to the batter. This will help prevent them from sinking to the bottom.
Tunisian Orange Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 Cups ground almonds
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 4 Eggs
- Zest of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 3/4 Cup caster sugar
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 Cup sunflower oil
For the syrup:
- Juice of 1/2 orange
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
For the glaze and decorating:
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 3-4 Tablespoons orange juice fresh
- Zest of one orange
- 1/4 Cup pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
- Grease and flour a 7 inch spring form pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl combine the almonds, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
- In a large whisking bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil until foamy. About 2 minutes. Stir in the zest of the orange and lemon. Stir the dry ingredients into the whisked eggs.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cook.
- Make the syrup in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the juice and sugar bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and let cook and reduce for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar with the orange juice and whisk until it’s smooth.
- Remove the sides from the cake and transfer to a serving plate. Pour the syrup over the cooled cake. Drizzle over the glaze. Top with pistachios and orange zest. Ready to serve.
Thanks For Stopping By & Hope To See You Soon!
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