Gluten Free Almond Orange Cake

This Dairy Free and Flourless Almond Orange Cake is the most delicious, light and moist gluten free cake ever. Made from scratch with fresh ingredients, it is the perfect Passover Cake recipe… or simply a great flourless cake to enjoy every day of the year!

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This Gluten Free Orange Cake with Almond Meal is probably one of the easiest on the blog. Most of the recipes for and almond orange cake requires you to boil your oranges for a few hours before blending them into the cake batter… nothing like this here!

I simply used the Orange Juice to make a really quick, easy and fresh cake batter. Made with a few ingredients only, this cake will be ready to be baked in about 10 minutes!

What is flourless cake made of?

A Flourless Cake can be made from many different (or a combination of) ingredients that are used to replace Wheat Flour.

Whipped Egg Whites, Naturally Gluten-Free Flours and/or Almond Meal – like here – are great ingredients to use to create light and fluffy cakes without wheat flour.

Ingredients

Best thing about this Flourless Orange Cake is: it really only requires a handful of ingredients! Nothing fancy or hard to find here… if you love to bake and love to use almond meal, you already should have it all in the pantry!

• Eggs
• Brown Sugar
• Orange Juice & Zest
• Canola Oil (or any other unflavoured vegetable oil that can be baked)
• Almond Meal
• Cornstarch

Note that for this recipe, I used Almond Meal and not Almond Flour. Almond Meal is basically coarsely ground raw almonds, which brings a great texture to the cake. I find that Almond Flour is often ground too thinly and looses that delicious almond crunch.

Is almond flour the same as ground almonds?

Basically yes – although the coarseness of the nut will vary. Almond Flour usually refers to very thinly ground almonds that resemble the texture of a flour. Almond Meal, or Ground Almonds are simply crushed less than almond flour, creating a more coarse meal.

Is almond flour good for baking cakes?

Almond Flour – or in this cake Almond Meal – is absolutely awesome for baking cake. Especially Gluten-Free ones! Almond Meal is seriously one of my favourite (and most used) baking ingredient ever.

Almond Meal does not only bring a delicious nutty flavour to your baked goods, it also provides a super moist texture to them. This ingredient is really what makes this Flourless Orange Cake so light, fluffy and moist. Delicious!

How to make this Gluten-Free Orange Cake

There are four steps to make this Orange and Almond Cake. And what I love about it is that boiling oranges for 2 hours is not one of them!

lthough most recipes require you to boil full oranges, then blend them through the cake batter, this recipe only uses the juice of the orange.

So much quicker and easier, without compromising on the taste!

Here are the steps to make this Almond and Orange Cake:

• Seperate the Egg Whites and Egg Yolks

• Whisk the Egg Yolks with the Sugar.

• Add the wet ingredients: Oil, Orange Juice & Zest; then the dry ingredients: Almond Meal and Cornstarch

• Whip the Egg Whites into stiff peaks

• Gently fold in the Egg Whites into the cake batter

Pretty straight forward, isn’t it? Not only the almond meal will bring a delicious moisture to the cake, the whipped egg whites will also make it super light and airy.  

Orange Syrup Topping

The Orange Syrup is a big part of this recipe. It brings a delicious tangy flavour to the orange gluten-free cake, as well as a great shine!

To make the Orange Syrup, you will need:

• the juice of 1 orange
• a little bit or lemon juice (this is optional, but it helps to bring out the orange flavour)
• some Brown Sugar

Simply place these 3 ingredients in a small pot and leave to simmer and reduce until slightly sticky. Then, brush all over the cake once it has cooled down.

You can also make small holes on the cake with the tip of the knife before pouring over the syrup. That is a great way to get the syrup all the way inside the cake!

Candied Orange Peels

To finish this Orange Almond Cake, I prepared some Candied Orange Peels. This is absolutely optional, but a delicious topping idea if you want to add it!

Making Candied Orange Peels is way more simple that it seems. Whether you want to make candied oranges slices like in my Orange Glazed Spiced Honey Cake or simple candied peels like here, the process is basically the same.

• First, use a vegetable peeler to get the orange peels. Try to leave as much of the white skin as possible, as it is the most bitter part of the fruit. Thinly chop the peels into long strips.

• Boil the orange peels in water a couple of times, draining them well under cold water between each time. This is to remove all the bitterness.

• Place the the orange juice (you can also add some orange flesh to make more of a marmalade), sugar and spices in a small pot and heat up until the sugar has dissolved. Add the blanched Orange Peels and leave to reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated.

More Gluten Free Recipes Ideas:

• Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Cake
• Vegan Mango Cheesecake
• Vegan Mini Blueberry Tarts
• French Buckwheat Crepes
• Gluten Free Carrot Cake from It’s Not Complicated Recipes
• Vegan Banana Bread (Gluten Free + Sugar-Free)
• Gluten-Free Banana Buckwheat Pancakes