Could this cake look any more delicious? I can promise you it tastes as good as it looks! I’m not always the best with perfect looking cakes but I think I did ok on this one! I used my Working Woman’s Chocolate Orange Cake base recipe (always a winner and so easy) and just added new flavours and changed the topping.

The cake itself if free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar, and I used Stevia to make the icing sugar frosting. If you don’t mind a bit of icing sugar you can use the standard one but if you’re looking to stay away from refined sugar then stevia or xylitol are best. Of course, you don’t need the frosting at all if you don’t like; the cake itself is treat enough!

I use these flavours a lot as they remind me of my Moroccan grandmother’s food. The cardamom, rose and the pistachios on top really transport me back to happy times with all my family around and a room full of incredible, freshly prepared Moroccan food courtesy of my grandmother, whose nickname was Sultana. I hope the flavours do the same for you as they do for me.

Ingredients

Cake:
2 whole oranges
6 free-range organic eggs
250g ground almonds
200g coconut palm sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp rose water
Pinch salt

Frosting:
1/2 cup stevia icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon
1 tsp arrowroot
1/2 tsp rose water

To top:
Crushed pistachios
Rose petals

Method

Boil the oranges whole in a saucepan of water for 45 mins to an hour, until they are very soft.

While the oranges are boiling away, preheat the oven to 180* and line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper at the bottom, and grease it with coconut oil (or butter if you prefer).

Once the oranges are ready, put them on a chopping board and cut them into quarters, removing the pips, and let them cool a little bit.

While the oranges are cooling, mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl (ground almonds, baking powder, cardamom, salt and coconut palm sugar).

Go back to the oranges. Put the oranges (peel and all) in a food processor and once they’ve been in for around 20 seconds, start adding the eggs while the processor is still working, to aerate the eggs, and blend until smooth.

Add this orange mix to the dry mix in the bowl and mix well. Add the rose water and mix well.

Pour this into the prepare cake tin. It will seem really runny but that’s ok.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake is fully cooked through and a fork comes out clean. The cake should still be moist though.

Remove from the oven and only add the frosting when it’s completely cool. To make frosting simply mix all the frosting ingredients together, mixing quickly and well, then drizzle over the top and top with pistachios and rose petals.

Love & health,
Lauren