Okay, so you know that Riverdog Farm keeps me well-supplied with winter and spring citrus: if you read The Kale Chronicles frequently, you will notice that lemons, tangerines and oranges show up in a lot of my recipes from November on. I’ve given you Swedish rye bread with orange and anise, orange-sesame vinaigrette, tahini-citrus salad dressing, orange-fennel salad, orange-cumin bread, tangerine curd, orange muffins, lemon sponge pie and Shaker lemon pie, lemon bars with a coconut brown sugar crust, a recipe for home-candied citrus peel. And then there is all of the stuff I don’t blog about: the orange zest and juice stirred into French toast, the lemon squeezed onto roast vegetables and greens and stuffed into chicken cavities. And still the tangerines roll on.
A pound of Murcott tangerines rolled in last week and coincidentally I ran across a recipe for a clementine cake on Smitten Kitchen. Now, Deb can cook, and she got the recipe from Nigella Lawson, who makes her living as a cook. Separately, they insisted that I could boil my pound of tangerines for a couple of hours and then incorporate them into a gluten-free cake. Deb voiced the doubts anyone would surely have about this recipe. Would it be bitter? Would it rise? Would anybody eat it?
I needed to try this because it would use a whole pound of tangerines at one fell swoop and because I was going to a singing party at the home of a gluten-free friend yesterday and because it was such an odd method of making a cake, particularly the part about boiling a pound of whole tangerines. Deb had suggested that this cake got better as it sat and Mom suggested that I make it on Friday afternoon for the Saturday afternoon party.
I put my pound of tangerines into a saucepan, covered them with water and brought them to a boil and then let them cook for two hours. No, I did not peel them or seed them. I didn’t even wash them since they were organically grown and I would be using the nicely acidulated cooking water for some lucky outdoor plants.
While the tangerines cooked, I had plenty of time to prepare the other ingredients. I started with whole, skin-on almonds because I needed 2 and 1/3 cups of ground almonds. I tried running them through the meat grinder, but they only gummed up the works and ground unevenly as well. Then I realized I had a large Vietnamese mortar and pestle and started pounding away — after all I had two hours to wait for the tangerines (You modern types could use your food processors or buy ground almonds at the store: I enjoy knowing I can get ground almonds and some exercise at the same time). I scooped the first batch up with a 1/3 cup measure and put them in a small mixing bowl and started another batch. When I got tired of pounding, I took a break to take six large eggs out to sit at room temperature. While the eggs warmed, I went back to my mortar and pestle. When I had measured out enough pounded almonds, I set them aside in the small mixing bowl and turned my attention to the eggs.
I made a genoise once: it took me two tries to get it right. What I learned from making genoise is that you can get eggs or egg yolks to incorporate a lot of air and triple in volume like egg whites — you just have to beat them for a long time. I turned on my electric mixer at cake-mixing speed and eventually cranked it up higher and watched the volume of the eggs increase and the color get paler. When the eggs were three-quarters of the way up the bowl I started adding sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, until I had incorporated 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of sugar. I did not even think about scanting the sugar because this cake was going to contain tangerine skin and pith — all of it.
About now, the tangerines in the pot hit the two-hour mark so I used a cooking fork to remove them from the water and set them on my cutting board. While they cooled, I added my ground almonds slowly to the egg sugar mixture with the 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder. I then preheated the oven to 375 with a rack in the central position and took out my precious bottle of Mosaic blood orange oil to grease a bundt pan. Hedging my bets, I sprinkled a generous tablespoon full of sugar over the oiled pan.
Then, as instructed, I sliced my tangerines in half and extracted all of the seeds. You must do this because citrus seeds are excessively bitter. I then used a chef’s knife to chop all of the tangerines as finely as I could, catching the juice in a bowl (the one the almonds had been in earlier), When they were chopped pretty evenly with just a few larger pieces of peel here and there I put them into the mixer with the other ingredients and let it run for two or three minutes.
The resulting batter was a beautiful thing — foamy, pale orange, flecked with bits of bright orange and brown. I tasted it cautiously. It had a slight bitter edge, but would be edible. The recipe made enough for me to make a small test cake in a rice bowl in addition to the big bundt so I was able to sample the finished cake without disturbing the party edition.
I baked my small cake for thirty minutes, at which point a toothpick came out dry. I left the big one in for ten more minutes and it, too, passed the toothpick test. We ate the rice bowl cake warm, only noting that it had a tendency to fall apart.
Saturday I took the other cake to the party. I ran a knife around the edges (which had pulled away from the pan) and upended it on a plate: it came out cleanly. The hostess, who eats gluten-free, liked it. One man asked for the recipe. The woman who has a baking contract with me asked if I would make her one next time she was in town. They sent me home with perhaps one small serving.
What did I think? I thought it was good. Perhaps not great. You have to excuse me for not being a big cake fan in any case. Other people like cake. People who liked cake liked this. One man asked for the recipe. One woman mentioned liking the bitter marmalade-like tang, although she wondered if she would like it with a tangerine juice and powdered sugar glaze. I did find it a bit hard to slice — it was rather soft and moist. I offer it to my gluten-free friends as a possible cake, not too hard to make, not too many ingredients and another use for the rolling river of tangerines.
Food notes: if this cake interests you, be sure to check out the comments on Nigella Lawson’s site: people have done some creative things with spices, made it into a Christmas cake, etc.
Ooh, I’ll have to check out Nigella’s site. Thanks for the heads-up.
You are welcome — there are a couple of good ideas on there.
You really went to a great effort with this recipe, I think! It sounds so unique. I’ve never heard of a recipe calling for the boiled tangerines, and that in itself is quite interesting. Also, another new word for me: genoise! Im not a very creative cook, but you introduce me to so many new things, I just love thinking about them–and if I’m ever in possession of a great number of tangerines, I know what I’ll do! Debra
Thanks, Debra. You are clearly curious about the world and about new things.
This is so unique, Sharyn, what a lot of work. But if you’re like me, there’s nothing more calm and lovely then spending an afternoon puttering around in the kitchen. The cutting up the tangerines part threw me a bit, you actually slice them into bits and then they are stirred in to the batter?? That sounds tricky?
You just chop them into a paste with a chef’s knife — it’s not hard: they are quite soft from all of the boiling. Or you could throw them in a blender or a food processor. The main thing is to remove the seeds before you chop or process them. And then you put the chopped fruit in the batter and let the mixer run for another three minutes to blend it in.
That’s some process, Sharyn. How nice of you to bake this cake for your friend! You sure have been putting your citrus fruit to good, very creative, use. I’d really enjoy orange zest and juice added to my French toast and I’ll add some next time I make a batch. Funny you mention Smitten Kitten today. This afternoon, a friend sent me one of Kitten’s recipes, arugula ravioli. I’ve never heard of the site before and, suddenly, 2 cooks that I admire mention it. I think I need to check it out. Thanks!
That’s “Kitchen,” John, not “Kitten.” Arugula ravioli sounds delicious.
LOL … I need to hire a proof reader. Obviously I’m not up to the task.
I’d be happy to proofread for hire, John, if you ever need clean work.
Thanks for the tips and notes – I adore clementines so this sounds like a dream 😀
Great post!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Traditional Lemon Meringue Tart
It’s fun to bake, just because it is so odd, and it is a pretty cake.
I enjoy reading your cookery and recipe notes, so detailed and thorough, I can see literally how you make something form start to finish. Brilliant! And that surely was good exercise with the pestle and mortar!
Thank you, Claire.
What an interesting recipe Sharyn, I don’t think I would have made it because I too would think that it will be too bitter…but good for you for persevering. Also, it would be too expensive to use the fresh fruit in this manner in Canada.
Clementines or tangerines we have in excess each winter and early spring. We’d have to eat them every single day to have a chance at using all of them, so I favor recipes that use a lot. One of the reasons cooking styles vary so much is that people have different ingredients at their disposal. What would I have a lot of if I lived where you do in March?
If you’re sticking to the hundred mile radius rule, then not a heck of a lot! We have green houses that produce tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, but everything else comes from warmer climates, Sharyn.
I suppose there’s always ice wine, from the Niagara region.
What a terrific and unique blog- I just love your writings and the artwork. Keep up the great work!
Thank you very much.
What an interesting recipe and an interesting way to make a cake. I love that it used up so much citrus. A great read, Sharyn!
It was unusual, Betsy. Thank you.
Ooh I love the idea of this with boiling the tangerines . I’m going to forward this onto my friend who lives in Australia and eats gluten free. thanks for sharing
I hope your friend likes it, Lauren. Lawson says you can make it with part lemons, too.
That is dedication! Kudos to you for making this, I’m sure the cake was lovely, and made even more so because of all the effort! Lovely.
Thank you. I take my exercise where I can get it — and I’d rather pound almonds with a mortar and pestle than pound pavements with a walker.
wow…that sounds like a process!! After all that, I would think the cake should taste really awesome!! I like to make gluten free recipes every now and then so I’m going to make note of this…when I have alot of tangerines and time!!
You can cut the time by buying ground almonds or using a food processor — I almost always do things the slow way. And you don’t have to watch the tangerines boil: you can go away and do something else except for the time it takes to make the rest of the batter. You will probably like it since you like the flavor of caramelized sliced oranges.
What an interesting cake…I love clementines so I bet this would be great! 🙂 Yummy!
If you like clementines, it might be for you, Christina.
This cake sounds really nice – jammed full of clementines for a real citrus flavour instead of just having a background flavour – I bet it’s deliciously different – and must be wonderful with the taste of almonds too! 🙂
It has a strong citrus flavor, Charles, with an undertone of bitterness from the pith. The almonds add sweetness and a tiny bit of crunch or chewiness.
“I enjoy knowing I can get ground almonds and some exercise at the same time.” This jumped at me. Great quote. Says a lot about willingness to work for the good things.
I take my exercise where I can get it, doing normal tasks, because I am not the type to go to a gym.
I see what you mean. We forget how our parents and generations before them actually had to be very physically active just to keep up with the daily routine of keeping house and feeding themselves; far more active than we are today. Preparing food is a good workout and it feeds the senses as it feeds the body.
My local organic market is overflowing with blood oranges and so is my kitchen. I think I’ll add this to my menu for Garden Eats private cooking service. This way I’ll get to fulfill my own personal gluten-free cravings for sweet bread and offer something special to the clients. Thanks for featuring this recipe, excited for the challenge!
Thanks for visiting, Christine. Some people really liked this cake — I think it might be even better with blood oranges than with tangerines.