Clementine cake [no flour no butter recipe]

I made quite a lot of cakes in 2013! This particular one was possibly my best and we had it on New Years Eve. So I had to start 2014 with this cake blog as it's so good! I know January is dieting month for most and the time to rein in the treats, especially when it comes to sugar. However this long bleak month [even longer for those of you brave souls who are having a dry one] may require a treat or two to keep you going. So think on this recipe as a relatively guilt free option, as the only fat in the cake comes from eggs and the ground almonds.

There is no flour in it, so it's great for coeliacs and those on low fat, low carb diets [Atkins/Dukan]. Most of you are probably trying out the 4:3 or 5:2 fasting diet which is the new trend I believe. In which case on non fasting days this makes for a great treat with tea/coffee bearing in mind each slice [out of 12 in total] is about 350 calories. If you are on a no sugar diet then look away now and don't even go there! Clementines are quite sweet already and the recipe calls for quite a lot of sugar! I swiped the recipe from Lizzie Kamenetzky in the January edition of Delicious and my version had a small grating of 70% dark chocolate as a garnish on top of the sticky cake.

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 Clementines - simmered in boiling water for 2 hours
250g of caster sugar
300g of ground almonds
Seeds from 8 cardamom pods crushed into a powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp of vanilla extract
6 large eggs lightly beaten

Syrup:
Juice of 2 clementines
Juice of 1 lemon
50g of caster sugar
1 stick of cinnamon

Garnish [optional] - small amount of grated 70% chocolate

Equipment:
Springform tin with loose bottom - greased with oil and lined with baking paper
Pre heated oven to 160 degrees fan / 180 degrees normal
Food processor
Juicer [optional] for lemon
Grater [optional]


Method:
1. Bring 3 whole clementines in water to the boil and then turn down the heat & simmer for 2 hours until they are very soft. Add more boiling water over time if needed. Drain and set aside to cool enough to handle.

2. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix [250g sugar, 300g almonds, baking powder & the crushed cardamom seeds]. Make a well in the middle.

3. Cut the clementines in half and check for seeds. Then blitz them into a pulp in a food processor.

4. Put the pulped fruit, vanilla extract and eggs in the well of the dry ingredients and gently mix everything together.

5. Pour the mix into your springform tin and bake at 160 degrees fan / 180 normal for 55 minutes

6. Make the syrup in a pan by dissolving 50 g of caster sugar in the juice of the clementines and lemon. Allow to gently simmer with the cinnamon stick in for about 5 minutes. Sieve and set aside.

7. When the cake comes out it should have an even rise and a golden brown colour. Make some holes in it with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cake and leave it in the tin for an hour.

8. Release the tin and turn out the cake and serve with the grated chocolate garnish on top.

I absolutely must stop making cakes now. This was the final one on my list. I think I have enough in my repertoire to be proud of and can safely say 2013 was the year of the baking! I need to now go back on a diet and kick this sugar habit that I've picked up, as that's the only way to lose weight! 2014 - the year of the diet..Now which diet should I go for ... hmmm.. the no more cake diet I guess...