Super Simple Sephardic Orange Cake

I think, apart from shortbread, this may have been the first cake I ever baked. I first saw the recipe in the UK's Times back in 2005 by Jill Dupleix. I still have the cutting from the paper.

There has been a gap since my last posting, a very dear friend of mine passed away.
When I came home from the funeral, I guess I just wanted some comfort food - so this very simple and easy to follow recipe was just the ticket.
Regardless of age difference she was a great mate, and her Granddaughter is planning to become a baker.

Maeve was a great gardener, far better than I, with flowers and fruit trees in particular. I would send her tulip bulbs every year from Holland when I was living or working there.
Something that makes me both happy and sad is that on her last trip home from Hospital a few bulbs from two years ago decided to put on a show for her, and her favorites - a deep dark purple type - were in full flower, and this posting is dedicated to the fond memory of a woman who meant a great deal to a great many people.

I think she would have loved Seville where the streets are lined with beautiful pruned orange trees.
The Spanish don't really like this type of orange, Seville oranges are thick-skinned and bitter; good for marmalade-making.
The other orange, the navel, is the one eaten, sliced into salads of onions and olives or pressed into juice.
But they do use the Seville orange to make this flourless cake, suitable for those with issues with gluten.
This is one of two flourless cakes I bake, the other - Fataipanni, I will write up soon.

The cakes origins are in the Sephardic tradition. These were the Jewish diaspora in Iberia before their expulsion in the late 15th century.

This light and delicious half cake-half sponge is very easy to do and can be prepped in two simple ways.
I kind of plan to enter in in the Clifden Pony Show this year so wish me luck.

Ingredients
3 medium oranges
6 eggs, separated
200g sugar
200g ground almonds
1tsp baking powder

Method
 Place the clean, whole and unpeeled fruit in water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1½ hours or until soft, adding more water when necessary.
Drain the oranges, cut into quarters, discard any major pips, and whiz the rest, including peel, in the food-processor, then cool.
Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until pale.
Beat in the oranges, almonds, and baking powder.
Beat the egg whites until softly peaky and fold gently into the mixture.

Pour into a 23cm /9" spring form cake tin and bake for an hour, until firm to the touch (cover with a loose sheet of foil if over-browning). Cool in the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

In this case I did the cake mix in two tins and filled with lime flavoured whipped cream, served with my own homegrown strawberries

Sometimes, as I did in this case, I divide the mixture into two tins and bake for about 35 minutes- that way with a whipped cream filling the cake can be served up more as a sponge cake.