I often bake this in the depths of winter, around Christmas when oranges are a regular part of the festivities. The tradition of placing an orange in Christmas stockings dates back to times when they were a much rarer commodity than today. They were considered a luxury and therefore a really special treat.
Even in these times of plenty, this cake makes a lovely moist alternative to the heavier fruit cakes that are often baked at this time of year. The subtle tones of citrusy flavour give all the more reason to bake this cake. Just don’t forget to pour a drizzle of fresh clementine juice over the loaf to give it that zingy oomph!
Clementine drizzle cake
Course: Dessert or snackDifficulty: Easy8
servings30
minutes1
hour10
minutes1
hour40
minutesIngredients
200g self-raising flour
200g soft unsalted butter
150g golden caster sugar
50g ground almonds
Zest of one orange
Zest of 2 clementines
Juice of 4 clementines
3 eggs beaten
30ml milk
2 tbsp icing sugar
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 180 celsius.
- Prepare a 1kg loaf tin by lining with baking paper. Spread a little butter over the cake facing side of the paper.
- Whisk the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the zest.
- Add the beaten eggs a little at a time while continuing to whisk.
- Fold in the flour and ground almonds using a spoon.
- Add the juice of 2 clementines and milk and mix in with the spoon.
- Pour the cake mixture into the loaf tin and put in the oven to bake to 60-70 minutes.
- Prepare the ‘drizzle’ by mixing the remaining clementine juice and icing sugar.
- Remove the cake from the oven when cooked through and pour over the drizzle. Allow time for it to soak in before serving.
Notes
- The zest in this recipe gives it a wonderful flavour and adds texture. You can use various tools to zest any citrus fruit, a specialist zester tool, a general purpose fine grater or even a vegetable peeler. Whichever you use just make sure you only remove the outermost coloured part of the skin where all those aromatic citrus oils are found. The pale pith below will only add bitterness to your cake.
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