Clementine Cardamom Cake

Citrus desserts, anyone? Yes, please! I love anything with citrus. I also love to bake. When I stumbled upon a recipe by Nigella Lawson, I thought this was the perfect citrus cake. It was a sure hit for my lactose intolerant husband because there is no dairy. Hurray for me! It’s also gluten-free. This cake keeps on getting better and better!

The clementine cardamom cake is one of those cakes that tastes better the longer it sits. It’s also a very forgiving cake. Sometimes, I serve it with a chocolate ganache. Sometimes powdered sugar and sometimes I flavor it with cardamom. That’s how I made it for this recipe. The floral taste of  cardamom goes so well with the orange. Plus, I had to add my Indian twist to the cake by adding cardamom. Here is how I make it:

You need about 5-6 seedless clementines. Make sure there are no seeds. If you cannot find seedless, you will have to remove them. I didn’t have 5-6 clementines. I had 2 clementines and a navel orange. That will do. As long as you have about a pound of citrus.

You will need to cook the clementines whole. I like to microwave them since it is the fastest way to cook them. I add them to a bowl with about 2 cups of water and nuke them for about 6 minutes.

Once they are cooked, let them cool for about an hour. Now here is my favorite part. You add ALL the ingredients to a food processor and blend. Yes all the ingredients, including the orange peel. Yes, you read that correctly. The WHOLE orange gets blended with all the other ingredients. Trust me on this. It will not be bitter.

Once it is all blended, add to your prepared cake pan.

Bake for 40 minutes and you are done. Let it cool. Once it has cooled, enjoy a slice. How easy was that?