Sunday, April 19, 2015

Sugar-Free Clementine Cake



My friend Shiela is very fond of the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in which, interestingly, Clementine Cake is featured prominently. After multiple viewings, she became so intrigued with the idea of this cake that she Googled it, immediately found a great recipe from The New York Times, baked it, and raved about it. I have never seen the movie, but when she described the recipe to me, I knew immediately that it was a winner, and one that I could easily adapt to sugar-free goodness. The results? Oh, this is good. The crumb is moist, the flavor intense, the crust chewy.... Excellent for breakfast or afternoon tea; full of protein and fiber. I can see making this into individual tea cakes, too....

Sugar-Free Clementine Cake

Adapted from The New York Times


  • 5 medium clementines or tangerines (1 pound)
  • Spray cooking oil
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar substitute (I am loving Swerve!)  
    ¼ cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups almond flour or meal (Bob's Redmill and Trader Joe's are great sources)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

 

Poached Clementines

PREPARATION

  1. Place whole unpeeled clementines in a medium-sized sauce pan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours, adding more water as needed. Remove clementines with a slotted spoon and, once cool enough to handle, halve and remove any seeds or other hard bits. Purée in a food processor, immersion or conventional blender and set aside. (May be done up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated.)
  2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking oil, line bottom with parchment paper and spray paper with oil.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together with the melted butter, sugar substitute, salt and clementine purée. Add the almond flour and baking powder and stir until just combined.
  4. Pour into prepared pan and bake until edges are golden brown and starting to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Transfer to wire rack set over baking sheet. After 10 minutes, run a knife around edge of pan to loosen cake; remove cake from pan. Peel off parchment paper and return cake to wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with dusting of powdered sugar or with chocolate glaze or candied clementines, or both.