Thursday, December 06, 2007

Mini Flourless Orange & Cardamom Cakes


I’m back! As you can imagine the last couple of weeks have been crazy, what with Christmas parties & getting ready to move & I’ve barely started the packing or shopping for that matter. Today I had a couple of the girls over for what is probably my last bit of entertaining in this house before the move in 2 weeks time. It will be sad to leave this home of the last 4 years which has been perfect but it is a new adventure we will be embarking on which is very exciting too. Lunch was grazing food, about all that Chloe lets me get up to these days & everyone else was bringing along children & a plate too. We had marinated olives, a lovely spicy red capsicum & chickpea dip on crostini, ham, prosciutto, marinated octopus, cheeses, breads, dolmades & a beautiful salad. To finish off a fresh summer fruit platter & these gorgeous mini cakes which were a cinch to make. To save time I cooked the oranges last night & today it was just a matter of throwing everything into the food processor, baking & icing, yum. Note – the icing is very generous, I could easily have used half this quantity & still had a good coating on each cake. The recipe was in Delicious, a few issues back.

Mini Flourless Orange & Cardamom Cakes

Makes 18

2 oranges
250g caster sugar
6 eggs
2 cups (250g) almond meal
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn ground cardamom
1 cup flaked almonds, toasted

Icing
500g icing sugar, sifted
125g cream cheese
Juice of 2 lemons
25g unsalted butter, softened

Place the oranges in a saucepan, cover with cold water & bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low & simmer for 1 hour or until soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove oranges & cool. Discard the liquid.

Preheat oven to 170c fan forced. Line the 18 holes (1/3 cup) of muffins pans with paper cases. Quarter the oranges, then remove any core & seeds. Place in a food processor & process until smooth. Add the sugar & process to combine. Add the eggs & process to combine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and fold in the almond meal, baking powder & cardamom. Divide the mixture evenly between the patty cases & bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove & cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for the icing, process all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Spread the top of each cake with some icing & sprinkle with the nuts.

7 comments:

Cindy said...

There are so many great flourless orange cakes around already, but I really like the addition of cardamom to this one - great choice!

All the best for the move.

Kiki said...

Ange, isn't cream cheese based icing THE BEST?!!!! I'm afraid if there's an excess of the stuff when I'm baking it goes straight into my tummy. Oops.

I know just what you mean about it being a little sad leaving your house, I felt like that too when we left the house that Miss A was "born into" but onwards and upwards I suppose. At least you're not too far away that you can't stop by and visit. Be sure to take some pictures of the three of you out the front so you've got them for Chloe's album.

Rosie said...

Hi ange, great to *see* you back and in good form with your baking :) These cupcakes sound and look delicious...

I can understand you feeling a little sad on your move too! You must have many fond memories of your old house.

Rosie x

Cakelaw said...

Yum -these look and sound great!

gianna said...

Wow, I'm so happy that you put this recipe up. It's my favourite and I've lost my magazine. Thank goodness for the internet.
P.s these cupcakes really are delicious!

Kat said...

Are you almost settled yet? I miss your write ups!! Please come back.

Ange said...

Hi Cara, I'm almost settled & guess what I even have an internet connection after nearly 3 weeks of hassles so i promise to start blogging again soon!