Clementine Cake or Meyer Lemon Torte - Kosher for Passover, Gluten Free

10" bake, 2018

This recipe was in the New York Times, not for Passover.  A little research gleans it is a Nigella Lawson recipe.  There are many reviews and versions around on line. [subsequent update: Nigella Lawson is friends with Claudia Roden, and she has an earlier verysion of this cake: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3251-claudia-rodens-orange-and-almond-cake].

I modified it by omitting the baking powder and separating the eggs, and beating the egg whites. Very similar to Grandma Bunny's famous Carrot Torte which was a Seder staple in Salt Lake City.  (just boiled carrots rather then clementines.)

Preamble: you must boil the clementines for 1 hour. Then they need to cool.
Don't make this at the end of a busy day!! And it improves with a day's mellowing - good to make it in advance. I prefer it chilled.

*Almond flour is very fine. I run some whole almonds through the food processor and then added enough almond flour for 2 cups, to add some texture.

Preheat oven to 350.

5 medium clementines ( 1 lb.)
spray oil or margarine (or butter if it's dairy)
6 eggs [separated if it's a cake for Passover]
[2 t. baking powder - if it's not Passover, you can skip the egg separating and beating and use the baking powder]
1 c. sugar
1 t. salt
2 cups ground almonds or almond flour - *a mixture would be nice

Spray a 8", 9" or 10" spring form pan with oil. A smaller diameter makes for a deeper cake, which - all things being equal - I think is better. 8" works really nicely, and it's easier to plate and transport.

Place unpeeled clementines in water and boil for 1 hour. Watch them, especially if you aren't familiar with the stove. I burned the whole batch in Chestertown 2021, our first Pesach there, as the gas burner's lowest setting was still quite high. All the water boiled off. [Fixed that with the 70th Birthday Induction Stove!]

Cool clementines, slice, take out the seeds. Run through the food processor or blender in one or two batches, and it becomes a pulp.  Set aside.

[Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in another LARGE mixing bowl.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.]

Beat the eggs (or yolks, if you're separating) and add the sugar, salt, clementines, and almonds. If you're not separating, just put all the eggs right in the blender.

[Carefully fold in the egg whites until the batter is uniform.]

Pour into the greased spring form and bake for an hour.  Check after about 40 minutes and cover the top with a tin if it is over-browning. The sides might burn first.  The cake is very dense, so it does need the hour.

I spoke up for this large duck plate on Buy Nothing Group. It's perfect for one whole Passover cake. When you take it out of the springform pan (a tricky maneuver) and slide it onto this serving tray, it will go a little concave. This makes a perfect depression to add berries. This year (2020 - year of the plague) we filled it with blackberries. It was both beautiful and delicious.

This can be baked in the Breville oven.

Serves at least 12.

This cake is really good chilled. Yummy breakfast, too.

Meyer Lemon variation:
This recipe is the same, but with Meyer Lemons. Same idea, and same way to convert it for Passover by beating the egg whites and eliminating the baking powder.

   5 meyer lemons (approx. 500g total, or 1.1 lbs)
   1 to 1.5 c. sugar (meyer lemons are less sweet than         clementines)
   2 cups almond flour finely ground
   5 large eggs
   1 tsp baking powder

Here are measurements for 2/3 of the recipe above.

2 to 3 meyer lemons (10.5 oz)

3/4 to 1 1/8 c sugar

1 1/3 c almond flour

4 eggs

3/4 t baking powder.

An easy chocolate glaze:

1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 c. cocoa powder, sifted

Gradually add water, a few drops at a time, until you can spread it. This isn't stiff enough to frost the sides but makes a nice chocolately top.

I have collected smaller pans. This is one recipe divided between a 7" and a 5" pan.
Grease/spray the pan, and bake it for ~50 minutes at 350. In the Breville.
This is becoming my favorite cake, and I've baked them to give as gifts for people.