Featured comment:
What a wonderful cake! My daughter couldn’t stop eating another slice. It came out just like your photo, and tastes like a fresh orange pound cake. I’m in love! ~ Lilly
My flourless tangerine cake is made without any flour or oil ~ yet it’s fluffy, moist, and fabulous!
This is one of those times you just have to take my word for it, and give this unique flourless tangerine cake a try. The minute you spot great tangerines, put this easy recipe on your to-do list, you won’t regret it.
This gluten free cake is made with whole tangerines, peel and all!
Cakes made with whole citrus fruits have always fascinated me. The concept comes from the sunny island of Sicily, where citrus trees grow like weeds. The fruit is boiled, de-seeded, and processed into a brilliant orange puree. The puree is blended with eggs, sugar, and almond flour, poured into a tart pan, and baked into the moistest, most delicate, tangerine cake you’ve ever tasted. This is an experience not to be missed.
what you’ll need for flourless tangerine cake
- fresh juicy tangerines
- the better your fruit, the tastier your cake will be.
- eggs
- white sugar
- almond meal or almond flour
- baking powder
- Amaretto, optional
- confectioner’s sugar for dusting
I use a high speed blender to make a tangerine puree
It’s hard to believe that the boiled tangerines, above, will magically morph into such a delightfully fluffy cake with so few ingredients and such minimal effort. It blows my mind every time. I used my Vitamix, which does an amazing job blitzing the tangerines into a silky puree, but any good food processor will work.
The right pan for this recipe
I bake my flourless tangerine cake in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom so I can lift it out for serving and cutting. (You can also use a cheesecake pan.) The cake bakes up moist and dense, but with a light, almost sponge cake texture. I know it sounds strange, but it really is light and dense at the same time.
This tangerine cake is moist enough to make ahead
The cake slices like a dream, and will stay most for several days at room temperature. If you’d like to make it a day ahead, dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
decorating the cake with a lace effect
To get the pretty lace effect lay a doily or piece of lace on top of the cooled cake and then sift powdered sugar over all. Carefully life off the lace and voila! Don’t be afraid to try, you can always cover up with a solid layer of powered sugar if necessary.
See my post on How to Decorate a Cake with Lace for detailed instructions on how to achieve this pretty and surprisingly easy look. The technique is so versatile and can be used for all kinds of special occasion desserts from the winter holidays, to Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, etc.
Sometimes the message of a post can get drowned out by all the text and photos…so I’ll just put it here in plain black and white~
Try this, it’s sensational.
After making this cake in 2012 I went on to make a FLOURLESS WHOLE MEYER LEMON CAKE in 2013 which is wonderful, too. I’m already experimenting with pink grapefruit and blood oranges ~ I’ll keep you posted 😉
Tips for making flourless tangerine cake
- use good, sweet, seasonal tangerines…your cake will be as good as your fruit, so choose the best!
- Since you will be using the whole fruit, I recommend organic tangerines, if possible.
- Weigh the puree so that you get the proper amount in your cake. It should be 11 1/2 ounces.
- You can experiment with flavoring this cake. I added Amaretto on a whim, and you could use other spirits like Grand Marnier. You could also leave out the alcohol and use some vanilla or almond extract.
Flourless Tangerine Cake
Equipment
- 9 inch spring form pan or tart pan with removeable bottom
Ingredients
- 1 pound tangerines to make 11 1/2 ounces of puree, approximately 5-6, but weigh them
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 cups almond meal or almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp Amaretto, optional
- confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F Butter a 9 inch spring form pan
- Step one is the only time consuming part of this cake. Wash your tangerines and put them in a saucepan covered with cold water. (They’ll float, but don’t worry about that) Bring to a boil, and boil for a full 15 minutes. The boiling removes the bitterness in the citrus skin.
- Drain and let the tangerines cool for a bit. Slice them in half, and then in half again. Remove any seeds and discard, but do this on a plate so you don’t lose any juice or pulp. Put it all in a food processor and process until completely smooth. You may have to stop and scrape down the sides a few times. My finished puree weighed 11 1/2 oz, (about a cup) and I highly recommend weighing the puree and only using the 11 1/2 ounces. Too much puree will throw off the balance of ingredients in this cake.
- Set aside, or refrigerate until the next day if you want to do this ahead.
- The rest is a one bowl deal: Beat the eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Fold in the almond meal, orange pulp, baking powder, and Amaretto, if using. Mix until well combined.
- Pour into your prepared tart pan and smooth out evenly.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the cake is browning too fast, cover loosely with a sheet of foil.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan to finish cooling.
- Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Decorate with some citrus zest if you like.
This looks delish; but I’ve never had luck baking with almond meal. In fact, I had to throw out my last 3 baking projects that involved almond meal (2 batches of cookies and a batch of muffins). Any substitutions that you can think of? Would cornmeal work?
I make my own almond meal with the coffee grinder but it is so time consuming. You can control how mealy to make the ground almonds. I have good luck using freshly ground almonds. Wishing you well, throwing away almond meal can be costly.
also the second time making this in the past 5 days… thanksgiving, and right now.making with cuties mandarins, and came back in to check the temp…. and remember I guessed since I dint see it. 350 is what I cooked at.yum.M-
Sue, I’ve made this cake twice in the last 10 days and it’s fantastic! I made it with coconut sugar and threw in unsweetened coconut slices. Now I can claim it as a health food! hahahah I’m going to take your suggestion and make it with meyer lemons next. Thanks for all the great recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that, Sue…now I’ve added ruby red grapefruit to my list of variations! I have never heard of coconut sugar, I’m going to have to investigate…
This cake looks so unique and amazing. I’m curious though…In your ingredient list you call for baking powder, but in the instructions you refer to adding baking soda. Can you clarify? I’d love to make this recipe soon!
Thanks!
Arrrrgggh! So sorry, I just fixed it, and thanks for noticing Becca!
Hi Sue! This cake looks absolutely gorgeous and oh so delicious! And stunning pictures, too 🙂
Thanks Dana, it was very unusual and I’m looking forward to making it again.
this is my favourite all time cake… I make it with whole oranges and cinnamon and my recipe boils them for 2 hours!, skin and all and then puree… it makes the house smell of Christmas!
I’ve heard of that, boiling for 2 hours, but I wonder why, I didn’t taste any bitterness after the 30 minute boiling? Citrus really is the unsung hero of the holidays, the smell of this one every step of the way was intoxicating.
Very nice Sue. I love a citrus cake – so fresh and beautiful.
I’m so glad it’s citrus season again, I’m just as passionate about it as some people are about tomato season!
Why is it that almost every time I click on your site, my mouth starts to water? Oh my, this looks so moist and delicious! I love tangerines and clementines and can’t seem to get enough when they’re in season ……………. and you just reminded me that the season has arrived!
I know, doesn’t it always seem odd that citrus season is in winter?
This looks amazing, Sue. I’ve never heard of pureeing the whole fruit before. I need to try something like this asap! I’m fascinated by the idea.
P.S. It always makes me grin when my “year ago today” post pairs with my post for the day!
Even though it’s a pain to search back through the blog and do it, I just love the surprise of what pops up for that one year ago day. It really reinforces the seasonal rhythms.
Very tastefully and beautiful! I’ve always wanted to try baking flourless cake. I’ll add this to my baking list to bake.
No, for some reason, I haven’t tried an olive oil cake, and I’ve noticed some great sounding recipes. That’s next on my list. Thanks for visiting, Donna.