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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
Video
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.
Anyone tried this with lemons? I have made the tangerine one several times and love it!
I have another recipe for a flourless whole lemon cake, Lisa — it’s here: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/flourless-whole-meyer-lemon-cake/
Hi, I don’t have a 9″ springform pan, but have a 6″ one and several 4″ ones. I’d like to make it in the pans I have already instead of buying a new one, so wondered how high to fill my pans if using the 6″ and 4″ pans? How long should I bake them for in these smaller sizes? Thanks!
I’m sorry I can’t tell you for sure Joanne. I generally fill springform pans about half full, and you will have to check them for baking time. They should be firm in the center.
Would limes work well for this?
Limes would be too bitter, Taffeny, sorry!
hi do you boil the tangerines skins and all? or do you remove the skins of the tangerines first then boil just the flesh?
can I also use just regular unbleached white flour for this receipe?
The whole tangerine, skins and all, Kathy! And I ‘m not sure about the regular flour, it would make a different texture, for sure, and my instinct is to say it will not work. If you do try, please let me know how it comes out!
Just made this for my friend’s 50th Birthday Party. Came out looking great, can’t wait to taste it.
UPDATE: Yum! It was fantastic!! Thanks for the great recipe. A hit at the party and even the kids loved it. The tangerines were still a little bitter, so not sure if a half hour was enough for me but I had already cut it, so let it be as is. I added vanilla as one reader had mentioned but other than that stayed true to the original recipe. Delicious and will definitely be making it again.
Thanks for the update Ruwani!
This looks delicious! I don’t have a spring form pan, though. Will it be ok in a regular pie pan?
If it has the same diameter it will be fine, Grace, it just won’t pop out, you’ll have to cut it in the pan.
Thank you!
I just made this cake today with oranges instead of tangerines, as well as oat flour instead of almond. It was fantastic! It was quite dense though; if anyone is going to use oat flour like I did, I suggest using only 2 1/2 cups instead of the 3. Also, I upped the sugar by half a cup. With the oat flour, it needs a bit more sugar. I topped the cake a thick orange glaze and it made it even more delicious 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
Oooh, that glaze sounds good! Thanks for the info on the alterations, I do love oat flour.
Oh good, I was just looking at this recipe and wondering if oranges would be OK as I have a glut of them at the moment. How many oranges did you use, Christin?
I’d love to try this recipe, but just missed tangerine season. Oranges are plentiful though and I’d like to try them in this recipe. Do I need to do anything different when substituting with oranges?
I’d also like to use coconut sugar.. and whipped coconut cream would be tasty on top. How long will this cake last? And can leftovers be frozen for later? Thanks!
Oranges will work fine, Joanne, just use the same amount of puree. I haven’t worked with coconut sugar, but I assume you can substitute it, and the cake should last about a week. I did not freeze mine, but I think that should be fine too. Let us know how yours turns out!
This is just what I have been looking for. I am allergic to chocolate but always looking for the dense, moist texture that comes from flourless chocolate cake. This recipe delivered!
I’m glad, Laura, and I love tangerines, too. There is something about their flavor that sets them apart from other citrus.
Hi Sue
Love your recipes, I tried this and substituted figs(6 dried and then rehydrated overnight) for the sugar and mandarins for the fruit It was delicious. Thank you
Great to hear, Lorraine, I would never have thought to use figs in place of sugar!