Sinead’s Tunisian Almond and Orange Cake

Before Christmas, I had been tweetering about my lack of grace when it came to baking. I was on the look out for simple, fool-proof recipes that might help build up my confidence when it came to cakes.

Sinead Ryan (@sineadryan) came to my assistance by emailing me her tried and tested recipe for a Tunisian Almond and Orange cake. She had made it for many a dinner guest and promised that it always turned out delectable.

I have since made this cake about seven times, and each time it has turned out without a snag and barely a pearl of sweat sweeping my brow. It’s a very straight-forward and simple cake, with a devastatingly sweet yet easy-to-make citrus syrup to drizzle over the top. It genuinely tastes better the day after baking which makes it extra brilliant if you’re cooking for a crowd and want to get the dessert well out of the way!

What you need for Sinead’s Almond and Orange Cake

For the cake

45g of slightly stale white breadcrumbs

200g of caster sugar 

100g of ground almonds

1 and a half level teaspoons of baking powder

200ml of sunflower or vegetable oil

4 medium free-range eggs

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon

For the syrup

85g of caster sugar

Juice of one orange

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick 

Start by pre-heating your oven to 190C/170C fan/Gas Mark 5. 

In a large bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, caster sugar, ground almonds and baking powder.

In a measuring jug, mix together 200ml of vegetable oil, 4 large eggs and the orange and lemon zests.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold the wet egg mixture into the dry ingredients until well blended. You will have a really wet and sloppy mix. 

Grease a 23cm springform cake tin with a bit of butter.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put into the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer placed into the centre comes out clean. It will be a little oily but that’s good.

Allow the cake to cool in its tin. Once cooled, transfer it to a deep-ish plate so that your syrup will be able to collect around the cake.

Before serving, make your syrup. Put the caster sugar, lemon and orange juices, cloves and cinnamon stick in a small frying pan. Bring it to the boil and simmer, stirring constantly, for three minutes.

Allow it to cool slightly and you’ll see it’ll be lovely and syrupy.

Using a skewer, poke lots of little holes all over your cake. Now pour the syrup all over the cake, making sure to evenly soak the whole thing. 

Serve warm with a dollop of creme fraiche on the side. 

Simple! If you’re making a slightly Moroccan or Middle Eastern themed dinner, there couldn’t be a better end to it than this cake. Such a wonderfully simple yet rewarding cake recipe. Thanks again, Sinéad!

KITCHEN TUNE

Here’s a clip of Tunisian violinist and viola d’amore player Jasser Haj Youssef performing La Médina. It’s not the best quality – a man walks past the screen at one point – but it’s pretty evocative of that fascinating part of the world.

Categories: Baking, Dessert

41 Comments

  1. OH my god I have ALL those ingredients in my house right now – am totally gonna make this in the morning

  2. For someone who is rubbish at cake making, it sounds as though even I could do this one. Off to get an orange tomorrow.

    • It’s brilliantly simple, Carol. Although you can’t tell that by the taste of it. A super cake recipe, especially for beginners like you and I!

  3. Aoife, this sounds like a really delicious cake. I’m always on the search of tasty cakes that don’t really require a frosting. I’m going to give this a go this week!

  4. I am definately on this one. Looks amazing!

  5. WOW, I could really get with this Aoife…….(can you tell I am catching up on your posts??) I remember you tweeting about this and it sounded so good! Can’t believe it’s made with breadcrumbs! Def trying this too! Perhaps will do: Halloumi starter, artichoke tart then this cake for dessert????????? NOM. All best, Imen xx

  6. Sinead made this for me…. it is flippin AWESOME!!!

  7. Pingback: Recipe n 4: How a Tunisian orange cake becomes a lemon and ginger polenta cake | A year in West Cork

  8. The first time I made this, I misread the recipe and used 200g of crumbs and baked it for 50 minutes at 180C. It was wonderful and moist, lasted three days. Thinking I must have been lucky to get such results in spite of not sticking to the recipe, I made another one just the same – also stunning. So, feeling brave, I made a cake just using two lemons rather than the orange and lemon and it is great. Next stop a lime and orange cake ….. Many thanks, Sinead for the inspiration that has revolutionised cake making in our home at least (North Yorkshire, UK). ebk

  9. The write-up offers verified helpful to us. It’s quite
    educational and you really are obviously extremely well-informed of this type.

    You get popped my sight to various opinion of this particular matter with intriguing,
    notable and strong written content.

  10. I’ve seen so many comments on this that I couldn’t be more perplexed.

  11. Thankfulness to my father who shared with me regarding this website, this webpage is
    genuinely remarkable.

    Please check out how to get free ghost camo

  12. An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a coworker who
    was doing a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me breakfast due to the fact that I found it for him.
    .. lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!
    ! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to talk about this subject
    here on your website.

  13. I’ve just taken my orange cake out of the oven and its turned out green, with a very oily and eggy taste.I followed the receipe, where did I go wrong?

  14. I made this cake and it came out okay but, I thought it was greasy. Could 200mls of oil be right?? Would it be okay to use less oil? I read another similar recipe and I saw it only had 100 grams of butter in it.

  15. I think the admin of this web page is truly working hard
    for his site, for the reason that here every information is quality based material.

  16. I feel this is one of the such a lot vital info for me.
    And i’m glad studying your article. However want to commentary on
    some common issues, The web site style is ideal, the
    articles is in reality excellent : D. Good
    activity, cheers

  17. I make this too. It is just fabulous! :)

  18. Good way of explaining, and pleasant paragraph to obtain
    data about my presentation topic, which i am going to deliver in academy.

  19. I rarely leave a response, but i did a few
    searching and wound up here Sinead’s Tunisian Almnond and Orange Cake –
    I Can Has Cook? – Irish Food Blogger. And I do have a couple of questions for you if it’s allright.

    Could it be only me or dooes it look like a few of these responses
    come across like they are coming from brain dead visitors?
    :-P And, if you are posting at additional online social sites, I would like tto keep up with everything fresh you have to post.
    Would you make a list of every one of alll your community pages like your linkeedin profile, Facebook page or teitter feed?

  20. Hiya! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to make
    your site mobile friendly? My website looks weird when viewing
    from my iphone. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be
    able to correct this problem. If you have any recommendations,
    please share. With thanks!

  21. With havin so much written content do you ever run into any
    problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique content
    I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web
    without my authorization. Do you know any methods
    to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.

  22. Pretty! This has been a really wonderful article.
    Many thanks for providing this info.

  23. magnificent publish, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts
    of this sector do not realize this. You must continue
    your writing. I am sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  24. What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It absolutely helpful and
    it has helped me out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & help different customers like its aided me.
    Good job.

  25. Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
    After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!

  26. magnificent points altogether, you just gained a emblem new reader.

    What could you recommend about your publish that you just made some days ago?
    Any certain?

  27. I think what you published made a great deal
    of sense. But, what about this? what if you added a little content?
    I mean, I don’t wish to tell you how to run your blog,
    however suppose you added a title to possibly get folk’s attention?
    I mean Sinead’s Tunisian Almond and Orange Cake – I Can Has Cook?
    - Irish Food Blogger is a little vanilla. You should look
    at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they create
    post headlines to get viewers to click. You might
    add a related video or a related picture or two to grab people excited about everything’ve got to say.
    In my opinion, it would bring your posts a little livelier.

  28. Good respond in return of this query with real arguments
    and describing everything on the topic of that.

  29. I constantly emailed this web site post page to
    all my friends, for the reason that if loke to read it afterward my contacts wiill too.

  30. A great deal of tremendous information on this great site, really want a steam shower
    unit within my bathroom

  31. What’s Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve
    found It positively useful and it has aided me
    out loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & help different
    users like its aided me. Good job.

  32. When you are going to chop up cheese, chocolate and some meat, these soft ingredients can be chopped better if they
    are moderately stiff. In contrast to the standard kitchen devices, these highly energy efficient and adaptable appliances have
    become the preference for many. The 27,000 RPM
    motor will blend soups, smoothies, milkshakes, foods, sauces, and any other food or drink that needs pureed.
    Attempt mixing orange, banana and pineapple for a scrumptious exotic thrill or
    mix grape and cranberry for more anti-oxidants. Use your favorite
    of the many protein powders available, choosing either vanilla or chocolate flavored
    powders. There is probably a build-up of food slowing the blades.
    In place of the old paper used in the steps above, wood can also
    be used to make recycled paper note cards. As a result, this blender is technologically advanced with a
    trademarked Smart-Touch Technology that takes the mystery out
    of blending and food processing. The only real cleaning that will need to be done is
    the food processor and hopefully there are others around to do that job.

    The refreshed menu, instead of merely echoing the local tastes, brings
    island flavor to the locals while incorporating a touch of the familiar.
    Finding a quieter noised blender will cost more money.
    If this habit continues, it might not be lengthy before you suffer from all
    types of wellness difficulties. For a bar operation, a commercial
    blender will combine the essential ingredients for the perfect
    cocktail. It is more than just a juicer or a traditional blender, it
    can emulsify your vegetables, create amazing smoothies, grind
    coffee, create peanut butter and so much more.

    Mycook solves every problem you encounter during
    your food preparation and cooking.

  33. I know I know, you have some sort of fiberglass material attached to the underside of the
    hood, isn’t that soundproofing. Like Digital Performer, it also performs
    best when teamed with proprietary hardware. If the resilient (floated
    ceiling) is installed as per manufacturers instructions, there will be approximately a.

  34. If you want to improve your experience simply keep visiting this web
    page and be updated with the latest information posted here.

  35. The consumers who tried the product said that it is pain free and affordable.
    Patients with light skin and dark hair would benefit the most from laser hair removal.

    Assuming you have never gotten a wax hair removal before and are having this procedure done for
    the 1st time, in which case you may wish to numb your nerves
    to reduce any possible discomfort. Medical IPL laser hair removal can also be
    used for permanent laser hair removal. It is
    the best and most painless way of getting rid of the unwanted
    hair. Unless you’re a festival contortionist or Stretch Armstrong, shaving your own back provides some severe overall flexibility issues.
    The product is known to deliver great and longer lasting results.
    Each treatment takes 5 to 25 minutes and is done with
    utmost care and precision. For a particularly troublesome clog, try warming up
    the vinegar before pouring it down the drain. When I heard about it a few months
    ago, I immediately looked around for some No No
    Hair removal reviews to find out whether this product is actually
    as good as it is made out to be. Stop blow drying hair at the moment to dry their hair.
    Over the wax, there is normally a pressed fabric strip which will then be ripped off quickly sufficient
    to guarantee that the hair and the dead pores and skin cells are
    removed completely with the wax. These are the brushes that
    hair stylists utilize whenever a customer with curly
    hair frequents their salon. Laser hair removal is a technique
    that provides, as the FDA likes to say, permanent hair reduction.
    In my case I was able to observe the difference by as early as
    2nd week.