passover week 2025 - flourless orange cake with a citrus compote

passover week 2025 - flourless orange cake with a citrus compote

• 20 Mar 2025

Each year I grapple with what to make for Passover week. I go to the shops and I buy bags of almond meal, kilos of butter, dozens of eggs and a fresh bag of superfine matzo meal. For Passover week, I want a mix of simple and more elaborate recipes. I don't want everything to be chocolate flavoured. I want some nut free options. I want to make sure there is a dairy free option/gluten free option. I don't want everything to be a meringue variant. I like to have something that's pastry based. The list goes on and on.

Today's bake is both gluten free and dairy free, so it's perfect to serve after a meat based meal. The cake is a variation of Claudia Roden's famous orange and almond cake without the baking powder, because of Passover, and without the  boiled orange because I find the cake made that way is too bitter for my taste buds. Instead I grate the rind from the orange, remove the pith and puree the orange, whilst beaten egg whites provide the 'lift'. The cake can be dressed up or dressed down. You can serve it simply dusted with icing sugar or topped with an orange flavoured icing or in this case as a dessert, served with an elegant orange compote inspired by a Danielle Alvarez recipe. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17 cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Flourless Orange Cake with a Citrus Compote – makes a 17cm cake
Ingredients
1-2 large oranges
3 large eggs, separated
pinch salt
110g caster sugar
100g almond meal
25g potato or tapioca starch
1 tsp homemade vanilla extract or the seeds of ½ vanilla bean
Icing sugar, for serving

Orange compote
1 large orange juiced - reserve the peel 
135g caster sugar
½ lemon, juiced
Pinch of fine sea salt
3 navel oranges

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and line a 17-cm springform tin with baking paper. Set it to one side.

Finely grate the orange. Peel the orange removing all the white pith. Cut the orange into quarters, removing the seeds then puree the orange segments in a small food processor. I had 150mls of orange puree.

Place the egg yolks, a pinch of salt and 85g of the sugar, in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat for 3-5 minutes on medium high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the orange rind and the orange puree, the almond meal, the potato starch and the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
Place the egg whites and a pinch of salt in a clean dry bowl and using electric hand beaters, beat until soft peaks form. Gradually mix in 25g sugar and beat until it medium peaks form. 

Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the whites into the orange mixture, then pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean; begin checking at the 35 minute mark. 

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, before unmoulding then let the cake cool completely. To serve, dust with icing sugar and decorate with orange slices. If you like, you can serve the cake with orange compote.

Make the syrup
Finely shred the reserved orange peel then blanch the peel in boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain, then repeat this step. Pour 135g of orange juice into a saucepan (top up with water if you don’t have enough juice) and add the sugar and the blanched orange peel. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the syrup has thickened and the peel is cooked. Take the pan off the heat and leave the syrup to cool completely before storing in the fridge until needed. 

Citrus compote
While the syrup cools, use a small paring knife to remove all the white pith from the oranges, then cut the segments out. Using a small, sharp knife, run the blade along the inside of the dividing membranes of the orange, popping out each neat, naked segment as you go. Turn the membranes over like the pages of a book as you make your way around the orange. 

Squeeze any juice that is left in the core into the syrup, then add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt to the syrup and then taste - it should taste fresh and sweet. Add the orange segments into the cooled syrup. 

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2025.

Bye for now,

Jillian