Today’s Special: Clementine Cake

Valentine’s Day is just a few days away and I thought some folks might be in search of a recipe to answer the sweet tooth this Hallmark holiday evokes. I’m not much of a chocolate lover but I’ll rarely turn down a piece of fruit or a few nuts. Right now our kitchen counter has a bowl full of clementines and good bakers and cooks always look for fresh seasonal ingredients.

Clementines are delicious little pieces of citrus. They're like oranges, only a tad sweeter and seedless. Some poeple compare them to tangerines, some to mandarin oranges. I first tasted them in Spain many years ago. Actually, it was MrLear who found them in a little grocery store in Tarragona. These little bundles were so sweet and juicy and easy to peel that we could hardly believe our good fortune. Today they are widely available in produce departments everywhere, but hurry up. Their "season" --- mid-November through February --- is almost over.

I've never seen them sold individually in the U.S. regardless of where they're grown, which includes: California, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Turkey and Israel. You find them packaged in five pound boxes covered with orange netting. Five pounds might sound like a lot of fruit, but I assure you it will disappear quickly. In my office we leave a box out and take away the candy bowl. No one complains. When you first open the box take five out for today's recipe.

I first made this recipe for a local Bakers Dozen meeting in Ann Arbor. Once a month several people would make the same recipe and then bring it to Kitchen Port, a wonderful store, which sadly closed a few years ago. It carried anything your imagination could conjure for your kitchen. We met in the demo area and examined the fruits of everyone's labors. And then we tasted. We discussed the differences and tried to figure why. Our discussions about the Clementine Cake centered around the almonds.

I choose to grind slivered almonds in a food processor. The cake's texture was dense and moist. Most of the other participants purchased almond flour. Their cakes were lighter and rose a little more. Both methods tasted equally delicious.

This recipe can be found in Nigella Lawson's Nigella Eats.

Clementine Cake

Ingredients:

4-5 clementines, about 1 pound
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
2 ½ cup almonds, finely ground (or about ¾ lb. with skins)
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Method

Put the clementines in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to a boil and cook for 2 hours, replacing the water as necessary. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove any seeds. Chop everything fine - skin and all - in a food processor.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch springforrn pan and line it with either wax paper or parchment.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the sugar, almonds and baking powder. Mix well, adding the chopped clementines.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. (You may have to cover the cake with foil after about 40 minutes to prevent the top from burning.)

Remove the rake from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack. When the rake is cool, you can take it out of the pan and serve.

Cook's Notes

It keeps for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Just bring it to room temperature before serving.

If you make the cake with lemons, increase the sugar to 1-1 /4 cups. You can also make a glaze of powdered sugar mixed to a paste with fresh lemon juice and a little water.

A 9-inch springform pan will work just as well as an 8-inch pan, but you'll need to reduce the baking time slightly. If you don't have a springform pan, just use a regular cake pan and butter the sides very well - or cut the cake in the pan if all else fails.

If you are grinding your own almonds instead of purchasing "Almond Meal", or "Almond Flour", add a little of the sugar to the almonds in the food processor before grinding to prevent the almonds from turning into a paste.

The ground almonds should be the consistency of flour or sugar, not cornmeal.

And, just a bit more about a Bakers Dozen group --- it is a wonderful way to hone your baking skills and learn more about the science of baking. In the group I belonged to only one gal was a professional. The rest of us just wanted to learn more about baking. And yes, we had male members too. I participated for about two years. The most important thing I learned was that the quality of your ingredients REALLY matters. Don't skimp. Make treats less often if need be in order to afford better quality ingredients.

Bon Appetit!