Orange & Almond Drizzle Cake

No time-consuming boiling of oranges or tedious candied peel here. This cake is moist, light, gluten-free and drenched with citrus flavour. Plus, it keeps really well, so it’s a good one to make ahead of time.

Makes: 1 x 20cm cake
Takes: 75 minutes plus cooling time

Gluten-free 

Cake
185g butter
1½ cups sugar
2 oranges, zest only
4 eggs
½ cup natural yoghurt
¼ cup orange juice
1 cup coconut flour
1 cup ground almonds
½ tsp baking soda

Syrup
1 cup orange juice
½ cup sugar
1 orange, thinly sliced

Method: Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm cake tin. Cream together butter, sugar and orange zest until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until the mixture has almost doubled in size. Add yoghurt and orange juice and mix until just combined.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, ground almonds and baking soda. Fold through the wet mix and pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 55–60 minutes, until browned and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

To make the syrup, combine orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Cook for 3–4 minutes until the mixture has slightly thickened. Add orange slices and cook for another 2–3 minutes.

To serve, arrange orange slices on top of the cake, drizzle over the syrup and allow to cool slightly before slicing.

Variation: Try spooning the cake batter into large muffin tins, bake for 20–25 minutes and serve upside down with a single slice of orange on top. Makes 8–10 individual cakes.