Recipe courtesy of Asian Food Network
A bright, light and sweet citrus cake that infuses the air with the inviting scent of tangerines, the fruit that symbolises Chinese New Year.
Spread smooth on top is a thick rich layer of melted vegan chocolate ganache for extra pleasure.
Ingredients
Serves 8
- 375g (about 3 or 4) tangerines
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 star anise
- 3 cloves
- 6 large eggs (separate the egg whites from the yolk)
- 225g white sugar
- 250g almond flour/coconut flour (use almond or coconut flour instead of regular flour for a gluten-free cake)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 300g dairy free dark chocolate
- 0.5 tsp salt
- mixed nuts and edible flowers (garnish).
Directions
1. Boil tangerines
- In a pot of water, add in the tangerines along with the spices and bring to boil for two hours until soft.
- Remove the spices and the water and let them cool.
2. Combine ingredients
- Cut the tangerines in half and remove the seeds and pit. In a blender, add in the fruit and blend to a smooth pulp.
- In the blender, add the flour, egg yolks and baking powder and blend together with the tangerines.
3. Preheat oven
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/170C. Butter and line a seven or eight-inch tin with baking paper.
4. Combine batter with egg whites
- Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Slowly fold the batter with the egg white mixture until combined.
5. Bake the cake
- Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour and 10 minutes. It's cooked when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin.
6. Make ganache
- To make the chocolate ganache, add the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, place it on a pot with some water and stir it until it melts.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted. Add in the salt.
7. Glaze
- Spread the ganache over the cake and decorate it with flowers, mixed nuts and dried tangerine slices.
- Plate and serve.
Chef's tips
- For a regular cake, you can swap the gluten-free flour for 220g of regular flour.
- Instead of the ganache, you can use cream cheese, lemon juice and powdered sugar to make a cream cheese frosting - however, this is not dairy-free.
Asian Food Network
