When it comes to sweet things, I love the balance of sweet and sharp: lemon drizzle cake, margaritas, rhubarb crumble.
Normally, I reach for a lemon, but this week, with the first of the clementines, mandarins and tangerines around, I’ve gone for those instead.
Today’s cake is my version of the classic Claudia Roden boiled orange cake – which, don’t get me wrong, can’t be bettered – but I was craving more acidity and some crunch, too, so I added a lemon to the pan with the oranges and finished the cake with a deeply untraditional streusel topping.
I made a curd, too, which felt right in this weather and brought a blast of sunny citrus to my toast.
Clementine and almond cake (pictured above)
I welcome the crunch, but you can skip the streusel topping if you want to keep this more traditional.
Prep 30 min
Cook 2½ hr
Serves 10-12
3 unwaxed clementines, unpeeled
1 unwaxed lemon
1 knob butter, for greasing
4 tbsp demerara sugar
6 organic eggs
250g soft brown sugar
250g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
For the streusel topping
25g plain or white spelt flour
15g rolled oats
65g demerara sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra to top
50g cold unsalted butter, cubed
25g pecans or hazelnuts, plus a few extra, roughly chopped, to top
Wash the clementines and lemon, then put them in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, simmer for about an hour and a half, until very soft, then remove from the pan and leave to cool.
While the fruit is simmering, blitz all the streusel ingredients in a food processor, then tip into a bowl and put in the fridge.
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/gas 6, and grease a 24cm, loose-bottomed cake tin with butter. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar, tilting the tin so it coats all of the sides – there’s no need for baking paper, because the sugar will stop the cake from sticking.
Once the clementines and lemon are cool enough to handle, cut them open and remove and discard the pips. Add the clementines and lemon to the same food processor you blitzed the streusel topping in (no need to wash it), and blitz on high until you have a smooth puree.
In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and brown sugar for a minute or two, until pale and fluffy, then add the ground almonds, citrus puree, baking powder and a pinch of salt, and mix again until light and smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, then sprinkle over the streusel topping. Scatter over the remaining tablespoon of demerara sugar and the roughly chopped pecans.
Bake in the middle of the oven for an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean, then leave to cool in the tin. Turn out and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.
Clementine curd
This is sunshine in a jar: on a grey morning, you will thank yourself for making it.
Prep 20 min
Cook 20 min
Makes 250ml
250ml freshly squeezed clementine juice and the zest of 5 unwaxed clementines
Juice of ½ lemon
30ml runny honey
1 good pinch flaky sea salt
2 organic whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
75g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
Put the clementine and lemon juice in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and leave to reduce to about 130ml. Turn off the heat and add the honey, clementine zest and salt.
Lightly beat the eggs and yolks with a fork, then add to the saucepan. Stir constantly over a very low heat for around eight to 10 minutes, until the curd has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the curd off the heat, add the butter a few cubes at a time and stir continuously to emulsify. Pour into sterilised jars: it will thicken more as it cools. This will keep refrigerated for up to two weeks, or up to a month in the freezer.
