Mandarins are in season now and my uncle gave me a big bag of mandarins freshly picked from his tree. There were so many mandarins that there is no way I could finish them in time so I decided to make a mandarin almond cake.

The amazing thing about this cake is that it is gluten and dairy free (without the cream cheese frosting). All it needs is eggs as its binding agent and it is so easy to make that it is almost fool-proof. I loved this cake so much that I made it three times (partly because I have loads of mandarin to get through) and it was such a hit amongst my friends. The cake together with the cream cheese frosting is a match-make in heaven.

Ingredients for the cake 

1. 3 large mandarins (or 4 small ones)
2. 5 large eggs
3. 120g caster sugar
4. 250g almond meal
5. 1 tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting

1. 250g cream cheese
2. 30g butter
3. 40g icing sugar
4. 1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions

Preparation time: 80min
Baking time: 50-55min or until the top is just firm if you press on it gently

1. Carefully lower the unpeeled mandarins into a large-ish saucepan of boiling water. Let them bubble gently for about 1 hour or until they’re very soft and a fine skewer pushes through them easily
2. When the mandarins are ready, drain off the water and leave the mandarins to cool on a plate
3. Once they’re cool, halve them and scoop out and discard the seeds then puree them as finely as you can in a food processor. Set the puree aside
4. Preheat your oven to 170C
5. Grease a 25cm bundt tin and line the base with baking paper. Dust the tin with almond meal and set it aside
6. Put the eggs and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat them on high speed for five minutes or until they’re very light and fluffy.
7. Turn down the speed of the mixer to a low speed and add in the mandarin puree, vanilla essence and almond meal (the eggs will deflate slightly but don’t worry about it)
8. Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to make sure everything is scraped up from the bottom of the bowl
9. Pour the batter into the prepared tin
10. Sit the tin in the oven and bake the cake for about 50-55min or until the top is just firm if you press on it gently.
11. Remove it to a wire rack and leave the cake to cool in the tin. Once it’s cool, run a blunt knife around the sides of the tin to loosen the cake, then invert it onto a serving plate

To make the cream cheese frosting (optional)

1. Whisk the butter and cream cheese at high speed until light and fluffy
2. Add in the icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla essence and continue to whisk until a uniform consistency is formed
3. Using a spatula, spread the cream cheese frosting evenly over the bundt cake

There you have it! Gluten-free mandarin almond cake!