This cake has a dense, moist texture, and each mouthful is infused with vibrant, citrusy flavor. Top it with candied clementines or with a light shower of powdered sugar for deliciousness that will haunt you until you've polished off the last bite!
Citrusy cakes are my downfall, but when they are as delicious as this Clementine Cake, I'm not complaining.
I had been dreaming of this cake ever since I saw Nigella bake a version of it on television. I already have a couple of great orange cake recipes I go to over and over, like this Vegan Orange Cake and this Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake, but what really intrigued me about this clementine cake is the fact that it was gluten-free (although non-vegan versions usually include lots of eggs).
For my vegan clementine cake, which is also grain-free, I riffed off my own vegan berry almond flour cake recipe, which is also gluten-free and quite gorgeous. And to top it I made the easiest candied clementines. They are not necessary, but they are well worth the few minutes of hands-on time they require.
The cake itself couldn't be easier to make. I make the batter in the food processor, and it took me all of five minutes, once I had my clementines ready to use.
Bake this cake, for family, for friends, or just for yourself. Then come back and tell me all about it!
An orange cake typically uses the juice and sometimes the pulp of an orange, but what makes this clementine cake unique is that it uses the entire fruit, including peel, pith and pulp. You might think that would make the cake bitter, but not only does it not do that, the whole fruit infuses the entire cake with a divine citrus flavor. It's a great idea; kudos to the Sephardic Jews who were the first to create this exquisite cake.
Yes. Clementines are the smallest member of the mandarin family, which includes other citrus fruits. But where I live clementines and mandarins are labeled interchangeably. The fruit is typically small, with a thin skin. I wouldn't use navel or other large oranges in this recipe because the peel and pith would be tougher and more bitter.
You will need to cook the clementines before you add them to this cake and what that means is simply that you will need to put them in a saucepan, cover them with water, let them come to a boil, then simmer them for two hours. This will give the peel time to soften and become all squishy, making it easy to incorporate the whole mandarins into the cake.
I start out by placing the mandarins in the food processor, processing them to a pulp, and then just throwing in the rest of the ingredients and processing them until the batter is formed. The additional ingredients include almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, sugar, maple syrup (optional) and vanilla extract. That's it. The batter will be thick but runny enough to pour into the pan with a little help from the spatula.
I used a 9-inch round cake pan. It was not a springform pan, although if you have a springform pan, use it. You can use an 8-inch cake pan for a taller cake.
If you'd like to make this cake in a bundt pan, double the recipe.
These are not necessary--you can simply dust the cake with powdered sugar and it'll be delicious--but the candied clementines add a festive, pretty touch for so little work. All you need to do is slice the clementines, then cook them with sugar and water for an hour. Throw in a few crushed cardamom pods or a stick of cinnamon for more flavor. (Remember to start the candied clementines at the same time as you bake the cake, so they get ready simultaneously.) Then use the clementines for the cake and save the clementine-infused syrup for pancakes and waffles. It's a win.
Candied clementines in syrup.
Vegan Clementine Cake (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 6 clementines (or mandarins)
- 2 cups almond flour (superfine)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup (can just use an equal quantity of more sugar)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
For optional candied clementines topping
- 4 mandarins (thinly sliced)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1.5 cups water
- 4 green cardamom pods (crushed, optional)
Instructions
- Place the whole clementines in a saucepan with a lid. Cover them with an inch of water and bring to a boil. Cover and let the mandarins continue to simmer on low heat for two hours until the entire fruit is very soft and pulpy.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once the fruit has cooled, discard the water they were cooked in and remove seeds from the fruit, if any. Place the mandarins in a food processor and process into a coarse puree.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients for the cake into the food processor. You can also do this in a bowl. Mix everything until well incorporated.
- Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray or brush with oil. Line the bottom with parchment paper. A springform pan, is preferred, if you have one but you can use a regular cake pan.
- Scrape out the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top, if necessary, with a spatula.
- Place the cake in the oven and bake an hour or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Place the cake pan on a rack and let it cool about 30 minutes, then carefully unmold the cake, peel out the parchment paper, and continue cooling it on the rack.
Make the candied clementines
- Place the sugar, water and cardamom in a saucepan and bring it all to a boil.
- Add the thinly sliced clementines, bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cover and cook for an hour. You can place a piece of parchment paper directly on the sugar syrup to keep the clementine slices immersed, then cover with the lid.
- Once the clementine slices have cooled, use them to decorate the clementine cake.
Notes
- Nutrition info is just for cake, doesn't include candied clementine topping
Nutrition
Love this vegan clementine cake? Check out more vegan desserts on Holy Cow!
Oh wow.. delicious cake. Substituted coconut flour for tapioca, 1/2 tsp of xantham gum and added 1 cup organic coconut cream. Absolutely delicious. Thank you!!
So happy to hear!
Hello Vaishali,
I'd been on the lookout for a vegan variety of Nigella's cake -- I had tried to make it replacing the eggs with chia seeds and it turned out ... funny (but edible!). I am overjoyed to have found your recipe: it is PERFECTION. Made cupcakes instead of a big cake and had to eyeball the oven time. I am so pleased with the results! And even more to have found your website, because I am a lover of Indian food as well. Thank you for sharing your culinary wealth with us!
Hi Helen, that's so wonderful to hear! So happy you liked it 🙂 I should try it as cupcakes sometime. How long did you bake them for?
Hello Vaishali,
I made it last night and it was super delicious 😋 I didn’t have tapioca and read the previous comments that I could use all purpose flour.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Love, love the citrus flavor.
Hemi
Hemi, so happy to hear!
Can I make this recipe with canned mandarins...If so how many cups or pieces do you think I could use in this recipe...Thank you so much for all of your delicious recipes that share with us...blessings to you and your family...Namaste’ Be well, Glenda
Hi Glenda, a mandarin has 11 segments so to replace 6 mandarins you’d need 66 segments. Since you won’t have peel you could prob use a few more.
Thank you for your blog. In regards to the clementine cake, how far in advance do you think it can be made? How should it be stored? I assume not to place the candied clementines until just before serving. How far in advance can the candied clementines be prepared and how should they be stored? I'm looking forward to making this. Thanks again!
Hi Sally, you can make the cake ahead and freeze it--wrap it tightly and thaw completely before eating. Or, if you plan to use it within 3-4 days, simply refrigerate it. The candied clementines can be stored in the fridge with their syrup--use an airtight jar. I probably wouldn't store them for longer than a week or two.
Hi Vaishali - I don't have tapioca flour. In Nigella's recipe and some others 6 eggs approx are used. To sum it - could flaxseed meal be used instead of eggs/tapioca? if so 1/2 cup mixed w/water?
Hi Prity, flaxmeal is not going to be a good replacement here because the flavor of flaxseed is very strong and it will overwhelm the cake. You can use cornstarch if you don't have tapioca flour or don't want to use it. Or, if you're not gluten-free, just use all purpose flour in place of the tapioca.
Would it ruin it to make it with all purpose white flour? I have such a craving for this after reading the recipe, but don’t have tapioca and almond flour available.
Hi Jennifer, you could absolutely make it with all purpose flour. You might need to add more moisture, I would guess. Use applesauce or oil in that case to get the batter to the right consistency. Also, if you make this in the food processor, don't process for too long to keep the gluten from developing in the APF.
Oh goodness, thank you! I, too, think about Nigella making that cake on her show two decades ago. I was thinking that maybe tofu could replace the eggs, but I'd like to try your version before I do that.
FYI, when I've made a version of this cake before, I couldn't use almonds because my husband is allergic to that, but not pistachios. It is SOOOO good with that substitution, if you ever wanted to give that a try.
Hi Deborah, thanks for that suggestion. Did you process the pistachios into a powder in the food processor?