RECIPE: Gluten-Free Orange Blossom Citrus Cake (from Arty Parties by Julia Sherman)
There’s nothing more satisfying than a recipe that uses a piece of produce in its entirety. A purée of boiled whole citrus is the base of this moist, flourless cake just lightly sweet and the perfect match for tea or a daytime snack. It is inspired by an ancient Sicilian recipe, a version of which I first encountered via cookbook author Claudia Roden.
Make this recipe even easier (and less caloric) and skip the fruit topping. Cut a piece of parchment to line the bottom of your cake pan. Grease the pan, lay the parchment down into the base, and grease the parchment before adding the batter. Bake as instructed below. Serve the cake with powdered sugar and orange zest on top.
Serves 8 to 12
Time: 1 hour 45 minutes Yield: One 8-inch (20 cm) cake
2 medium Valencia oranges
1 large Meyer lemon
2 teaspoons orange blossom water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large organic eggs
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
Nonstick cooking spray
2⅓ cups (268 g) finely ground almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the caramelized citrus upside-down topping:
¾ cup (165 g) firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 small pink or Meyer lemons, halved lengthwise and sliced into half-moons as thinly as possible
1. Scrub 2 Valencia oranges and 1 Meyer lemon and remove the stem ends of each. Boil in a medium pot of water for 30 to 45 minutes until easy to pierce with a fork. Add more water as the levels get low (the citrus will be bobbing in the water, not completely submerged). Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Grease an 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pan.
2. Transfer the whole citrus to a blender with the vanilla and the orange blossom water. Purée until smooth (you should end up with about 1½ cups/375 g fruit purée). Allow to cool slightly, then add the eggs and granulated sugar and quickly blend on low speed until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal, bakingpowder, and salt. Whisk to incorporate. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients one-quarter at a time, folding to incorporate. Continue folding until the batter is smooth.
Make the topping
4. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and the melted butter until fully incorporated into a paste. Scatter the mixture into the bottom of the prepared cake pan and press together using your fingers or a rubber spatula to form an even layer. Lay the sliced citrus in an overlapping fish-scale pattern on top of the sugar.
5. Pour the fruit batter over the top of the sugar and sliced citrus and settle it by tapping the side of the pan several times to eliminate air pockets.
6. Bake for 10 minutes on the center rack. Drop the temperature to 375°F (190°C) and continue to bake for an additional 45 minutes. The cake should be dark brown in color. While still warm, run a knife along the perimeter of the pan and place a serving plate on top of the cake. Invert the pan so the cake falls to the plate. Remove the pan. Allow the cake to cool for another 15 minutes before serving. If you have a baker’s torch, you can use that to give the fruit topping some extra color in the center.
In her follow-up cookbook to Salad for President, cook, writer, and artist Julia Sherman shows us how to apply an artist’s touch to our own home gatherings.
Artists throw superior parties, and we can learn from their willingness to draw outside the lines, choose character over perfection, and find boundless joy in feeding family and friends. Cook, live, and host like an artist with inspired, easy recipes and playful hands-on experiments in the kitchen.
Sherman shows you how to be the architect of your own uniquely memorable bash, whether that means a special breakfast for two, or a “choose your own adventure” meal that’s flexible enough to feed a crowd. Forget the codified markers of good taste—Arty Parties instead reveals that modern gatherings are less about “getting it right” and more about getting your hands dirty, building community, and taking risks in the kitchen and beyond. Featuring colorful food that is confident in its simplicity, Sherman shares easy-to-follow, healthy recipes that value imaginative flavor combinations over complexity: dishes like an avocado-lemongrass panna cotta, saffron tomato soup, coconut rice cakes with smashed avocado and soy-marinated eggs, and roasted broccolini and blood oranges with a creamy pepita sauce.
This book also invites readers into the idiosyncratic gatherings of internationally acclaimed artists, from a chic office party in a Parisian art book publisher's atelier to an underground earth oven pizza party on a secluded hillside in Los Angeles. Woven throughout are Sherman’s own homegrown events that are relatable yet wonderfully experimental in tone.
Utterly unique and beautifully designed, Arty Parties is a guide to creating meaningful experiences that nourish both the host and their guests in body, mind, and soul.
For more information, click here.
