Scotland Orange Cake

One summer, my family and I went on vacation to Scotland, where I ate haggis every day and enjoyed truly the best fish-and-chips in the world in the lovely little seaside town of Anstruther. On the short drive from Anstruther back to St. Andrews, a pasture full of Holstein-Friesian cows caught our eye. We just had to stop. Turns out, they were grazing in the pasture of a dairy that had a restaurant. Stuffed though we may have been, we just couldn’t keep ourselves from buying some fresh cheeses and several desserts. This one was our favorite. Thank you for the recipe, St. Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company!

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pan

• 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the pan

• 3/4 cup ground almonds or almond meal, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting

• 3 medium unpeeled navel oranges

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 9 large eggs

Daisy Cakes Bakes by Kim Nelson

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 12-inch springform pan and dust with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon ground almonds.

Put the whole oranges in a medium saucepan, add 1/2 cup of the sugar, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. Drain the oranges (discard the liquid). When cool, quarter the oranges and remove and any seeds. Put the oranges in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and puree until smooth.

In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 3/4 cup ground almonds, the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, and the baking powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs on high speed until thick and creamy, 5 to 6 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the orange puree just until combined. Carefully fold in the almond mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the cake is firm and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 minutes. Let cool and then cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight before removing from the pan and serving.