Gluten Free Citrus Cake by Eva Lawes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Grease and line a round 9 inch tin (if you want to keep this a dairy free cake grease using a flavourless oil i.e rapeseed or sunflower oil instead of using butter).
2. Separate the eggs. Make sure to use a very clean bowl for the egg whites as any grease etc will reduce the rise. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a freestanding mixer (or use a handheld one, it could also be done by hand but will take ages) until you get stiff peaks. Whisk in ⅓ of the caster sugar. Put these to one side for the time being.
3. Beat the egg yolks and the remaining ⅔ of caster sugar together with the zest of the lemon and the zest of the orange, then add the ground almonds. This will become a thick heavy mixture, add in a bit of the egg whites to loosen it up.
4. Fold in the rest of the egg whites.
5. Pour the Mixture into the prepared tin, then pop it into the oven and bake for 35-40 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. While the cake bakes you can get working on the syrup. Bash up the cardamom pods a bit to release the flavours and pop into a saucepan with the Juice of the orange and the lemon from earlier, the orange blossom water and the caster sugar. Simmer on a medium heat for a few mins until it thickens up a little (don’t thicken too much, it will become hard and crystalised if you go too far).
7. When the cake is baked and hot out of the oven use a skewer to poke a few holes in the cake. Then pour the syrup over the cake whilst it is still in the tin and leave it to soak up all the syrup while it cools.
8. When the cake has cooled you can decorate with all or any of the bits above and arrange as you wish.
9. I like to serve with a vanilla yoghurt (or if going dairy free an almond or soya alternative), but you can have it any way you like!

For more Christmas treats and festive cheer, check out RTÉ Food!