Cafe style orange and almond loaf

My weakness is definitely coffee and one of my favourite pastimes is sitting down in a cafe and enjoying a fantastic cup of coffee with a piece of cake of course! Not so relaxing when you have toddlers that don't like to sit still for more than a minute at a time! So I have resorted to making this orange and almond loaf at home and let me tell you, it tastes exactly like the one that you get from cafes and the best thing is, it doesn't cost you $5 for just one slice!

Ingredients

2 large navel oranges with unblemished skin
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 160 C (fan forced) and grease a loaf pan tin.

2. Place two whole oranges in a saucepan with water. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour. To ensure the oranges remain covered with water, I put a piece of baking paper on top of the oranges to press them down.(I usually do this stage the night before and allow the oranges to cool over night)

3. Drain, then allow to cool before cutting into quarters and placing in blender to puree until smooth. To make sure the cake isn't too bitter, I cut off the ends of the oranges where the thickest skin is and remove seeds before blending.

4.Beat the eggs and sugar together until mixed together well.

5. Add the orange puree, ground almonds and baking powder and mix until combined.

6. Pour into pan and cook for 1 hour. If cake looks like it is browning on top too much, cover with alfoil half way through cooking time. Leave in pan for half an hour to firm up before removing.

This cake is really moist and keeps for ages and even tends to taste better after a few days. Apart from the sugar, the cake is relatively healthy. No butter or oil, goodness from almonds and oranges and easily made gluten free by using gluten free baking powder.

I tend to cut the loaf into slices and freeze in individual portions.  That way, I always have a sugar fix when the afternoon slump occurs!