Nigella’s Clementine Cake
Niamh left a comment on my recent chocolate cake post, mentioning that her daughter had tried a chocolate cake recipe from the ‘Green & Black’s Chocolate recipes’ cookbook, which was perfect for celiacs. I dug out my copy of the book and tried the recipe. It was an interesting recipe – a flour-less, fat-less chocolate cake. The recipe is actually here on Nigella’s website.
Clementines were simmered for 2 hours, cooled, cut, pips removed and liquidized.
The recipe called for eggs to be beaten and then sugar, almonds and baking powder to be added. The pulped clementines were then mixed in and the mixture put into a springform cake tin. How simple does it get! I took a shortcut by first beating the eggs and sugar. I then added in the very roughly chopped clementines and used a hand blender to blend them in. (Saves on the washing up!) I then mixed in the other ingredients and it worked perfectly. The cake was baked for an hour. The Green & Black version of this recipe called for a bar of Maya Gold Chocolate to be grated over the hot cake in the tin. Nigella’s recipe doesn’t include this.
If ‘life’s too short for stuffing mushroom’s’, then I’ve now decided that it also is too short for grating a bar of chocolate! This was a slow job and I don’t have sufficient patience. It was also interesting that when the chocolate was grated onto a plate, something like static built up because the grated chocolate behaved like sand-flies when I tried to spread it over the cake.
Next time I will melt the bar of chocolate to spread it.
The recipe at one point states; Remove the cake from the tin and store in an airtight container and at another point; Don’t be tempted to serve this cake warm. It must only be eaten once it has cooled as the texture becomes moist and the flavours of the almonds and oranges have taken hold. It is best served the day after it is made.
We ignored these ‘hands off on the day it’s made’ instructions and proceeded 
to try the cake a few hours after it came out of the oven. Well Denis had arrived home late from Hungary so we had to sample it with him. Tommy’s opinion of the cake was ‘meh’. Denis’s opinion was ‘it’s okay’. (Lacking true enthusiasm). I liked it. Next day when we had ‘official permission’, Tommy tried it but still considered it ‘meh ‘. Denis upped his opinion and put it in the ‘definitely repeat category’. I agreed with Denis 
I would repeat it because as well as being lovely, it was also relatively healthy and so easy to make.
I just have to get the timing right for when we attack the next one!
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Interesting, a cake with no fat! Mind you I am not a fan of G&B chocolate, I find it very bitter. No doubt I could substitute.
I saw Nigella making that cake on one of her shows before and I thought it looked gorgeous – real sumptuous! But I’ll definitely be trying it now. I also have the G&B Cookbook & made one of the cakes for my sister’s 40th. Twas a huge success. Their recipes are very good, but I too am unsure of G&B’s Chocolate – The white is definitely the best (the vanilla seeds make it).
I’d be willing to give it a go alright Lily – I’m always on the look-out for healthier alternatives in baking, so thanks for posting
So I tried another G&B recipe last weekend when entertaining Irish friends here (in rainy, praying for enough snow to cover the mountains) Vancouver. The recipe is a guinness cocoa/chocolate cake. It is relatively easy to make and really moist. The verdict of all assembled, young and old, was positive, a rich moist chocolate cake, which was served with cream. Dennis (also my husband’s name!) suggests accentuating it in the future by serving it with a raspbery coulis. I am inclined to agree with him that this cake would be even better with a tart/sweet berry accompanyment.
Grannymar, it certainly is worth trying. Yes you could substitute another chocolate. In fact I think Tommy would have liked it better had it been a different chocolate
Therese, please let me know what you think of it. I love that cookery book.
Marie, I too am always on the look-out for healthier alternatives in baking as I have a very sweet tooth! But they have to taste really nice as well or else I’m left finishing them!
I overheard a woman in front of me in a queue in a deli today saying that she couldn’t get any decent baked goods suitable for celiacs. I gently stuck my nose in and mentioned this cake. She was delighted and is off to try it! Hope she likes it.
Niamh. It will be a shame for the olympics if there isn’t enough snow! Ireland could have hosted them for those few snowy days we had
Okay I’ll try that one now, though the Guinness stew didn’t go down so well before.
There’s a certain connectedness (we’re friends since college), in us trying the same recipes across different continents.
Yum looks lovely.
Val, it was lovely.
I’m not fair – doing posts on chocolate cake while you’re trying to lose weight! Mind you, I’m going to try to be good myself. With all this experimenting, I’m putting on weight!