Bolo de Laranje e Amêndoa (Orange and Almond Cake)
Bolo de Laranje e Amêndoae (Orange and Almond Cake) is a traditional Mozambican recipe for a classic cake made from a ground almond, cornflour and icing sugar base bound with egg yolks, flavoured with oranges and lightened with beaten egg whites. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Mozambican version of: Orange and Almond Cake (Bolo de Laranje e Amêndoa).
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This is another classic cake derived from the Portuguese presence in Mozambique. The cake uses beaten egg whites as the leavening agent, a method of lightening cakes that was developed in Venice and which replaced yeast as a raising method, but which was largely replaced by baking powder as a leavening agent from the 1860s.
Ingredients:
6 eggs, separated
70g caster sugar
50g ground almonds
finely-grated zest of 2 oranges
juice of 2 oranges
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
150g icing sugar
Method:
Cream together the egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and frothy. Fold in the almonds, alternating with the juice of 1 orange until the almonds and orange juice have both been incorporated. You should end-up with a stiff batter.
Stir in the cornflour (cornstarch) and orange zest then beat the egg whites in a clean and dry bowl until they stand in stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter with a metal spoon. Turn the resultant batter into a greased and lined cake tin.
Immediately transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is well risen, cooked through and lightly browned on top. Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When the cake is cold, prepare the orange icing. Work together the icing sugar and the remaining orange juice to form a just liquid mixture. Pour this over the top of the cake whilst it's still on the cooling rack (put a sheet of foil or a large plate under the cake to catch any drips).
Allow the icing (frosting) to harden before slicing the cake and serving.
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