Nigella Lawson Clementine Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Place whole, unpeeled clementines into a pot and cover with cold water.
• Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and let cook 2 hours (she doesn't say to add any additional water in her recipe, but I imagine you may need to add some if too much simmers away).
• Drain, let cool, then cut each Clementine in half, remove seeds, and place in food processor- skins and all.
• Chop the Clementines in the processor finely.
• In a bowl, beat the eggs.
• Add the sugar, almonds, and baking powder to the eggs, mixing well.
• Add the chopped Clementines by hand and mix to combine.
• Pour batter into a greased and parchment lined 8-inch springform pan.
• Bake in a preheated 375 F oven for 40 minutes, then cover loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning and CONTINUE cooking about another 10 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.
• Let cool in the pan on a wire rack overnight.
• VARIATION: You can substitute an equal weight of regular oranges or lemons for the Clementines; increase the sugar to 1 1/4 cups if you do so.
• OPTIONAL GLAZE: If you wish, you may make a glaze from a little powdered sugar mixed with a bit of lemon juice and water and drizzle it over the top (see my recipe for Cinnamon Bun Icing for a good glaze).

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of both cake pans with parchment paper and butter the sides.
• Put the cocoa and 1/2 cup dark brown sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.
• Cream the butter and superfine sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy; I find this easiest with a free-standing mixer, but by hand wouldn't kill you.
• While this is going on - or as soon as you stop if you're mixing by hand - stir the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.
• Dribble in the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar - mixing all the while - and then drop in an egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of the flour mixture, then add the second egg.
• Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping its bowl out well with a spatula. Divide this fabulously chocolatey batter between the two prepared pans and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Take the pans out and put them on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes, before turning the cakes out to cool.
• But as soon as the cakes are in the oven, get started on your frosting: put the water, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar and 1 1/2 sticks butter in a pan over low heat to melt.
• When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
• Let it stand for about 1 hour, whisking now and again - when you're passing the pan - by which time the cakes will be cooled, and ready for the frosting.
• Set one of the cooled cakes, with its top side down, on a cake stand or plate, and spread about a third of the frosting, then top with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, swirling away with your spatula. You can go for a smooth look, but I never do and probably couldn't.

Steps:

• Wash and remove stems from clementines, cut into quarters, process clementines with sugar in food processor until smooth.
• Add butter, then eggs; process until smooth Add flour,baking powder, process until combined.
• Spoon into greased 8-cup bundt pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees approximately 50 minutes, until golden (depends on your oven). Cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan and leave on the rack until cold.
• Icing:.
• Grate rind and squeeze juice from the clementine.
• Measure 2 tsp rind and 2 tblsp juice into a bowl, add butter, icing sugar and liqueur.
• Mix until icing is smooth.
• Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake.

Steps:

• Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
• Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don't worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.
• To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don't want any burning or seizing.
• While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the confectioners' sugar into another bowl. Or, easier still, put the icing sugar into the food processor and blitz to remove lumps.
• Add the corn syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners' sugar. Or just pour this mixture down the funnel of the food processor onto the powdered sugar, with the motor running.
• You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners' sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thiner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.
• Choose your cake stand or plate and cut 4 strips of baking parchment to form a square and sit 1 of the cakes, uppermost (i.e. slightly domed) side down.
• Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together.
• Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it in a swirly, textured way (though you can go for a smooth finish if you prefer, and have the patience). Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave a few minutes until set, then carefully pull away the paper strips.

Steps:

• With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 325°F Line the bottom of a 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the sides.
• Arrange half the clementine slices, overlapping, on the bottom and sides of the pan, stopping 3/4 inch from the rim. Brush with 1/4 cup marmalade. Cover with the remaining clementine slices, taking care not to leave any gaps. Brush with 1/4 cup marmalade. Set aside.
• In a bowl, combine the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In a food processor, purée the clementine cubes with the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and mix until fully combined.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Scrape the batter into the pan, covering the clementine slices.
• Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour.
• Let cool for about 10 minutes. Run the tip of a knife around the cake before unlatching the pan.
• Place upside down on a plate and unmould. Brush with the remaining warm marmalade. Let cool completely before serving.