This gorgeous gluten-free orange cake of flavour and since it's made with quinoa and ground almonds, it's naturally free from gluten without the need for any specialist flours.
It also happens to be dairy free, so is a great option for those with relevant allergies.
Made with cooked quinoa, ground almonds, honey, coconut oil (or sunflower oil), eggs and orange zest, the flavour is sweet and delicious with lovely citrus notes.
Meanwhile, the texture is extremely moist and tender, with a slight chew: in some ways like a sponge, in other ways almost like a treacle tart!
To make the cake, you'll first boil the quinoa on the stove, then cool it under running water.
After that, it's a simple case of whisking coconut oil (or sunflower oil), caster sugar, eggs and vanilla together, then stirring in the cooked quinoa, ground almonds, baking powder and the orange zest.
Your batter is then poured into a lined tin and baked for an hour until risen and golden. It really is a beautiful cake with not an ounce of flour in sight!
Here's the full recipe, complete with detailed step instructions and plenty of photos to help you along the way.
Ingredients
- 150 g (¾ cup + 1 tbsp) white quinoa
- Pinch salt
- 150 ml (½ cup + 2 tbsp) coconut oil melted (or sunflower oil)
- 200 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) white caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 3 large free range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g (2 cups) ground almonds (almond meal)
- 1 tsp baking powder (gluten-free)
- 1 large (1) orange finely zested
Equipment
- Round loose-bottomed 20cm (8") nonstick cake tin
- Citrus zester
Instructions
Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin.
Place the quinoa in a sieve and rinse well.
Tip the quinoa into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and cover well with water - at least double the quinoa volume.
Put the saucepan on the heat and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook gently for approximately 20 minutes until the quinoa tastes tender and you can see that the grains have popped open, revealing little white kernels.
Rinse the quinoa under a running cold tap to cool quickly, then leave to stand in the sieve for 10 minutes to ensure it’s drained really well - soggy quinoa will make your cake too wet.
Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
Put the oil, caster sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl.
Whisk together.
Add the cooked quinoa, ground almonds, baking powder and the orange zest.
Whisk lightly to combine.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 1 hour until set and golden. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
Cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then release from the tin carefully and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
To serve, cut into slices with a sharp, serrated knife.
Print this gluten free orange cake
Gluten Free Orange Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g (¾ cup + 1 tbsp) white quinoa
- Pinch salt
- 150 ml (½ cup + 2 tbsp) coconut oil melted (or sunflower oil)
- 200 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) white caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 3 large free range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g (2 cups) ground almonds (almond meal)
- 1 tsp baking powder (gluten-free)
- 1 large (1) orange finely zested
Equipment
- Round loose-bottomed 20cm (8") nonstick cake tin
- Citrus zester
Instructions
- Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin.
- Place the quinoa in a sieve and rinse well.
- Tip the quinoa into a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and cover well with water - at least double the quinoa volume.
- Put the saucepan on the heat and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook gently for approximately 20 minutes until the quinoa tastes tender and you can see that the grains have popped open, revealing little white kernels.
- Rinse the quinoa under a running cold tap to cool quickly, then leave to stand in the sieve for 10 minutes to ensure it’s drained really well - soggy quinoa will make your cake too wet.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan / 350F).
- Put the oil, caster sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk together.
- Add the cooked quinoa, ground almonds, baking powder and the orange zest. Whisk lightly to combine.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake for 1 hour until set and golden. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
- Cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then release from the tin carefully and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To serve, cut into slices with a sharp, serrated knife.
Video
Nutrition
This recipe was originally supplied by Pura and is featured here with some small alternations.
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More orange desserts to try
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Alice says
Hi, do you know what is the weight of a cooked quinoa to be used in this regule? I have some leftovers in the fridge ;-)
Emily Leary says
Cooked quinoa weighs about 3x the weight of uncooked. So for this recipe you would need around 450g of cooked quinoa.
Alexis Knibbs says
Love the look of this cake. I will have to try using Quinoa as an ingredient in cakes. Great blog and love the recipe.
jenny says
This looks and sounds scrumptious.
Vicki Montague says
Lovely recipe Emily! Great to see you doing more gluten and dairy free recipes!
Debbie says
Looks delicious!! Love the idea of using quinoa in a cake! Found your blog the other day and im enjoying exploring your recipes and videos. Lots of inspiration and motivation for my own blog, although I think videos are a long way off for me. Thanks for sharing
Emily Leary says
Thanks for stopping by. I just had a look round your blog and it's gorgeous :)
Debbie says
thanks so much Still along way to go with it but I'm slowly adding recipes Really enjoying learning about blogging and photography as well.