This Gluten Free Orange Almond Flour Cake recipe, made with six healthy ingredients, is one of our favorite gluten free desserts.
Gluten Free Orange Almond Flour Cake
Every time I serve it people are shocked to find out my Orange Almond Flour Cake is made with whole oranges, peel, and all.
Almond Flour Recipes
Using the whole orange adds an incredible flavor dimension to this gluten free cake, as well as healthy bioflavonoids.
This is one of my nutritious almond flour recipes that you don’t want to miss out on.
Gluten Free Cake
Wondering how to make Orange Almond Flour Cake from scratch? All you need is whole oranges, almond flour, eggs, honey, salt, and baking soda. –that’s it!
People tell me it’s the best recipe for gluten free cake they’ve ever had!
Gluten Free Orange Almond Flour Cake
Ingredients
- 2 small oranges, 6.5 ounces each
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup honey
- 2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Wash the oranges and boil them whole (peel and all) for 1½ hours, or until soft
- Place whole oranges (peel and all) in a food processor and blend until smooth
- Pulse in eggs, honey, almond flour, salt, and baking soda until well combined
- Pour batter into a greased 9 inch springform pan
- Bake at 375°F for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean
- Cool in the pan for 2 hours
- Serve
Orange Cake Recipe
This easy orange cake recipe is the perfect dessert for holidays such as:
But we love it so much we make this cake all year long! My holiday guests rave about this healthy gluten free recipe.
Orange Cake
If you’ve never had orange cake you’re in for a treat.
I first came upon an orange almond cake recipe in the 1990s in one of Claudia Roden’s cookbooks, The Book of Jewish Food.
Roden is a British cookbook author, food scholar, and cultural anthropologist. She is also one of my heroes.
According to Roden, orange almond cake is a traditional Sephardic recipe commonly served at Passover.
Gluten Free Passover Dessert Recipes
This Gluten Free Orange Almond Flour Cake is perfect for Passover because it does not contain chametz.
As an aside, all of my dessert recipes are Kosher for Passover since they are free of chametz!
Whole Orange Cake Recipe
It seems weird to make a cake with whole oranges.
However, using the orange with its peel is what makes my orange cake with almond flour moist and totally unique.
Yes, as I mentioned, use the entire orange, including the peel! Make sure your oranges are fresh and sweet so the cake is fresh and flavorful.
Make Ahead Almond Flour Cake Recipes
You can make this cake recipe ahead of time, that’s what I do when we’re entertaining.
If I’m having people over for Shabbat dinner, I make the cake Wednesday, let it cool on the counter overnight, then wrap it and store it in the fridge until Friday.
Cuisinart Food Processor
You know I love getting into the kitchen to test recipes for you and enjoy sharing my favorite kitchen tools, including this food processor.
This one is not only affordable, it gets the job done quickly and easily.
Gluten Free Dairy Free Desserts
Using a good food processor blends this cake batter to perfection, making it incredibly smooth.
Still, it’s amazing this cake is so rich and melt in your mouth delicious, given the lack of butter and flour. This is a fantastic gluten free, dairy free dessert.
Chocolate Orange Cake
I’ve always wanted to smother this orange cake in my Chocolate Dairy Free Frosting recipe.
As a kid, I loved chocolate-covered orange peel, and couldn’t get enough of that flavor combo. I haven’t tried it here yet, but I imagine it would be incredible.
Almond Flour Lemon Cake
This paleo cake recipe would be incredible with lemons, though many adjustments would need to be made since lemons are smaller than oranges, not as sweet, and far more bitter.
I tested this orange cake recipe a couple of dozen times to perfect it so I’m not sure how substitutions would work in order to create a recipe for lemon cake.
I wish I had a crystal ball, it would make the process so much easier! If you do experiment with lemons leave a comment and let us know if it works.
Gluten Free Desserts
Thankfully, you really don’t need to experiment with anything, given that I have hundreds of easy recipes for gluten free desserts here on the website and in my three cookbooks!
Gluten Free Orange Cake
But back to my orange cake recipe, which has been shared over ten thousand times on social media –it’s a real deal hit!
When I serve it, everyone loves it –those with diet restrictions as well as folks who can eat anything they want.
Almond Flour Cake
My cakes with almond flour are so popular because they’re rich, dense, and full of flavor.
Almond Flour Baking
Another benefit of almond flour baking is that it’s low carb and healthy.
I love using almond flour rather than the usual high carb wheat flour, the main ingredient in most cakes.
Gluten Free Dessert Recipes
All of the easy gluten free recipes for desserts below are also dairy free cakes.
Gluten Free Coffee Cake
My homemade Gluten Free Coffee Cake is one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s also one of my most popular recipes, with over forty thousand shares on social media.
Made with a base of almond flour, plus five other ingredients, you can throw this low carb coffee cake together in no time.
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
This lightly sweetened nut free Carrot Cake recipe from scratch will blow your mind.
This is one of my favorite cakes made without almond flour.
It’s a nut free cake everyone can enjoy. If you’re allergic to nuts, be sure to check out my Nut Free Recipes page.
Gluten Free Birthday Cake
If you’re looking for a cake that’s chocolate, this family favorite Gluten Free Birthday Cake is a clear winner.
I made this easy cake recipe often when the boys were growing up. Soon they took over and made it for my birthday!
Prefer vanilla birthday cake? Check out my fan favorite Gluten Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Both of these gluten free cakes are nut free and made with a base of coconut flour.
Healthy Cake Recipes
I hope you love these healthy cake recipes as much as we do and that you enjoy all of my gluten free recipes!
Which of these cake recipes will you bake?
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first shared this Gluten Free Orange Almond Flour Cake in November 2008.
Karin says
I made the orange cake exactly as you said, it was one of the best cakes I have ever made! Gave half to our neighbors (who donated the oranges) and they also loved it. So I decided to try Meyer lemons and made some adjustments based on the comments I read below. I boiled the two lemons (totaled 13oz) and found that they took a far shorter time. At about 40 minutes one had deflated some so I would recommend watching them and only shooting for 30 minutes max. I believe it affected the cake as there was less juice inside the lemon after it deflated, and I had added 1TB coconut flour due to some of the comments. The slight dryness could have been affected by less juice in the lemon or the added coconut flour, I don’t plan to add the coconut flour next time. I also changed the honey straight across to maple syrup to make it Fodmap friendly. It did stick to the pan, the orange cake didn’t, so I would use parchment paper or spray the pan first. The main problem with using lemons is the seeds, they didn’t get pulverized in my food processor like the orange seeds did. I would recommend taking the seeds out before you process the lemons. So for every one who wants to make a lemon version, here are some tried hints. Thanks for the recipe Elana, the orange cake will be my new potluck dessert!!!!
Elana says
Karin, thanks for letting me know this is one of the best cakes you’ve ever had and that everyone loved it!
Pavi says
Baked it for my husband’s 42nd birthday yesterday..was a super hit with the entire family! Thank you so much for an easy healthy wonderful recipe! Followed the instructions as is, baked for 50 min with a piece of foil on top after the first 30 mins.lined the pan with parchment.decorated with powdered sugar, Mandarin orange segments and raspberries..looked so pretty!
Elana says
Pavi, happy birthday to your hubby! Your cake sounds gorgeous. I hope you’ll upload a photo to Instagram and tag me so that I can see it. Thanks for letting me know this recipe is easy, healthy, and wonderful :-)
Sue says
I have made this several times and it is always a big hit. If it starts to darken on top before it is done you can simply set a piece of foil loosely on top, it will continue to bake and won’t burn.
Elana says
Sue, thanks for letting me know that you’ve made this several times and it is always a big hit!
amélie says
It’s an amazing cake! My father said it’s the best. I gave it this week to my son’s bday in the kindergarten and they all loved it (one toddler came to ask my for the recipe and his mother is making it this weekend). Thanks again Elana!!
Elana says
Amélie, thanks for your incredible comment! I’m so glad to hear that your father said it’s the best, and that a toddler loved it so much he asked for the recipe :-)
Emily says
Thank you for this lovely cake Elana! It has become a holiday tradition in our family. I make it in a festive bundt pan and decorate with a white glaze and small berries, always a big hit at our large family Christmas dinner :)
Elana says
Emily, I’m so glad to hear this is always a big hit at your Christmas dinner and I’m so happy to be part of the festivities via this recipe :-)
Nikki Isakson says
I’m just wondering what to do about the seeds? Do we just put whole oranges in the pot and not remove the seeds or cut up the fruit? Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes!
Elana says
Nikki, no need to worry about the seeds, you blend them right in :-)
Justine says
Omg I am so sad right now! I don’t know why but followed the recipe. Had to take the cake out before 50 minutes because it was about to be burnt! But still it’s no quite cooked inside!! Shoul i have put it on the top rack of the oven? Bake it at 350? Smell good tho :/
Elana says
Justine, thanks for your comment! This usually happens when the oranges are too big and weigh more than the 13 ounces combined as specified in the recipe :-)
Bernita says
Foods baked with honey will tend to darken sooner . I always set the timer 5 minutes less and keep a close eye on it at the end. It’s definitely done by 50 minutes. Dropping the temperature just a bit to 360 also seems to help. But Wow! What fantastic flavor. Love, love, love this recipe.
Elana says
Bernita, thanks for your comment! And thanks for letting me know that you love, love, love this recipe :-)
Seta says
How many carbs does a serving have? It looks delicious.
Elana says
Seta, thanks for your comment! For more on that please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Have a wonderful day!
Elana
Bonfei says
I want to try it as I have all the ingredients. What I don’t have is a food processor. I have a vitamix. Do you think it will work? I only have a loaf pan, wonder if that will work as well?
Elana says
Bonfei, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Sam says
Yes it will
Anne says
Excellent, was also wondering if it would work in a Vitamix, I’ll have to try it sometime for my husband as a treat.
amélie says
really nice cake (perfect breakfast for my son), thanks for sharing!!
Elana says
Amélie, you’re very welcome! So glad to hear this cake is the perfect breakfast for your son :-)
David J Christmas says
I baked this product 3 times because I like citrus cakes.
I use a conventional oven the 1st time exact to the recipe, great results.
I used a Breville Smart Oven the next 2 times with some challenges. 2nd bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes and the cake burnt almost all the way through except 1″ in the center. 3rd bake at 375 for 40 minutes and the color was brown, not orange and the bottom was burnt 1/8″.
I wonder if lowering the temp to 350 degrees and bake 40 minutes would solve this problem. Please advise.
Elana says
David, thanks for your comment! It sounds like you may need to have the smart oven temperature recalibrated so that it works as well as your conventional oven :-)
David Christmas says
That is something I considered, but all other breads ( your bread recipes) and foods don’t have these challenges. And the oven is new.
Elana says
Thanks David! If you’re certain the oven temperature is perfect, then make sure that you’re oranges weight 6.5 ounces each :-)