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!
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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.
Karen Bostrom says
Can a 13x 9 pan be used instead? And would you double the recipe??
Elana says
Karen, feel free to experiment!
Sheryl Jordan says
Perfect recipe, easy, moist. Crazy way with boiling oranges!
Elana says
Thanks for letting me know this is perfect and easy, Sheryl!
Colleen Loader says
Thanks for the recipe. I made this and had a chocolate cream cheese, very low sugar icing with it and it was perfect. (Icing was 4 ounces cream cheese, equal amount butter, a couple of spoonfuls of cocoa, a bit of vanilla, and a large dollop of honey). The chocolate cheesy icing went very well with the orange of the cake.
I made it in 2 6-inch pans which don’t hold as much as one 9-inch. Lesson learned, put the extra in another dish. It went up a bit too high since I overfilled the 6-inch ones, and then the edges burnt – but cut the burnt off, covered with icing and no one knew the difference.
Elana says
Colleen, thanks for sharing your orange cake journey! That frosting sounds phenomenal :-)
Raquel says
Since you say the entire orange, does that also includes the seeds? I’d put the seeds also in the food processor?
Elana says
Raquel, yes, the whole orange!
Anna says
So delicious! Thank you.
Elana says
Anna, thanks for letting me know this is delicious!
Michelle says
I’ve made this cake many times and it’s fantastic every time! So moist and elegant! Have you tried cooking the oranges in the Instant Pot? I’m new to it but thought it could be a great asset since boiling the oranges is the worst part of the recipe IMO. Would love if anyone can share the settings if they did that. I’m too afraid to ruin my last oranges! Thank you!
Elana says
Michelle, I’m going to try that :-)
Leah says
Do you blend the boiled oranges while they are still hot? Or do you cool them first? I’m making it right now!
Elana says
Leah, yes :-)
Michele Stevens says
I love this cake! I made it twice now and this time I made a sugared sliced almond topping, so good!
I cooked mine at a lower temp for a little longer
Elana says
Michele, thanks for letting me know you love this cake! It’s one of our faves :-)
Mary says
A follow up to my earlier comments. This recipe is also extremely versatile. I’ve made it with several other fruits and each one has come out perfect and gets so many compliments. Just estimate the right quantity of a juicy fruit to replace the boiled oranges. I’ve made it three more times, with: 2 cups chopped fresh figs; 1 can of pears packed in juice, drained; and 2 small ripe peaches plus 1/2 a banana. I get rave reviews every time and always pass along Elana’s website to those who want the recipe. Although Elana’s orange cake is still the classic one, these other ones require less lead time because you don’t need to boil the fruit. A great way to use up some of that great fresh summer fruit I buy too much of because it looks so yummy.
Elana says
Mary, what a great comment! Thanks for sharing your versions :-)
Mary says
This cake is nothing less than MAGNIFICENT! Super easy to whip up (esp. if you boil the oranges the day before). I had to cook mine a lot longer than the recipe calls for to make sure the center was done (I’m sure this was because my oranges were on the larger side) but it was very forgiving – did not burn, just solidified slowly. Check it every five minutes until the center is firm.
I’m looking forward to trying it with chocolate frosting as Elana mentioned (talk about decadence) and also was thinking of doing a vanilla icing for a sort of creamsicle effect. But it is perfect as is.
A couple months ago I made a similar cake with regular flour where you cooked the cake and then infused it with orange juice. It was complicated and came out tasty but almost too moist and drippy. Elana’s orange cake, on the other hand, has the added tastiness of the almond flour and, while very moist, is not drippy – bravo Elana! I now have my go-to orange cake recipe, and am excitedly trying other Elana recipes!
Thank you.
Elana says
Mary, thanks for your lengthy comment! And for letting me know this cake is magnificent –we love it too :-)
Dorka says
Hello! I have made this cake a few times as written and always turns out great! I was planning to make it again for my extended family but they are not keen on the almond flour! Do you have a suggestion for a replacement? Thank you!
Elana says
Dorka, thanks for letting me know this cake is great! I have not tried a different flour in this recipe so not sure.