Grainy Clementine Cake

Asked by Jaffe&Neale. Answered on 29th May 2015

Full question

I have made the Clementine Cake for several years in batches of four - just recently the cakes have been a different slightly grainy texture and the base of the cakes are a dirty orange colour. Any ideas? Obviously it may be the clementines/mandarins but have been trying several different suppliers.

Our answer

Nigella's Clementine Cake (from How To Eat and on the Nigella website) is made with a fruit pulp made from cooked clementines and from ground almonds (almond meal). There is no obvious reason for the texture and colour described but we suspect that it may be coming from the almonds. The cake will have a slightly grainy texture from the almonds but it may be that the almonds used have not been ground quite as finely as for previous cakes. If the almonds seem to be slightly coarse then you can whiz them briefly in a food processor with the sugar, to grind them slightly more. However be careful not to process them for too long as otherwise the almonds could become slightly oily.

Also ground almonds can deteriorate in hot weather so store them in an airtight container in in a cool place or in the fridge or freezer. Clementines can be covered in an edible wax, called carnauba wax. This should not cause problems but it may be worth scrubbing the clementines thoroughly in hot soapy water, then rinsing them well with hot water before using.