Why Does My Clementine Cake Taste Bitter?

Our answer

Nigella's Clementine Cake (from HOW TO EAT) is made with whole clementines that are cooked until soft. The clementines are then pureéd in a food processor with the other ingredients to make the cake batter. Because whole fruits are used this cake is not as sweet as some cakes, but should not be noticeably bitter.

Easy peeler clementines usually have soft skin and little pith. However, if they were the very small fruits (not much bigger than a golf ball) then, as you say, there may be a higher ratio of skin to fruit that could make the cake slightly more bitter. We also wonder if the clementines had any seeds in them as the seeds are very bitter and this could also be the cause. Easy peelers should not have lots of seeds but can occasionally have seeds and again if they are small fruits then the ratio of seeds to flesh could be higher than normal. If you are not sure, you could always roughtly chop the cooked clementines and pick out any seeds before adding the fruit to the food processor.