Mandarin Orange Almond Cake
This Mandarin Orange Almond Cake, is the perfect Italian cake to serve any time during the day. Fresh Mandarin Oranges and a simple glaze will make this cake a delicious dessert.
This is a popular cake that is made during the colder months and the holiday months, from Christmas to Easter. With the Easter Season just around the corner, we will be celebrating with such dishes as Lasagna, Homemade Crepe Cannelloni, Roast Lamb, Roasted Potatoes and Roasted Onions. We would eat a Rollè, tossed salads, fennel salads or even Baked Fennel and Peas.
Just when you didn’t think you good eat anymore, out would come the Italian Playing Cards and the Tombola Board (Italian Bingo). And of course somebody would ask “who wants coffee”? And here comes the Colomba, Panettone, Torrone or chocolate eggs depending on the season.
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour – all purpose
- Corn starch
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Eggs – large eggs room temperature)
- Egg yolk – room temperature
- Sugar – granulate sugar
- Yogurt – greek yogurt
- Almonds – finely chopped almonds, not almond flour
- Oil – vegetable oil I use sunflower or corn oil you could also use melted butter or a light olive oil
- Mandarin juice –
- Lemon zest
- Mandarin orange zest
- Powdered sugar
- Cream – or milk
Why Add Yogurt In A Cake
Yogurt makes cakes moist and give it a delicious flavour, because of the acidity in yogurt it helps to activate the baking soda which will make your cake light and fluffy.
Why Use Room Temperature Ingredients?
When at room temperature, eggs, butter, and other dairy ingredients form an emulsion which traps air. While baking in the oven, that trapped air expands and produces a fluffy baked good. So be sure to remove the ingredients from the fridge 45-60 minutes before baking.
How to make a Mandarin Orange Cake Recipe
In a medium bowl whisk the flour, corn starch, baking powder and baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl or stand mixer beat until fluffy the eggs and sugar, gently stir in the yogurt, then fold in the flour mixture, add the almonds, oil, juice and then zest and gently combine.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until a tooth pick comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.
Let cake sit approximately 15 – 20 minutes, then remove from pan. When completely cool drizzle with the glaze or dust with powdered sugar.
What Makes A Cake Fall?
- There are a lot a reasons a cake may fall, but the most common ones are, your oven temperature is off, you can always check it with an oven thermometer to check this. You open the oven door too early.
- Once the batter is mixed it should be baked, letting a cake batter sit too long can cause it to fall. The baking powder or baking soda usually start acting immediately and will only last for a very short period of time, therefore if the cake batter is left to stand before baking then there is always a risk that the baking powder or soda will have expired by the time that the cake goes into the oven.
- Your baking powder or soda has expired and is no long active.
- The pan size might not be the correct size, sometimes using a bundt pan will help.
How to store the Orange Almond cake
Most covered cakes, including this cake either frosted or unfrosted, cut or uncut, are perfectly fine at room temperature for about 2-3 days. It can also be refrigerated for up to 4 days. The cake can also be frozen. Wrap the completely cooled unglazed cake tightly in plastic and place in a freezer safe bag or container. It will keep for up to three months in the freezer.
Fast and easy to make, this Mandarin Orange Almond Cake is perfect anytime and any celebration, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Enjoy.
More Delicious Italian Cakes to try
- Italian Fresh Cream Lemon Cake
- Italian Lemon Ricotta Cake
- Italian Pear Cake
- Italian Mascarpone Cake with Raspberry Glaze
Mandarin Orange Almond Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
- ¾ cup + 2½ tablespoons sugar (granulated) (181 grams total, if you double the recipe double this amount)
- ½ cup greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup finely chopped almonds (not almond flour)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil ( I use either sunflower or corn oil)
- ⅔ cup mandarin juice (approximately 5-7) (fresh mandarins)
- ½ tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ tablespoon mandarin orange zest
MANDARIN GLAZE
- 1¼ cups icing / powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons Mandarin Orange juice (fresh)
- 1-2 tablespoon cream or milk
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Pre-heat oven to 340° F (170°C). Grease and flour a 9 inch (22 centimeter) bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl whisk the flour, corn starch, baking powder and baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl beat until fluffy the eggs and sugar approximately 2-3 minutes, gently stir in the yogurt, then fold in the dry ingredients, add the almonds, oil, juice and then zest and gently combine.
- Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let the cake sit approximately 15-20 minutes in the pan, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. When completely cool drizzle with the glaze or dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
MADARIN GLAZE
- In a small bowl add icing / powdered sugar, juice and 1 tablespoon cream or milk, stir together until smooth, if too thick then add a little more cream or milk, if too thin add more icing / powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from December 19, 2016.
How fine do you chop the almonds? Do the almonds take away from the beads moist texture?
Hi Joann, I finely chop the almonds, they actually help to add a little bit of moisture rather then take away. Let me know if you make it. Take care!
Flavor is great! My cake was fairly short in height, but I baked it for 30 minutes as suggested and the glaze was very nice. I wonder if our altitude here in Denver might have affected the height. I will make it again!
Hi Katherine, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. It could be the altitude or you could probably use a smaller pan to get a higher cake. Take care!
I am wondering if I can use Kefir instead of Greek Yogurt!
Hi Wendy, yes that should work. I hope you enjoy the recipe. Take care!
Fell apart but it tasted ok, won’t make it again
Hi Mada, I don’t understand what you mean by fell apart. Did you try to remove it from the pan when it was still hot? Let me know.
Can you omit the almonds?
Hi Tammy, sure if you want. Hope you enjoy it. Take care!
I am really looking forward to try this recipe. Can I use the same recipe in a cup cake form ? Thank you
Hi DG sure that should work also. Let me know how it goes.
Hello! I do have a question, is it 3 whole eggs, or just the yolk or the white?? Thanks for your help!
Hi Eli, yes 3 whole eggs and 1 yolk. Let me know how it goes.
What a great find! An absolutely delicious cake that was demolished by my family. They loved it so much I’m making it again this weekend – one for a friend and one for us to enjoy.
I made a few tweaks to the recipe to accommodate family requirements and also what I had on hand: reduced the sugar amount, added more zest for flavour, vitamixed the mandarins/oranges to minimise wasting the pulp and used almond meal.
Correction required: US Customary states 3 eggs however Metric conversion states 2 eggs.
Hi Natalie, thanks so much, so glad everyone enjoyed it. Take care.
I’m thinking (of making this cake it sounds delicious also I like to use metric for measurements wondering why the amount of eggs are different, which is the right amount 2or3 please
Hi Anna, I corrected it, it should be 3 eggs and 1 yolk, I hope you like it. Take care!
Hello – I made this yesterday for an important birthday celebration, and while the flavors were wonderful, the cake was too dense and dry. I did substitute the yogurt with light sour cream, and I pureed the mandarins in my food processor as another reviewer suggested (instead of trying to manually juice them). But being no stranger to the kitchen and to baking, my gut tells me these changes were not the primary cause of the resulting dryness?
Question: the directions say to “beat until fluffy” the sugar and eggs…wondering if there is more specific guidance that can be offered? I used a handheld electric mixer and beat the mix on high speed for about a minute. Should I have beaten longer? Wonder if a short video could be added to this site?
Then, when I mixed in the sour cream and then the flour mixture (with a spoon), very few bubbles were produced. And the final batter, after the rest of the ingredients were added, did not appear as “light and bubbly” as in the pictures. I “fluffed” my flour well before measuring it; next time I will fully sift it to see if this resolves the problem. But would love your thoughts? Maybe I should have used more of the orange puree? Or maybe I didn’t beat the sugar/eggs long enough?
Last question: I am curious as to why the use of corn starch in this recipe? Wonder if it can be eliminated?
In any case, thank you for this recipe. I am intrigued by it and will keep trying to produce a delicious result. Would love this cake to become a holiday tradition with my family.
Hi Holly, yes it should be beaten about 2-3 minutes, and you should fold in the yogurt and dry ingredients, folding is usually done with a spatula and not a spoon. Do not eliminate the cornstarch because that adds softness to the cake. Stir just to combine the remaining ingredients don’t over mix. Be sure you don’t over bake as that can cause dryness also. Let me know how it goes.