Mandarin and Almond cake

On a recent visit to wonderful Bold Street Coffee I tried a slice of their clementine and almond cake and subsequently fell in love, it was so good. I have made and bought a whole lot of cake in my time but this was definitely up there with the best. Desperate for my next fix I decided to try my own version at home and whilst it was not as good as the one I bought, it definitely did not disappoint. Clementines, tangerines and satsumas are all varieties of mandarin so it does not really matter too much which variety you choose for this cake; I used satsumas. I ate the cake with coffee and found that the flavours really complimented each other but I am sure it tasted great with a good old cuppa too.

Ingredients

3 Mandarins ( any variety)
125g ground almonds
3 medium eggs
100g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbs milk
100g butter
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and simmer the mandarins, including the skin, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours to soften.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees ( Gas mark 4) and grease your cake tin ( I used a 20cm round tin)
3. Once the mandarins have finished simmering allow them to cool before breaking them with your hands and removing any pips. Blend the mandarins into a fine pulp and set aside whilst you make your cake mixture.
4. Whisk the sugar and butter together until soft and fluffy then one by one add in the eggs. Add in the milk almond and baking powder followed by the mandarin and finally sift in the flour and mix until all ingredients are combined.
5. Pour mixture into your dish and back for 35-40 minutes, until a knife comes out clean when placed in middle of the cake.
6. Sift icing sugar over the top of the cake and allow to cool.