April 16, 2025
This light, bright citrusy cake is the perfect way to end a spring meal (Easter buffet I’m looking at you) when oranges are at their brightest and most abundant. I love that it comes together easily—no stand mixer required, just a few bowls and a little elbow grease. Known as Torta de Naranja, this gluten-free recipe is adapted from the Spanish-Mediterranean cookbook Moro, which I highly recommend adding to your collection. Their version calls for Seville oranges, which have a distinct bitterness but can be tricky to find in California. Instead, I swap in more readily available citrus that delivers a similar flavor profile.
When shopping for oranges, the farmers market in Santa Barbara has the best uncoated fresh-from-the-tree oranges. Seek out firm, fresh Valencia oranges and Moro oranges for the red—both have less pith and fewer seeds than navels or other versions. If you can’t find them, feel free to mix it up with slices of Cara Cara, grapefruit or even tangerines—those should be peeled before slicing though! Just don’t reach for the citrus that’s been hanging out at the bottom of the fruit bowl (they will work for the syrup) but are too sweet and tend to be bland to top this cake. Fresh, firm oranges are bursting with bold flavor and will slice more cleanly, and a serrated knife or mandolin makes the job even easier.
For this recipe you can forgo the removal the skin before slicing the citrus (because the pith is so minimal on a Valencia orange it tastes pretty darn good to keep it) which not only makes it easier to prepare the cake but also mimics the bitterness in a Sevilla orange. Serve with a dollop of labneh or plain Greek yogurt, and finish with fresh mint leaves—they’re beautiful, aromatic, and delicious.
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1 cup plus one tablespoon sugar, divided
2 cups blanched almond flour
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
10 – 12 paper-thin blood orange slices from 3 oranges
10-12 paper-thin orange slices from 3 oranges
2 tablespoons white sanding sugar
For the Syrup
1 cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup fresh blood orange juice
¼ cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons sugar
For the syrup: Bring citrus juices, cinnamon, and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes (the syrup will be thin). Cool the syrup and store it in the fridge until you are ready to use it, or up to 1 day ahead.
For the cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray the inside of a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with nonstick spray. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 1 cup sugar until light yellow in color, about 3 minutes. Next, stir in the almond flour and orange zest (the mixture will be very thick).
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the whites with one tablespoon of sugar until stiff peaks form. Whisk ¼ of the whites into the almond mixture to lighten, then fold in the remaining whites. Try not to over-mix; you want to keep the whites fluffy.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the thinly sliced citrus in an overlapping pattern on the cake. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. The sugar adds a nice texture to the cake and makes the slices sparkle.
Bake the cake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. When the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and cool completely on a rack. Before releasing the cake from the pan, spoon about half of the syrup over the cake and let it soak in before releasing the spring, remove the paper and transfer to a cake plate.
Using a serrated knife, carefully cut the cake into wedges. Arrange the wedges on plates and drizzle with a bit more of the syrup. Serve the cake with Greek yogurt and fresh mint, if desired.
