Clementine Cake

Wonderfully moist and tangy, this zesty cake can be made with seedless clementines, satsumas or tangerines, depending what’s in season. It’s a lovely summer pudding made from polenta and natural yogurt, which makes it one of the healthier options, too. You’ll know it’s cooked when an inserted skewer comes out clean – about an hour should do it.

Ingredients

12 seedless clementines, satsumas or tangerines

450g/16oz caster sugar 

200g/7oz butter, softened plus a little for greasing 

the grated zest of 1 lemon 

3 medium sized eggs, separated 

300g/10oz ground almonds 

100g/4oz polenta or semolina 

150ml pot of natural yogurt

Method

  1. Melt 250g of the sugar in a small pan with 330ml of boiling water, bring to the boil and reduce the heat to simmer
  2. Thinly slice 5 of the fruits horizontally, the ends are not needed. Add the slices to the pan with the sugar and water. Cover and simmer until the skin of the fruit is tender, about 20 minutes
  3. Grease and base line a 25cm/10" loose bottomed tin.
  4. Using a draining spoon, remove the fruit slices from the pan when tender, and arrange over the base of the cake tin
  5. Grate the zest from the 7 remaining fruits and put to one side
  6. Squeeze the juice from 4 and stir into the syrup. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes until thick. Allow to cool.
  7. Mix the remaining 200g sugar with the softened butter, lemon zest and the set aside zest. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time
  8. Peel the three remaining fruits, removing as much pith as possible, and whiz in a food processor until pulpy
  9. Add the fruit pulp to the cake mixture with the almonds, polenta and yogurt. Then whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold in to the mixture
  10. Carefully spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and place into a pre-heated oven 160ºC Fan oven, 170ºC Conventional oven, Gas 4.
  11. Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour, when the cake will be golden brown and risen. Cool the cake in the tin
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