The “zeeuwse knop” and almond orange cake
Sometimes I make things while I should know better. You see a recipe that sounds good but when reading through the ingredients and instructions you start to get the feeling that something is just off. Does that happen to you? Still I was intrigued by the way this orange almond cake was supposed to be made and let’s be honest; the combination just sounds heavenly right? In the instructions it said I should be boiling two oranges for 1,5 hours. Remove any pits and than blend with skins and everything intact. Ok, I thought; but isn’t that gonna be bitter?
And well, let’s put it this way; I should have listened to my own intuition as indeed the cake was too bitter. The baking tin I made it in is called de zeeuwse knop and I did think the recipe would go really well with the form.
I’m not very familiar with the history of Zeeland (Zeeland is one of the provences of the Netherlands) but this baking tin is the shape of the original Zeeuwse knop or button that used to be worn throughout Zeeland. Smaller buttons for the poor, bigger buttons for the rich. And because the button itself is disappearing together with the old traditional clothing they created a baking tin with in the same shape. I was a bit worried the shape would be hard to get out of the tin but if you use enough butter it will go well. The tin is coated with silicon which helps the process along.
The baking tin is for sale at Kookpunt and well all by itself it looks quite festive and pretty I think. But anyway, back to that orange. Cooking it for an hour and a half did indeed soften it and blending the oranges went fine, but when I tasted the resulting mixture it was very bitter. I still put it into the almond mixture against my better judgement, but I figured I would try it now and see how it turned out. Sadly that bitter taste stayed. It was less when the cake cooled but still not what I am looking for in a cake.
So I decided to start over. Apart from the bitter taste the cake was too wet and the batter way too much for the tin (while it was supposedly for this tin specifically) so I reduced the number of eggs, sugar and almond flour and changed those whole oranges to zest and juice. All in all that was a much better choice. Not only did it save 90 minutes of the time it takes to make it but the flavour was much better and delicious too. So the result is a delicious orange almond cake.
Glad I did it again!
Almond orange cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 170 gr almond flour
- 170 gr sugar
- zest of 2 oranges
- 50 ml orange juice
- 1 tsp of baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C.
- Mix the sugar and eggs together until mixed and fluffy. Add the almond flour and baking powder in the mix.
- Fold the zest and the juice of the orange through the mixed and put into a well butter tin. If you want to keep this glutenfree dust the tin after buttering with icing sugar, if not you can dust with flour instead. (this will make sure the cake can be taken out of the tin easier)
- Put into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden and crisp.
- Leave to cool completely in the tin before removing.
- Serve with whipped cream
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I have seen this baking tin in Sluis ( the nearest Nederland town from our place) but always reluctant to buy them as i was what all cakes can one bake it it. Your cake looks beautiful
Technically you can bake just about any cake in this tin Finla… My next bake will be a savory one!
Is there a place in the USA that sells these zeeuwse cake pans? Your link is in the Netherlands
He Barbara, Yes my link is in the Netherlands as that is where I live. There is a website dedicated to the Zeeuwse knop so maybe you can check with them if there is a place that ships internationally http://zeeuwseknop.nl/contact/ Good luck!
What a cool baking tin! Love the shape of that cake. And this version looks good — too bad the first one was a dud. I change recipes all the time simply because I think a change will work better, or if my gut tells me something is wrong. Sometimes my changes result in a dud! But usually not. 😉 Good post — thanks.
Yes I’ve had some less fortunate changes in recipes but mostly it’s for the best!
I hadn’t heard of this pan before. it makes a lovely shape. I want to use almond flour in baking. this cake looks great!
Almond flour is one of my favorite flours to bake with. Love the taste!
I have visited Zeeland a couple of times since I moved to Holland and I love it. It’s such a beautiful place with lots of traditional bakeries. I was inspired by their baked goods and I have been making Zeeuwse speculaas and bolus ever since. Perhaps I should get that pan, too 😉
My parents have been going there on vacation since forever but I have to say I don’t really know Zeeland all that well! I do want to make a zeeuwse bolus at some point! And yes I think the pan is awesome!
Love almond and orange together, such a gorgeous combo! Your photos are mouth watering beautiful! Hugs, Terra
Thanks so much Terra. Yes it’s the perfect combo for sure!
That tin gave you one beautiful cake! I love the sound of the orange and almond combination…sounds delicious!
Does anyone know of a place that sells these tins in the USA or one that ships to the USA? I have not had success finding one.
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Thanks, my thinking was similiar. I have these fresh just in season vibrant oranges and every recipe on the internet is a copy of a copy “boil your oranges”? So yeah cook away all those fresh flavours I want to capture in cake? From many other cooking endeavors i know the best way to capture these volatiles, is to zest citrus with microplane straight into the sugar as it absorbs the volatile oils / aromatics very quickly “capturing them”. Along with the fresh juice I upped the orange flavour by addjng 1 tsp of concentrated 100% natural food grade orange oil.