This gorgeous cake gets its elegant appearance from Pittman & Davis Clementines, Navel Oranges, or Tangerines. The cake itself is easy to make from simple everyday ingredients including flour, butter, and eggs, then topped with candied clementine slices. A fragrant and decadent springtime treat!
Ingredients:
For the citrus glaze:
- 6 Pittman & Davis Clementines, Mandarins, Tangerines, Navel Oranges
- Juice of ½ lemon (about 2 Tbsp.)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
For the clementine cake:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup semolina flour (or substitute all-purpose flour)
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
Directions:
Make the citrus glaze:
- Finely grate one of the citrus fruits to gather 1 tsp. of zest, reserving for cake batter. Half and juice the remaining fruit and strain juice (for ⅓ cup juice; use an additional citrus fruit if necessary).
- Slice remaining citrus fruits into very thin circles (around ¼” thick). Remove and discard any seeds.
- In a medium nonreactive saucepan over low heat, combine orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and orange slices; bring to a slow simmer and cook until centers of orange slices start to become tender and translucent and peels are tender (6-10 minutes).
- Carefully transfer the orange slices to a plate with a slotted spoon. Continue to simmer syrup until it reduces to ½ cup (10-25 minutes). Remove from heat.
Make the clementine cake:
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 9″ or 10″ spring-form cake pan.
- Toss butter and sugar in stand mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed until fluffy. With the mixer still running, add one egg and mix until completely incorporated before adding second egg. When the second egg is similarly incorporated, sprinkle grated orange zest reserved from the glaze recipe over the batter and mix until combined.
- In a bowl, sift together the semolina flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gently mix flour mixture into batter, a little at a time, and mix just until no white streaks of flour remain. Pour batter into buttered cake pan and smooth surface.
- Arrange glazed oranges on batter in a single layer, allowing excess glaze to drip from oranges back into pan before placing them on the cake. Reserve the remaining glaze in the pan.
- Bake cake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and bake until even golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, for 25 to 30 minutes more (for a total of 40-45 minutes).
- Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack until just warm.
- Warm remaining glaze. Using a wooden skewer, poke holes all over the surface of cake. Brush glaze over the cake using a pastry brush. Let cake cool to room temperature on a wire rack before removing it from pan, or slice and serve straight from pan.
