Orange & almond cake with chocolate ganache

When we got married, Paul and I wanted to make sure that everyone who attended our wedding was well catered for at the reception. The food itself was vegan yum cha (at Bodhi in the Park) and we spent some time chatting with the events coordinator to make sure that many of the dishes were gluten-free (including the dipping sauces etc) because several of our guests suffered from coeliac disease. However, Bodhi didn't do cakes, so we had to organise this separately and were delighted to find the perfect solution at O Organics just down the road from our place (at the time) in Surry Hills - an organic, vegan, gluten-free Orange & Almond Cake covered in dark chocolate. The bonus was that it was absolutely delicious - the yummiest cake that I have ever tasted.

Anyway, ever since then (two years ago tomorrow as a matter of fact) I have contemplated purchasing another cake from them, but have always held back feeling that I really ought just make one myself. The problem has always been that I didn't have a recipe and couldn't find one anywhere on the internet or in my recipe books. However, after finding a recipe for a vegan orange cake recently (that didn't work out particularly well), I started thinking that I could probably experiment and make one up that would do just fine. So, when my brother was in town for his 30th birthday last week I decided that I would take the plunge.

I am very happy to report that it was a total and complete success. I was very lucky - the cake turned out to be absolutely perfect (well, perfect for my taste at least).

So, now that I have got it just right, I thought that I would share it with you.

Orange & Almond Cake

1 1/4 cups plain flour (sifted)*
1 1/4 cups almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder**
3/4 cup light soft brown sugar
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Juice of 1 orange
Zest of 1 orange

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Combine the flour and almond meal in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, soy milk, oil, orange juice and zest.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into a cake tin (I use the flexi ones because nothing ever sticks to them, but you can just use a normal tin and grease it well).
6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes (in a new fan-forced oven - longer if not), or until the cake browns very slightly on top and a knife comes out clean with poked into the middle of it.
7. Leave the cake in the the tin for around 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for an hour or so.

*If you would prefer to make this recipe gluten-free then slmply replace the flour with almond meal or a gluten-free flour (like rice flour).
**This is quite a dense low-rise cake. If you want it to be a little fluffy then you could add another teaspoon of baking powder.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 1/2 tablespoons soy milk
100grams dark chocolate (preferably fair trade & organic), chopped up into small pieces

1. Heat the oil and soy milk in a double burner (or just a metal bowl placed over a pot of slightly boiling water on the stove).
2. Once they are warm (but not too hot, you don't want the soy milk to boil), add the chocolate and stir until melted.
3. Remove from heat and let it cool (stirring the mixture every now and then).

Once the ganache is mostly cool, then you can pour it over the cake and smooth it around so that it covers it all over.


Leave the cake for a little while to set and then eat it (or serve it to others if you are feeling generous).