Clementine cake

Clementine cake is prepared with clementines, ground almonds or almond meal, flour, sugar, butter and eggs.^[1][2] Optional ingredients include orange juice, orange muscat, milk, white dessert wine, or Riesling wine,^[3][4] orange oil or tangerine oil (or both),^[3] almond extract and vanilla extract.^[3] Some variations exist, such as being prepared without the use of flour.^[2][5]

The cake can be prepared with clementines and/or clementine zest mixed in the batter,^[1][6][7] with them atop the cake, such as in slices, and in both ways.^[2] The seeds and membrane of the clementine can be removed as part of the preparation process,^[2][4][8] or seedless clementines can be used.^[9] Whole, sliced clementines including the peel,^{[1][10][11][12]} or peeled clementines can be used,^[8] and the clementines can be cooked before being used in the cake batter.^[13] The fruit can be chopped or blended using a food processor.^[13] Candied clementines can be used atop the cake or as a garnish.^[3][2] The almonds used can be toasted or blanched.^[3][9]

Clementine cake can be finished with a sweet topping such as a sugar or chocolate glaze,^[2][14] a fudge or chocolate sauce,^[6][15] powdered sugar or honey.^[1][2][16] Clementine cake is dense and moist,^[8][11][12] and its flavor may improve a day or more after preparation,^{[2][5][13][17]} because the ingredients intermingle and coalesce to enhance its flavor as it ages. After being cooked, the cake may be delicate and can fall if it is wiggled too much.^[10] After preparation, it can be frozen to preserve it.^[18]

It can also be prepared as an upside-down cake.^[19][20] Individual cupcakes are a common variation.

• 
  A slice of vanilla clementine cake
• 
  Vanilla clementine cake and cupcakes
• 
  A slice of clementine cake
• 
  Clementine cake

Clementine cake is probably related to a Sephardic orange cake.^[7] Sephardic Jews popularized citrus cultivation in the Mediterranean region^[21] in the 15th century and popularized the use of orange in baked goods. In addition to its Iberian flavors, the cake also has North African and Spanish roots.^[22]

Claudia Roden, writing for The Guardian, said that she'd traced the evolution of the dish, which she describes as a Sephardic passover dish, "from Andalucia, through Portugal and Livorno in Italy, to Aleppo".^[23] The New Yorker said that Roden's recipe had been adapted by so many other cook book writers that Roden had lost count.^[24]

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Joyce Goldstein called it a "classic Judeo-Spanish cake".^[17] In 2020, Jill Dupleix, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, called it "the now famous, never-bettered, flourless Sephardic cake".^[25] Nigella Lawson called Roden's recipe "magnificent"^[26] and created an adaptation.^[2][5]

Clementine cake played a minor part in the plot of the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and was included in the opening scene of the film and in a couple of additional scenes.^[2][10]

• Fruitcake
• List of cakes
• List of desserts
• List of fruit dishes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clementine cakes.

• Willoughby, John (April 15, 2014). "In the Kitchen With Clémentine and Ruth". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

• Preparation