Another recipe from MAURICE, one half of our dynamic duo of propagators and this one even has pretensions to be healthy as it is gluten free and dairy free. Not sure whether the oranges count towards your '5-A-day' but we can dream. The protective foil cover really works to stop the cake overbrowning, but just make sure you are quick when you open the oven. A good tip is to have one ready folded and shaped to fit so that it is easy to pop on with less fiddling around while the oven is open. The cake will serve 10 people or three socially distanced Hardy's work bubbles.

Ingredients

2 oranges, about 280g (10 oz) in total, scrubbed and roughly chopped to approximately 2cm cubes - leave the skin on

5 eggs separated

200g (7 oz) caster sugar

225g (8 oz) ground almonds

2 tbsp flaked almonds

sifted icing sugar to decorate

Method

Put the chopped oranges in a small saucepan, discarding any pips. Add 1tbsp water, then cover and cook gently for 30 minutes or until the oranges are soft and excess liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius /160 degrees Celsius Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line the bottom and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin with baking parchment. Finely chop the oranges in a food processor or blender, or with a large knife.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in half the caster sugar, then whisk for a minute.

Using the same whisk, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining caster sugar in another bowl for 3 minutes or until pale and quite thick. Whisk in the finely chopped oranges, then carefully fold in the ground almonds.

Stir in 3 spoonfuls of the whisked egg white to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites with a large metal spoon. Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and level the top. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Check the cake after 20 minutes and again at 30 minutes and cover lightly with foil if it is browning too quickly (see our tip at the start).

Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then turn it out, peel away the lining paper and transfer to a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar before serving. The cake can be kept in an airtight tin for up to 2 days.

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