18 Comments

Sitting the cake on the syrup it so smart!!!

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Forever grateful for our field trip

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Mar 3Liked by Nicola Lamb

Hi Nicola, could the almonds be substituted for something else eg more flour (for nut allergy people)?

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Yes definitely! Just use more flour :)

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Thank you!

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This is the most enjoyable recipe I have read/viewed for a long time. This cake shall be made!

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What a read! Love the citrus chat and v much appreciate the citrus vocab expansion

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This was absolutely sunshine on a plate, and very easy to make. Thank you.

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Have you considered incorporating an oleo saccharum into any of your citrus cakes or curds? I've been considering playing around with it with my bakes.

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James Beard has a whole orange cake recipe in the book "Waste Not" that you should check out if you haven't already. I can't wait to try this recipe! So cool to read through your journey. I love the idea of serving yogurt on the side.

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I loved reading this and always appreciate the deep dive into methodology! Quick question about this step:

“Cream the soft butter, almonds, salt, and zesty orange sugar together for 2 minutes until lightened. Scrape down the edge of the bowl, and then begin adding the orange/egg and flour/raising agents mixtures alternately in 3-4 additions.”

What speed should the mixer be at for the initial creaming, and then for the wet/dry additions?

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R the almonds for cake structure, texture, or taste? (Maybe all 3!) Should the almonds then be finely ground (like flour) or more moderately coarse ground? If the almonds are for structure, can one sub with 60g almond flour instead?

BTW, absolutely loved the treatise on citrus and your journey (trials and tribulations!) to achieve the picture in your head- especially the realization that the star flavour , in the end, still has to “play” with the basics of what makes up a cake (flour, eggs, sugar, fat)and that sometimes U can only max out flavour just so much. I also learned the Spanish terms “flavedo” and “albedo” today, which I assumed were the equivalents of “exocarp” and “mesocarp”

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For me, the moderately course ground approach worked. It was nice with a tiny bit of texture in the cake.

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Thx for that info Mort!

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If you ever get the chance you should also try a Corsican clementine! They are delicious

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The visit to Todoli Citrus Foundation, is my literal dream. I could read (or write) deep-dive content on fruit varieties every singe day.

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Another reason to adore you, Nicola. BtVS fandom ❤️😆

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What a coincidence, I just made a portokalopita this weekend after seeing one in a video and like you, being desperate to know what it tasted like! I was actually not sure I would like it, sometimes syrupy things are too sweet, but it was fantastic! I never had a phyllo cake like that before. The recipe suggested serving with ice cream but I used yogurt instead and it was beautiful. Highly recommend!

I used this recipe: https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/extra-syrupy-greek-yogurt-cake-oranges-portokalopita/#tasty-recipes-251591-jump-target

(Interestingly it specifies cold syrup and hot cake)

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