Flourless Lemon Cake

Phew! Last post of the day, I promise! As this is a new blog, I wanted to get a little content on it to get it going. To end this posting spree, here's what I baked today. :)

I started this cake as an attempt at this flourless orange cake from Citrus and Candy, but alas, I was stupid and ignored the warnings that regular flour would produce a substandard cake texture. I was all, I don't need no almond flour! Psh! And attempted to make the cake with regular all-purpose flour and some whole wheat flour. The author at Citrus And Candy would describe floured attempts of this cake as 'stodgy'; that's being kind. Mine turned out gluey, gummy, and rubbery. Mmmm! After failing to convince myself that I actually liked it, I binned the whole thing, and... it actually BOUNCED right out of my (admittedly rather full) trash can, I am not even kidding. Rubbery!

As I was determined to produce something nice out of my poor, neglected springform cake pan, I decided to give it another go. This time, I behaved and bought the almond meal. I also made the switch to lemon because... because I like lemons better than oranges. Lemons >>>> oranges. Oh yeah, I went there! ;)

For the most part I followed the recipe to a T, except that instead of using 6 whole eggs, I used 3 whole eggs, and 5 egg whites, and I used 3/4 cup caster sugar instead of a whole cup. Just trying to cut down on the fat/calorie content, and it worked for the cake, yay! The end result is... holy crap, amazing. The OP was accurate in describing the cake as having more of a custard-like texture than a cakelike texture. It really reminded me of the lemon flans I used to make. It's simultaneously dense but light, with bits of lemon scattered in for bursts of flavour... oh man. I am definitely making this one again.

The texture of the boiled lemons was also really fascinating. When I cut open the boiled oranges yesterday,  they retained their structure pretty well, and really just seemed like dense, heavier (and wetter!) oranges. The lemons practically lost all their structure on the inside, and the flesh actually looked almost creamy, smooth and yellow and thick. I forgot to have a taste, though; I think it just didn't occur to me to eat a lemon on its own haha. Next time I make this (and I will!) I'll definitely try the pulp.


Finally, a word of caution if you want to replicate this recipe with lemons: boil extra lemons! XD While I was boiling oranges yesterday, one of the fruit got a split in the skin and it really worried me, but in the end all the fruit were completely intact inside. Today, again one of the fruit (this time lemons) got a split in the skin, but I noticed that little bits of lemon flesh were floating out of it into the water. Luckily this was during the first boiling period, and I had extra lemons (primarily for garnishing/props) and tossed another in. Then I refreshed thrice instead of just twice and after the third refresh I boiled for 40 instead of 60 minutes.

Thank goodness I did, because that lemon with the split in the skin? Oh boy. Lemons probably have more fragile membranes around each segment than oranges do, because check this out:

Does that not look sad? Hahaha. It actually was, literally, half-empty by the end of the boiling process. Poor thing. Luckily I had a spare!

Calories per serving: 226.9 if cutting the cake into 8 servings.