Little flourless orange and almond cakes

Makes 12
Made without butter or flour, this very moist, perfumed Sephardic orange and almond cake documented by Claudia Roden in A New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Penguin) can be turned into perfect little puddings. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and vanilla-scented oranges.

Ingredients for little flourless orange and almond cakes

2 organic oranges
6 eggs
180 g white sugar
180 g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

to serve:
150 g natural yoghurt
toasted flaked almonds

Preparation method for little flourless orange and almond cakes

Place the oranges – whole, well-scrubbed, unpeeled - in a saucepan and cover with cold water.

Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for one hour, until soft (make sure the water doesn’t boil dry).

Drain, cut the oranges in half, and discard any pips.

Whiz the oranges to a creamy pulp in a food processor.

Heat the oven to 180C.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until well-mixed.

Beat in the orange pulp, then the ground almonds and baking powder.

Spoon into a well- greased 12-hole large muffin tin.

Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out dry.

Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or leave to cool.