Clementine cake is a cake flavored primarily with clementines. It may be topped with a sweet glaze or sauce, powdered sugar, honey and clementines, or candied clementines. It may originate from an orange cake in Sephardic cuisine. In popular culture, the cake played a minor part in the plot of the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
The cake is sometimes prepared using whole clementines in their peels, seeds and all, boiled.
Joyce Goldstein called it a classic. The Sydney Morning Herald called it famous.
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]orseedless 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]
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]
