Orange & Almond Tray Bake From "The Ginger & White Cookbook"

"[Photograph: Jenny Zarins ] A "tray bake" sounds like a peculiar thing, but it merely references a sweet dish baked in a rectangular container, cut into pieces—we're talking everything from brownies to fruit bars to sheet cakes. This iteration from The Ginger & White Cookbook may look to be a standard orange sponge, but that's far from the case: Ground almonds and egg form the base of the cake, with a flavorful orange purée folded into the mix. The entire thing is drenched in orange flower water syrup and garnished with candied orange slices. Sensing a theme? The hit of citrus is powerful, but it's tempered by the almonds and raspberries. Why this recipe works: * Boiling whole, unpeeled oranges is an unorthodox step, but a clever one that allows you to blitz the entire fruit, skin and all, and add it to the cake. * There is no flour in the cake, only ground almonds, which adds a denseness and depth of flavor that melds very well with citrus. Tips: Removing the seeds from squishy, boiled oranges is not a pleasant task. It becomes much easier if you place the quarters into a mesh strainer set over a bowl. Press with a spoon to remove the seeds. Any juice that escapes is saved; just scrape the seeds into the trash, add the fruit to the bowl, and pour it all into the food processor. Tweaks: Only two drops of orange flower water are called for to make the syrup that's poured over the cake. Leaving them out is not a mortal sin, but you lose the floral notes it adds to the syrup. You'll find orange flower water where fruit extracts are sold: if you can't find it in your local supermarket's baking aisle, try a spice shop or a well-stocked liquor store (it's sometimes used in cocktails). Excerpted from The Ginger & White Cookbook by Tonia George, Emma Scott & Nicholas Scott (Mitchell Beazley). Copyright (c)2014 . Photographs by Jenny Zarins...."