On Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of working with Robinsons on the launch event for their newly available Refresh’d drinks made from real fruit, spring water and 100% naturally sourced ingredients . Robinsons is found in more than 4 out of 10 British households, which is quite an incredible statistic! Robinsons Refresh’d however is all about quenching your thirst when you are on the go, and with no added sugar, they’re a great start to refreshing your summer routine.
As part of the event at the beautiful rooftop of the Ham Yard Hotel, I shared with Stylist readers my top tips on refreshing your summer menu, demonstrated some fruity recipes and showed the guests how to make an incredible Orange & Almond Cake inspired by the flavours of Refresh’d, which I’ll be sharing with you today!
The ingredients for the cake are put together with the philosophy of my summer menu in mind. The first pillar is to think about your base of any meal or bake; Using the beautiful weather to your advantage to pack in more colour, flavour and nutrition. It’s so easy to switch up a pasta base, for a quinoa salad or a berry porridge for a smoothie bowl – ‘bases’ of your meals that can quickly become a lot lighter and in effect more nutritious for you too. With that in mind I’m switching up regular flour for a ground almond flour as the main base of this Orange cake. The almonds give a really powerful nutty flavour, and combined with the egg makes a beautifully light and delicious cake.
To give it a real kick of flavour we add in Orange which brings me to the second pillar of a refreshing summer menu – fruit. Fruit is a brilliant addition to most summer foods, just like in Robinsons Refresh’d we can use flavourful fruit combinations in salads, smoothies, breakfast bowls and sweet treats. In this case it doesn’t just add flavour to the cake, it helps replace any added refined sugars. The combination of orange with honey brings out its fruitier tones,perfecting the fresh flavour palate.
The third and final pillar to creating the freshest summer menu is to add garnishes; There is so much wonderful colourful fruit and veg floating around in the summer months and adding toppings to your meal is a great way to benefit from more; this could be fruit, herbs or citrus flavours. I’m always looking for the most seasonal produce to keep it as fresh as possible.
Have a go refreshing your summer menu with my Orange & Almond Cake, it’s your job to find the garnish!
Honey-Cashew Icing, it’s your job to find the garnish!
The Ingredients
Cake
3 small oranges
6 eggs
150g runny honey
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
350g ground almonds
coconut oil for greasing
Cashew Icing
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
50g honey
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and Grease a 24cm round cake tin.
Peal the oranges and place them in a saucepan covered in water.
Bring the water to the boil, then put a lid on the pan and simmer the oranges for 45 minutes until they’re very soft. Drain them and put to one side. When cool put the oranges in a food processor and blitz to a purée.
Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add in the ground almonds, honey, vanilla and puréed oranges. Mix well and pout into the cake tin.
Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes until you can insert a knife and it comes out clean. Leave it to cool in the tin before turning it out.
Meanwhile make the cashew Icing, by draining the cashews and adding them to a blender with the melted coconut oil, vanilla and honey – processing until smooth. Keep in the fridge before pouring onto the cake when cool.
Cut a big slice and enjoy with a chilled bottle of one of the three delicious Robinsons Refresh’d drinks!
