Nice

Sure makes me hungry.

I'll be right over.

Ok, I'm prepared to receive cake...staring at the image, waiting for download to start.

Sorry, that doesn’t look enough for all of us!,

Yum! I do love that cake, and eat a slice in your name every time I make it! My little tree is covered with flowers, but it's going to be while before I can post a matching picture!

KC

So how was it our friend? With whipped cream?

God it looks so good.

I'm thinking next year I will keep mine growing in warm conditions and get as many as I can to copy what you just did))

I wish we could have a citrus party with all my friends! I just took it to a brunch with some old friends and everyone loved it! It’s so easy too.

Looks delicious, Laura!

Great! I have a seed grown tree that's about a year old. Wonder when I'll get to make some calamondin cake...

Hopefully soon lucky! I know many people look down on calamondin, but I absolutely love the fruit.

Looks delicious!

I toootally missed this post! I'm with dbarron waiting for Laura's cake to download so I can enjoy a bite.

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have calamondins on the tree right now that need to be picked. One of my favorite home made cakes is the hummingbird cake. I'll bet I could tweak that recipe a bit and veer off from the bananas in the recipe and go the citrus/calamondin route. The recipe already calls for a lemony cream cheese icing that could be converted to calamondin.

I was first introduced to calamondins at a neighbor's orchard where I used to go pick Satsuma oranges. His calamondin tree was maybe 16ft tall and I asked him what it was. He said he couldn't remember the name at the moment but that he just called then "those little sour things". He said someone gave him the tree and told him to plant it right along the walkway to the orchard so if guests sneaked a fruit and ate it without permission, they would get taught a lesson :>) He let me try some right off the tree and they were really sour but had an intriguing flavor. I picked several times from his tree and made calamondin jelly which I shared with my neighbor. We both agreed it was a bit too strong for our taste but Laura LaRosa here has also made calamondin jelly or jam (Laura is probably a better cook than I am) and reported it was very good. I also made a few calamondin pies and my neighbor and I both liked them. Do a search if you want the recipe. I posted the recipe here somewhere. Unfortunately my neighbor left this world but I bought a calamondin tree and it's one of the prettiest trees in my yard in terms of it's nice shape, and having flowers, and fruit most of the spring, summer, and fall.

John, I tried to reply earlier but my comment disappeared...argh!

I'm glad you will try a variation of my recipe. I'm sorry about your neighbor, but it is a funny story about planting them by the sidewalk..lol. Your tree looks so pretty and full of fruit. I can't imagine how I would use up so many. I am still overwhelmed with them and only have two small bushes in pots. They are heavy producers. I like this cake because it is so easy since it uses a yellow cake mix as the base. As far as the jam, if it is too strong (I get that it is a strong flavor), mix some navel orange juice and see if that helps. I have done that in the past. I have also added in summer peaches, which is a nice combination and also dilutes the flavor.

It's great you are overwhelmed with anything citrus! It's seems a bit of a shame to compost the tastiest part of the calamondin, the skin, but if you get totally overwhelmed you can juice and freeze for later by cutting in half and squeezing/smashing them through a strainer. It's gorgeous juice and mixes great to complex up the flavor of other citrus juices. Looks like you are already doing that complex thing with your blends. It's a great citrus and I'm really looking forward to trying it in a cake format!

Many years ago I had a calamondin (didn't know what it was, you all graciously identified it for me! It was my first citrus). I ended up having more jars of calamondin marmalade than I could eat or give away, and it was a fairly small tree in a 3 gallon pot! I never thought of making cake or pie with the fruit. I ended up giving it away to make room to try some different citrus.

I did enjoy the lemon tart inside-sweet peel taste of calamondin.

Your post is making me wish I still had it -- that looks so good!

Well, they’re easy to come by in case you have a change of heart!

Funny I haven't really thought of making cake-type recipes using calamondins. I just put a variation based on the hummingbird cake in the oven. Hummingbird cake is a favorite of mine. I reduced the banana by 1/2, drained the juice from the crushed pineapple, bumped the sugar up a bit and added one cup of puree'd calamondin. The raw batter smelled and tasted wonderful!

Quite tasty...think I undercooked it just a tad but doesn't taste raw, just a tad gummy in the middle. I don't think I will ice it but boy it would be good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it!

John that looks incredible! I am glad the variation worked out so you have more uses for your calamondin harvest ;)

John, that sounds delicious! I might have to try that when I don't have the bumper crop of calamondins Laura seems to get! Is there a go to recipe you have, or should I just google?

KC

Laura, when you say ' purée', do you use the whole fruit? seeds, peel and all?

You can Google the hummingbird cake but the recipes I see there have more oil than the recipe I used from my mom. My hummingbird cake recipe calls for 3 cups flour (I used whole wheat), 2 cups granulated sugar (I used light brown), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda, three eggs beaten, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 8-oz can crushed pineapple, and 2-cups diced and gently mashed fairly ripe banana. Optionally, you can add 3/4 cup pecans or other nuts, floured to keep them from sinking in the batter. Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, including the fruit, and then fold the wet and dry portions together, mixing minimally once combined. Cook time and temp depends on if you are making layer cakes or a single bundt pan. The recipe calls for 325F for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

For the calamondin version, I reduced the banana to 1 cup, drained the juice from the pineapple, and added 1 cup calamondin puree' and an additional 1/4 cup sugar. Next time, I plan to try cutting the oil (I used canola) to 1/2 cup and leaving the juice in the crushed pineapple.

I removed the seeds from the calamondins before puree'ing them. I have seen several recommendations for leaving seeds in when we puree' citrus but I just don't think you can blend long enough to keep the seed husks from being a distraction. It's too tedious trying to pick all the seeds out with a fork so cut the calamondins in half, squeeze the seeds out into a tea strainer so the juice runs into your catch dish, and then toss the squeezed fruit halves and the juice in a blender and run until it's smoothie texture..

Has anyone made cupcakes with calamondins? I bet Laura's or the hummingbird version could both be made into cupcakes really easy.

I have! Came out just the same as the cake!

KC

Thank you for sharing your recipe John. I may try it without the pineapple and only use bananas and calamondin. It sounds delicious...and no, I’ve not made cupcake.

Another variation on the hummingbird cake is to trade quartered strawberries instead of pineapple. When Mom makes it, she makes a powdered sugar icing with lemon juice to flavor it. More citrus!

That's another great idea John. I am not a huge fan of pineapple and that is a nice variation. I'd bet that muffins/cupcakes would be incredible as well.

John, I just noticed the recipe! My notifications seem to be out of order! Thank you! Will try it out and report!

KC

That cake look delicious, Laura! I bet it tasted really yummy. I love Calamondin. Most of the fruit on my tree dried and shriveled up during the deep winter freeze when our wood stove went out for a bit during hubbys health scare. By the way, thank you, and others for the kind thoughts and well wishes.

John, that cake looks delicious. Thank you for the hummingbird cake recipe and the variations. I made red lime sweet bread last week. It was delicious. I will post about it soon, with pictures.

I'm still on a calamondin cake tear! I forget how I ran across this recipe but it's gluten-free, made from almond flour, and really turned out tasty. I mean, knock you up the side of the face, citrusy!

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/clementine-cake

Let me preface this recipe to note that I used some brand new non-stick cake pans but the cakes didn't come out at all. The almond flour makes for a crumbly consistency in other recipes but this one has so much sugar and moisture from the calamondins that it frankly made a sticky mess trying to get them out of the pans. I added few notes I hope will help. Cover with foil after 40 minutes of cook time to keep the top from getting too brown. I think you might also consider lining the pans with parchment paper. The cake was really tasty so I think it's worth a little experimenting.

I plan to try this again and will share any success/failure notes.

I use deseeded, puree'ed, calamondins, and skipped all of the boiling and processing in step 1.

I put the 13-oz of calamondin puree' in a measuring cup and it comes to 1 1/4 cup.

Beat six eggs until they are thick. According to one of the notes below the website recipe, this helps fluff the cake up a bit. It's really moist so the baking powder needs a little help. In another bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 2 1/4 cup almond flour, and 1 tsp baking powder. Blend the dry ingredients into the beaten eggs and then mix in 1 1/4 cup of puree'ed calamondins (de-seed them and puree the rest of the fruit, peel and all).

Grease two flat cake tins and divide the batter between the two. Cook at 375F for about an hour. There is so much moisture in the mixture, I think it will help to cook on a rack in the lower half of your oven so the bottom will cook a little hotter than the top. The top of my cakes got pretty brown before the inside was fully done. The recipe also suggests putting foil over the pan after about 40-minutes of cook time. I missed that note the first time so that should help.

It's not low calorie with the sugar and almond flour but it does work for gluten-intolerant folks. I didn't ice mine. It' already plenty sweet but it has a great sour edge to it and would be outstanding with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, a glass of milk, cup of coffee....just brings out the best in the calamondins.

I feel like I have hijacked Laura's original post a bit here. Apologies for tagging on a couple of other recipes but hopefully that's in keeping with Laura's original goal....to share some calamondin recipes. My calamondins have been dropping off the tree, unused, lately since I still have juice frozen from last year and just haven't had enough ways to use them to keep up with the tree's production.

That sounds perfect for my gluten allergic daughter! I will make it when she is next here! Except, darn it, my Calamondin is all flowers right now!

I just ran across this thread and have another calamondin recipe variation I'll add. I have not made it but a friend has several times and I enjoyed a bite! When you make your favorite bread pudding, substitute pureed calamondin (including peel but no seeds!) for the lemon juice in your glaze.

John, thank you and I hope all is well.