Guest Recipe: Martin Sorge's Clementine Creamsicle Cake

This week, the sun put on quite the show! What better way to enjoy the performance than with a little taste of sunshine?

Martin Sorge’s Clementine Creamsicle Cake is a ray of sunshine in cake form. Bright clementine eclipses creamy vanilla in this playful take on the classic creamsicle, creating a cake that is citrusy, playful, and perfect for an eclipse-viewing picnic.

Martin’s debut cookbook, Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest, is full of these wholesome, nostalgic recipes that capture the warmth and wide open skies of the American Midwest.

When the moon passed in front of the sun and the sky went dark for a moment, all I wanted was a bite of this summery slice. A little brightness never hurts.

✨ Find what else Martin is baking up on Instagram.

Though Martin and I may come from different parts of the world, we are both very familiar with the kitchen misadventures that can lead to the most delicious discoveries. A small misstep or unexpected twist can turn into the recipe you never knew you needed.

Martin’s creamsicle cake had me thinking about another recipe where the orange gets its own moment in the spotlight: my Whole Orange Crème Brûlées.

Here, the whole orange takes centre stage—from fragrant zest to juicy flesh—creating a dessert that is intensely fresh, yet elegantly silky. This recipe was born from a few failed experiments that eventually led to something rather wonderful. Sometimes the best recipes are the ones that emerge when we’re simply playing around in the kitchen.

Check out my full recipe video:

{v, nf}

MAKES ONE GLORIOUSLY CRACKED 9-INCH LOAF

200 g clementines or mandarins (ideally organic and unwaxed)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

54 g (4 Tablespoons) butter, melted

50 g (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil

250 g (1 ¼ cups) sugar

120 g (1 ¼ cups) almond flour

1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder

Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean or 1 Tablespoon (15 g) vanilla extract or vanilla paste

½ teaspoon (5 g) fine sea salt

180 g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour

PREPARE. Heat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 9 × 4-inch loaf pan and line it with a sling of parchment paper.

COOK THE CLEMENTINES. Remove any bits of stem from the clementines. Put the whole clementines in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a plate. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove from the microwave, uncover, and let cool for at least 5 minutes. Drain the juice from the bottom of the bowl. (The draining is key to avoiding a soggy cake.)

MAKE THE CAKE BATTER. Dump the whole clementines into a food processor and whiz them for about 20 seconds. Add the eggs and process for another 20 seconds. Add the melted butter, oil, sugar, almond flour, baking powder, vanilla, and salt and process until combined, about 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the all-purpose flour and pulse 3–5 times, until the flour is combined. (We add the flour last so that we don’t overwork the gluten.)

BAKE. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is domed and cracked, deeply golden brown, firm to the touch in the center, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 65–75 minutes.

COOL AND WAIT. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan, then remove from the pan and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. If you can bear the wait, let the cake sit overnight to allow the crust to soften and the flavors to blossom.

This cake will last for a shockingly long time if well wrapped at room temperature—up to 5 days.

Abbreviations:

v- Vegetarian, pb - Plant based, gf - Gluten Free, nf - Nut free, df - Dairy free.

Reprinted with permission from Great Bakes by Martin Sorge, Agate, August 2026. Photo © Kevin Miyazaki

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