I've made the modified recipe from Elana's Pantry which basically subs with oranges and alternate sweeteners (I'm diabetic and use Splenda instead of agave), and have used both Bob's Red Mill and Honeyville almond flour. Both work, but the texture is better with Honeyville. It is a spongy, moist cake and I bake it for 45 min, not one hour. If the sides get too brown or dry, I just slice them off before serving.

For Thanksgiving I made a double recipe for a 9" x 13" pan while jet lagged, and mistakenly added twice the amount of almond flour the recipe called for! The baking time was the same but the texture was very dense like a heavy pound cake. It tasted pretty good (although a little less orangy) and I even got requests for the recipe!

I've since made the recipe with 50% more almond flour and like that texture best...more like a regular pound cake.

I've also found juice oranges give more flavor than Valencias. I've not yet tried it with Clementines.

If you use Nigella's recipe, keep an eye on it after 30 minutes to make sure it isn't getting too brown too soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elana's Pantry orange cake

I looked at the Smitten Kitchen recipe and she says she baked it in a pan one inch larger than Nigella's. That explains the shorter baking time! Still, it could be too long.
Smitten's oven may have been running hot (although she says it tends to run cooler) and that's the best explanation for her too-dark sides. I have made some Nigella baked stuff I haven't been overwhelmed by, and the time may be too long.

Sure you can use the almond meal. Almond flour is really a bit different from almond meal; it's more finely ground. In some cakes, and I think in this one, you want the texture of meal.

Here's a link to the American version of the recipe. It still has that annoying "heaping teaspoon" of baking powder. Way too imprecise for baking powder.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nigella's Clementine Cake, American recipe

That recipe appealed to me, too, and I just got back from shopping for it. In the post, Olychick advised to make sure that the almonds are fairly finely ground so I didn't hesitate when I saw Bob's Meal/Flour. It says finely ground whole almonds.

But now I'm confused about how many clementines to use. The recipe Olychick linked says "4-5, about a pound" but above it says 375 grams. I guess it's not critical, but at 50 cents a piece for organic clementines, it would have been nice to save a buck. I bought seven to make a pound.

I make this cake often around the holidays. I try to cook organically so use organic tangerines, which you have to seed more than Clementines. (There is a move to not buy Clementines regarding the growers' issues with honey bees). I don't think (to my taste) that other types of oranges would be as good - also would the ratio of skin to pulp be less in larger oranges? You want as much orange oil/peel as possible. I followed Nigella's recipe and didn't find it cooked too quickly. Perhaps the impreciseness of a heaping teaspoon of bp doesn't matter as much since there is no flour?

I always grind my own organic almonds - I think my tastebuds are overly sensitive to any hint of rancid nut oil and preground nut products just don't taste fresh enough to me. Even tho almonds aren't too oily, do those of you who use the preground find any off tastes? I'd be interested if anyone has cooked it both ways, fresh nuts vs. meal or flour.

FOAS, 375 grams is 5/6 of a pound, so it's pretty close.
The 2 1/3 cups of ground almonds in the American recipe are much more of a problem. How finely ground? How fluffy? They can pack, they can waft lightly into the cup... If I looked at that first, that I'd go in search of the English version, for the weight.

YUM! The clementine cake finally got cool enough for me to cut a slice. I love it! I do not find it bitter, at all. However, it does have the taste of citrus rind, but not unpleasant. It is not a sweet sweet cake.

Observations on cooking the cake:
I used an 8 inch cake pan, not a springform pan. My springform pan is 9 or 10 inches. I sprayed the pan with Pam and lined the bottom with parchment, which I also lightly sprayed. I had no problem turning the cake out of the pan after briefly cooling on the counter (it was cool enough for me to pick it up bare-handed).

I lowered the oven temperature to 350 degrees, based on the comment by Smitten Kitchen. At the 30 minute mark, I laid a sheet of non-stick Reynolds over the top, even though it was not yet browning. At 50 minutes, I removed the foil to see how it was going. The cake stuck to the non-stick Reynolds a little bit. Also, it was not browning at all and it was far from done....a clean knife came out covered with raw batter. I left the foil off and bumped up the temp a little. I continued to cook and check at 10 minute intervals. I lost track of how long it actually took the cake to bake, but it was more than an hour. Next time I will cook at 375 degrees as the instructions state. And there will be a next time!

bbstx, did you use your Red Mill almond meal/flour instead of grinding your own? if so, sounds like you were pleased with the outcome.

Yes, I used the Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour. I keep it stored in the freezer, so no rancid off-taste. The only issue I had was it was very clumpy. I broke up the clumps by hand before putting it in the clementine/egg mixture. I was afraid once they got into the liquid, they would not break up.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not this cake should be refrigerated? My momma always left cakes and pies (non-cream variety) at room temperature and I lived to tell about it. (Of course, my grandmother would leave Sunday lunch out until Sunday dinner. While we all lived to tell about it, you wouldn't catch me doing that!)

I've never refrigerated this cake...it gets better (more moist) as it sits. There is nothing in it that would spoil - lots of sugar and acid from the oranges - the eggs are cooked and the almonds don't require refer.

For those of you who have made this, do your clementines explode? Mine are simmering right now and they haven't really exploded but the water has definitely taken on some juice. Should I be worried about it?

No, they've never exploded. I suppose I probably covered the pan, but don't remember - if you are worried, I'd do that. One of the scientists might weigh in about surface tension when submerged in liquids being different than when heating things in dry oven. Or some such thing...lol

FOAS, you're cracking me up! I suppose by "exploded," you mean that the skins cracked. Mine did, and the water was a tad sticky. I supposed that the boiling accomplished two things, reduced the bitterness of the peel and infused the clementines with more moisture. Nigella describes the cake as "damp," and it definitely is.

Ok, well they're simmered and the house smells awesome.

I'm making some lobster cakes for dinner (Christmas dinner trial for first course) and my almost 3-pound lobster only yielded 7 oz of meat so I was thinking what to make to help fill us up. Then I remembered the clementines which I never used. I'll report back!