Gluten and dairy free orange cake

It was my friends birthday and I wanted to make her a cake. She has a dairy allergy and as I wanted a cake that I could also eat (is that so bad?) I needed a dairy and gluten free cake. I had a flip through my new recipe book, ‘The Gluten-free Kitchen’ by Sue Shepherd and was delighted to discover that there was a recipe for such a cake, what Sue calls ‘Decadent Orange Dessert Cake’.Sue Shepherd's photo of the cakeI was slightly concerned at first as a couple of months ago I attempted a cake with whole oranges and it was a complete failure (I think due to the fact that the blender wasn’t good enough and therefore left rather large orange chunks!). However my Mum and Aunty assured me that the cake would turn out great.I found the cake really easy to make, the cooking time is a little longer than a lot of cakes (you have to simmer the oranges for 30-40 minutes and the cooking time is about an hour and 15 minutes) but it is worth it.The cake tasted amazing and was enjoyed by everyone.The final birthday cake – Sue Shepherd's decadent orange dessert cakeIngredientsMethodThe oranges, wine, sugar, star anise and cinnamon ready to simmer