Grease and base-line eight 150ml (¼ pint) ramekin dishes with greaseproof paper. Wash the lemon and four of the clementines and put into a pan. Cover with boiling water, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30min until clementines are tender.
Step 2
Remove clementines with a slotted spoon and set aside. Cook the lemon for a further 10min or until tender. Drain, reserving 200ml (7fl oz) liquid and cool slightly. Halve the fruit, remove the pips and roughly chop.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) mark 4. Grind the nuts in a food processor until finely chopped, then tip out and set aside. There's no need to wash the jug - add the cooked fruit and blend to a purée.
Step 4
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and 125g (4oz) sugar until slightly thick and foamy. Stir in the ground nuts, fruit purée and baking powder. Divide among the ramekins and put on a baking sheet. Bake for 25min until slightly risen and firm to the touch. Cool.
Step 5
Peel the remaining six clementines, take out the pips and divide into segments, removing skin from each. Heat remaining sugar in a small pan with 150ml (¼ pint) of the reserved cooking liquid until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook until pale caramel in colour. Dip the base of the pan into cold water to stop the caramel cooking, then stir in the remaining liquid and brandy. Return to the heat, stirring until the caramel has dissolved. Stir in the clementine segments.
Step 6
Loosen the edges of the cakes, turn on to individual plates and remove the paper lining. Pile the fruit segments on top and spoon over the caramel. Decorate each with a mint sprig and a dusting of icing sugar.
Make the recipe to the end of step five. Wrap the cakes, still in their ramekins, in clingfilm and pour the clementines and syrup into a freezerproof bag. You can freeze both for up to one month. To serve the cakes, thaw them at room temperature for 4hr or overnight in the fridge. Finish with step 6.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
