Clementine Cake- St. Catherine of Siena- April 29

St. Catherine of Siena is the patroness of Italy, saint, mystic, and doctor of the Church. She entered the Dominican order at just 16 years old and her great faith led her to become a spiritual guide for many prominent people, including the pope during the Avignon Papacy. When I initially read that I was incredibly intrigued, I couldn't get enough of her strong character and deep faith.

As a mystic she had the "gift of tears" and a "mystical marriage to Christ". She is also known as an incorruptible saint meaning that parts of her body have never decayed. When I visited Siena, Italy I saw her head and thumb, I really didn't expect this reaction out of myself but I couldn't help but cry. A holy woman that I chose to be my spiritual role model and intercessor was right in front of me.

The first image was taken by the Traveling Catholic, the second and admittedly very low quality photo of St. Catherine of Siena's head in Siena, Italy was taken by yours truly. 😂

Same photo credit to follow for images of her incorruptible thumb.

Every year we gather in the kitchen to celebrate her by making Clementine Cake. When I shared this on social media many people were surprised to read this connection but it actually makes for the perfect opportunity to talk about her spiritual strength over a slice of cake.

In The Letters of St. Catherine of Siena it says, “The first Christmas Catherine spent in Rome was approaching. When she was a poor girl, she had always liked to give presents to her friends on this holy feast with flowers and crosses.

But now that she had prestige, to the joy of her friends, she was obtaining indulgences and concessions from the Church for them.

She did not forget the pope, to whom she sent five oranges she had gilded, sending along with the gift these expressive lines: “Be thou a tree of love grafted onto the Tree of Life, Christ, the sweet Jesus. From this tree will spring a flower born from thy will, and the thought of virtues and their fruits will ripen for the greater honor of God and the salvation of thy flock.”

“This fruit seems bitter when first bitten by the mouth of holy desire, but it will become sweet provided the soul is resolved to suffer to death for the crucified Christ and the love of good.

“This happens with the orange, which you put in water to remove its bitterness, then add sugar and brown it on the outside. Now, where is its bitterness left? In the water and fire.

“Most Holy Father, the same happens with the soul that conceives the love of virtue. What at first seems bitter comes from its imperfection. The remedy is in the blood of Christ crucified, which provides the water of grace, purifying it of sensual and self-love, which fills the soul with sadness.

“As blood is connected with fire, since it was shed with the fire of love, we can say, in truth, that fire and water purify the soul of self-love and extract from it the bitterness that it first contained, filling it with strength through perseverance and patience, and sweetening it with the honey of a profound humility.

“The fruit is thus prepared and gilded, and this gold symbolizes the gold of purity and the shining gold of charity, which is manifested by a true patience in the service of neighbor and enables us to bear him always with huge tenderness of heart, keeping from him no grudge but the bitterness of the offense to God and the harm done to souls.”

For clarity, I want to note that St. Catherine of Siena does specifically say “oranges” in her metaphor, while I often refer to clementines. This isn’t an attempt to change her words, rather, it’s a practical adaptation. Clementines are simply a type of orange, and I use them here because they work especially well for this particular cake. In fact, a clementine cake calls for boiling the whole fruit, which nicely echoes the preparation method associated with her imagery.

With all those connections made, let’s get to baking that damp, dense, aromatic feast day cake.

Prep Time: 2 hours

Bake Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yields: 8-10 Slices

The Ingredients

• 4 Clementines

• 6 large eggs

• 1 cup coconut sugar

• 2¼ cups almond flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp nutmeg

Begin by washing your clementines and throwing them whole into a small pot of water. Bring the water to a boil with the lid partially on for 2 hours.

Note: Keep an eye on the water level and replenish as needed to avoid burning the clementines.

After 2 hours you can drain the water and allow the clementines time to cool. Once you can handle them, cut off the pedicel, or the ends.

Making the cake mix goes pretty quickly, so you can preheat your oven now to 375 degrees.

Slice them in half and remove the pip, or the central core.

Toss them whole, including the skin, into a food processor.

Pulse the food processor until the clementines are completely blended into a liquid with fine parts.

Crack 6 eggs into the clementine mixture and pulse the food processor until both ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Now you can add everything else into the food processor at once.

Put 2 1/4 cup almond flour with 1 tsp baking powder into a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Then pour this gradually into the clementine mixture while the food processor is on low.

Then I sprinkled in 1 cup coconut sugar.

And last but not least, pour in 1 tsp nutmeg.

Blend everything together until your clementine cake mixture looks like this.

SmOoOoth!

Pour into an 8" springform tin cake pan.

Bake for a total of 50 minutes, after the first 30 minutes take the cake out and cover it with foil so that the top doesn't burn. Then put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

You can test to see if your cake is ready by putting a toothpick or skewer in the side, if it comes out clean it is finished.

Some years we have eaten this cake as is with some cool whip and other years we have made a simple glaze with confectioner's sugar, water, and clementine juice. Either way, this cake does not disappoint!

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Hello, again!

I'm coming back to this post a couple of years later to offer some updated photos of our delicious cake. Hope you are enjoying it! :)

Happy Feast Day, St. Catherine! Use this prayer to add on to your Catholic prayer before meals. Prayer for the Gifts of Saint Catherine of Siena

God of Wisdom you made our sister Catherine burn with divine love in contemplating the Lord’s passion and in serving your Church. With the help of her prayers may your people, united in the mystery of Christ, rejoice forever in the revelation of his glory, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Did you make this recipe? If so I would love to see it, drop a picture in the comment or send it to me on social media Facebook @HisGirlSunday or Instagram @steffani_hisgirlsunday. For more resources on building Catholic tradition, check out the blog section of my website or follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see what Catholic things I am doing to make our day to day life more joyful.