Monday Morning Cooking Club mandarin cake with marmalade syrup

Ingredients

• 4 thin-skinned mandarins (about 480 g/1 lb 1 oz in total)
• 1 lemon
• 6 eggs
• 300 g (1 1/3 cups/10½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 300 g (3 cups/10½ oz) ground almonds (almond meal)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 mandarins
• 2 limes
• 1.5 litres (6 cups) water
• 690 g (3 cups) caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 tablespoon brandy