At least that's what I kept telling myself as I waited and waited for a friend (who shall remain anonymous in the blog, but will be instantly recognizable to all who know her) to provide me the famed recipe for her mother's incredible orange cake. It wasn't a state secret or the like, as her mother readily rattled off a list of ingredients and vague directions after all the tasters swooned and begged for the recipe. But, I didn't think to write it down then and there, because after all, I just needed to visit my dear colleague, and voila, the recipe would appear! Or maybe not, since it took about a year and a publish shaming on Facebook to make the recipe appear. Despite the travails, it was worth it, and I highly recommend the addition of Cointreau to make it even more amazing. If possible, make this cake at the peak of orange season (which reminds me, I should try this with the blood oranges right now, yum!). However, when I overzealously picked oranges from a friend's tree, I still got rave reviews on my "lemon" cake.
Lest you wait as long as I did, here is the recipe for:
The Long-Awaited Orange Cake (or should I call it Patience Orange Cake?)
- 5 large juice oranges
- Zest from 2 of the oranges
- 75 grams butter, softened
- 150 grams sugar (plus extra for the syrup)
- 3 eggs
- 150 grams flour
- 1 pack (2 tsp) baking powder
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8"x8" pan.
Zest two of the oranges and set aside. Juice the two oranges, separately (so you have two bowls with the juice of one orange each).
Mix the flour and baking power together. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. When well blended, add the eggs, and then the flour and baking powder mix. Add orange zest and the juice of one of the oranges.
Bake 20-25 minutes until knife comes out clean. While the cake is baking, juice the three remaining oranges and add juice along with three tablespoons of sugar to a saucepan and simmer until thickened and slightly syrupy (if using Cointreau or another liqueur, reduce the sugar and add to taste, or desired level of sobriety).
As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, pour the remaining juice of one orange over the cake, and then pour the syrup over the cake as well. Let it cool and fully absorb all the yummy goodness. You won't have to worry about leftovers!
Variations on a theme:
My husband made a gluten-free version with a GF baking mix, then topped it with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
I have much more to write, but I'm almost out of battery, in both computer and body. So that's all for recipes tonight. Next time, I'll update you on the Paleo Poultry experiment.