It must be The Great British Bake Off currently on BBC that’s getting the entire nation baking, myself included. Don’t get me wrong – I do bake. Just not every weekend.
So yesterday morning, when I had another urge to bake something, I asked myself “what would it be?”. There are some citrus on countertop so I thought, hmmn… what about an orange cake? The fact that I’ve never made one before, isn’t a big deal. The internet is a treasure box full of recipes. All I needed to do was to find a great recipe that I can follow.
But after a few minutes, I realised I have a problem. I’m missing a few vital ingredients for every recipe I read. I’m trying not to have to go to the supermarket for the time being. Any close friends and family who comes over to my flat would comment on the fact that I stock up the fridge and the food cabinets like I need to feed a family of five! If I go to the supermarket, even if, with just one item on the shopping list, I tend to come out with a bag full of purchase! It’s a flaw that I working on. So I made a promise to myself to use up things that I already have before I make the next trip to Sainsbury’s – unless of course absolutely necessary and I don’t think an orange cake constitute an emergency.
So my option was, to make up my own recipe. While I find it easy to modify recipes when preparing meals – I cook with sense (common sense included) and gut feel, baking is totally different. All those chemical reactions happening in the oven could end up in a total disaster if done wrongly.
So needless to say, this was really a trial and error. One which turned out rather good if I can say so myself. The cake has a distinct flavour of the sweet oranges and a hint of tanginess to it from the lemon curd I threw in as an afterthought – left overs from my lemon and honey cake making.
Here’s how I did my orange cake:
Ingredients:
- 2 jaffa oranges, seedless
- 200g unsalted butter
- 110g demerara sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 100g ground almonds
- 100g coarse somalina
- 100g wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50ml orange juice
- 2 spoonful lemon curd
- 1 tbsp marmalade
- 1 handful of flaked almonds, toasted
Prepare the tin by lining it with grease paper. I used a silicon loaf mold, but I still like to line the bottom with grease paper. Put it aside.
Heat the oven to 160°C.
Peel the orange zest with a peeler and toss the zest in the blender. Remove the pith of the oranges and throw the flesh in the blender too. Add the orange juice and sugar. Blend the whole thing.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue to beat the mixture. Add the blended orange and lemon curd. Mix.
Then, add the dry ingredients – the flour, ground almond, somalina and baking powder. Make sure to sieve/whisk them beforehand.
Stir the mixture until combined and pour into the silicon mold. Bake for approx 45 minutes or a skewer inserted to the centre of the cake comes out clean. When the cake is done, take it out from the oven and leave it to cool for a few minutes before turning it out on a wire rack to cool completely.
Warm a tablespoon of marmalade in a small pan and spread it on top of the cake. Scatter the toasted flaked almonds on top.
