Whole Orange Cake

... it is the sweet, 

simple things of life 

which are the real ones after all.

~ Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder ~

         

I was craving for something sweet & simple. So I browsed through BBC 101 Cakes & Cookies, a small book which I got for just $2 from last year's NLB book sale. I chose to bake this orange cake, one of its many simple recipes. My plan was to bake it during the daytime on Wednesday but I just managed to cook the orange. I was actually feeling quite tired when I returned home that evening, but I thought the recipe was simple enough for me finish baking by midnight. 

I've always liked orange cake but what's intriguing about this cake, at least for me, is that it uses the whole orange, meaning the skin & flesh except the pits/seeds, that has to be cooked & blended into puree first before mixing to the cake batter. After blending the cooked orange in a food processor, I sampled a bit & it tasted quite bitter... I was worried how the cake would taste but I kept my faith & proceeded with the mixing & baking according to the recipe.

Thank God the cake is not bitter at all. It tastes fresh & not overly sweet. In fact, it tastes better today when I had a slice this morning. The cake is also moist & the crumb is slightly grainy because of the ground almond. The recipe below also includes the ingredients needed for the icing which I did away with. The cake alone, with dusted sugar, is good enough for me. 

Whole Orange Cake

Ingredients:
1 small orange ( I used regular navel orange.)
142g (5 oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
85g (3 oz)  self-raising flour
114g (4 oz) ground almonds
57g (2 oz) butter, melted

Method:

1. Put the orange in a pan & cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cover & simmer for 1 hour. Remove the orange from the pan & leave to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F). Butter & line the base of a 8-inch round, deep cake tin. 
3. Roughly chop the cooked whole orange (including the skin), discarding the pits (or seeds). Whiz in a food processor until smooth. 
4. Whisk the sugar & eggs until light & fluffy.
5. Sift the flour & ground almonds on to the egg mixture. (I didn't sift the almond.) Using a large metal spoon, fold gently, then add the orange puree & melted butter. Fold in gently until just mixed. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin. 
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is brown & springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from pan & cool it on a wire rack. Drizzle  the icing & serve with crème fraîche. (I didn't use the icing, instead I just dusted some sugar.)

Icing: (I didn't use.)
85g (3 oz) icing sugar
juice of 1 small sweet orange (or enough to make a smooth pouring icing)
crème fraîche to serve (optional)
Mix the icing sugar & juice together.

Source: 101 Cakes & Cookies by BBC Good Food.

I'm linking this post to the Cook-Your-Books event no. 17 hosted by Kitchen Flavours.