Friday, February 5, 2010

Orange and Almond Cake


We've got a bit of a thing for oranges in our house at the moment. Maybe it's their gorgeous sunny colour on these dreary days, maybe we need vitamin C to stem the running of noses or maybe we just need the feel-good vibe that comes from releasing that wonderful citrus oil scent. In any case, as well as the marmalade (which did set and has been given a thumbs up all round), P gets quite beside himself at the offer of a clementine- I'm sure would eat them until he burst given the chance, while I sometimes just want to juice them and drink the 'liquid sunshine' and sometimes, like last night, want to cook with them.
This is a 'Holy Eye' recipe in the sense that it was inspired by the baking ingredients I had to hand, but like any cake, the measurements need to be right. My measurements are all in old fashioned ounces because I based them on the sponge recipe I learned as a child, when metric hadn't really taken hold in the kitchen. Following a recent thread on Soulemama I'm going to attempt to give US measures as well, just in case someone from across the pond feels inspired to try it...
ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE
Ingredients
4 oz (1/2 cup) butter or sunflower spread
4 oz (1/2 cup) soft brown sugar
2 eggs
3 oz (3/8 cups) self raising flour
1 oz (1/8 cup) ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 orange
2 oz (1/4 cup) flaked almonds
2 tablespoons any sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 180c
1. Beat the soft brown sugar and butter together until creamy.
2. Whisk the eggs and gradually beat into the sugar and butter mixture.
3. Fold in the self-raising flour, ground almonds, baking powder and the zest of the orange. Keep remainder of the orange for later.
4. Spoon mixture into a greased or lined cake tin, approx 20cm diameter. Smooth top and sprinkle flaked almonds over the top.
5. Bake for around 35 minutes until cake is risen and springy to the touch.
6. While cake is cooling, juice the orange and put the juice along with the 2 tbsp sugar into a pan. Heat slowly, stirring, until sugar has dissolved.
7. Using a sharp knife, pierce cake all over the surface. Carefully pour orange sugar syrup over so that it sinks into the holes. Leave to cool completely.

Sorry for the quality of the picture- there isn't a lot of decent light to be had around here. It's just a shame you can't smell it really- oh my goodness!

2 comments:

  1. Led in here from your post in Ravelry... it looks delicious.

    You could also grate the orange rind and add it to the cake, for an even orangier fix.

    PatMS

    ReplyDelete
  2. mmm... yummy!

    Love the new look.

    ReplyDelete