old fashioned orange cake

old fashioned orange cake

• 10 Apr 2013

When visiting Farmer Andrew in Dungog a few weeks ago, I decided to make an old fashioned orange cake. The recipe originally comes from the Margaret Fulton Creative Cookery Course and I used to make it all the time. It was my Uncle Philip's favourite cake and after he passed away, I stopped making it.



It's one of those cakes where you use the same weight of butter, eggs, sugar and flour so you don't really need a recipe. The original recipe used 4 eggs but my loaf tin is a skinny one, so I made the cake using 3 eggs. I weighed the eggs, fresh from the chicken ladies. They weighed 180 grams so I weighed out the same quantity of caster sugar, unsalted butter and self raising flour, added the zest and juice of half an orange and there you have it, one orange cake.



I think this cake tastes even better when it's iced and again, the recipe is very simple - just icing sugar, butter, orange juice and a little more grated rind. Sometimes simple is best.



The cake has a fine texture and it's packed with orange flavour. I think it tastes better if you make the cake the day before you plan to serve it. It just seems to allow the orange flavour to intensify.

Here's the recipe for you.
Old Fashioned Orange Cake
180 gm unsalted butter
180 gm caster sugar
the grated rind of one orange (reserve 1 teaspoon for the icing)
Three, 60 gm eggs
180 gm self raising flour, sifted
45 mls orange juice

Line a 8 x 22 cm (3¼ x 8¾ inch) loaf tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F. 

In a medium size bowl, cream the butter, sugar and grated orange rind until light and fluffy. In a small bowl, lightly beat the 3 eggs. Gradually add the beaten eggs to the creamed butter and sugar. If the mixture starts to curdle you may need to add a spoon or two of the sifted flour. Once the eggs have been added, start adding in the flour.

In thirds, add the flour alternately with the orange juice until well combined. The cake batter should be a soft one. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and level the top. 

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 - 60 minutes until the cake tests cooked when a skewer is inserted. The cake tends to brown quickly so you may need to cover it with a piece of greaseproof paper mid way through the baking time. When the cake is cooked, let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

Orange Icing
15 gm (½ oz) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup sifted icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)

a squeeze of orange juice

In a small bowl, cream the butter with the orange rind. Mix in the icing sugar and add enough orange juice to make a thick icing.

Using a flat bladed knife or spatula, coat the top of the cake with a good layer of icing. Set the cake to one side to allow the icing to set.



Got to go to the gym so bye for now. See you all again next week,

Jillian