{"id":1661,"date":"2010-08-08T22:15:54","date_gmt":"2010-08-08T14:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2010-10-28T21:25:45","modified_gmt":"2010-10-28T13:25:45","slug":"1661","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/1661\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whenever we have\u00a0visitors\u00a0I always like to have something in the cupboard\u00a0to offer them\u00a0to have with a cup of tea or coffee.\u00a0 So when G told me that he was going to catch up with a couple of mates and\u00a0then invite them over for a cuppa my first reaction was one of complete panic.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the cupboard was completely bare and if there are ever any packet biscuits in the house they are for making into cheesecake cases only.<\/p>\n

I had\u00a0wanted to make an orange cake over the past few days because I had a couple of oranges that were looking a little sad and lonely in the fruit bowl.\u00a0 I just hadn’t got around to it because as we all know, life can get busy sometimes.<\/p>\n

I have a little bit of a reputation with G’s friends for being a “good cook” so I wanted to make something delicious.\u00a0 With\u00a0limited time before three hungry men descending on our house I went scouring for a cake recipe that would fit the bill.<\/p>\n

I searched my trusty Women’s Weekly “Cakes and Slices Cookbook” and came up with nothing.\u00a0 I wanted something plain and simple and while all of the recipes sounded delicious I either didn’t have the time or the necessary ingredients to create them.\u00a0 Next on my list was Stephanie Alexander’s “The Cook’s Companion” because (due to its enormity)\u00a0it\u00a0appears to have everything.\u00a0\u00a0Disappointingly, the recipe\u00a0I found wasn’t\u00a0one that would suit this occasion.\u00a0\u00a0The clock was ticking and while my eyes were flicking from one shelf to the other trying to find\u00a0something that would inspire me, my brain was doing cartwheels because I knew there had to be a recipe somewhere in amongst my vast cookbook collection that would be exactly what I needed.\u00a0 Then it hit me, of course, who was one of Australia’s original, old-school cooks whose cookbook would no doubt have a simple orange cake recipe?\u00a0 It was Margaret Fulton to the rescue.<\/p>\n

I remember watching tv programs as a child and listening to Margaret being interviewed, I loved her style of cooking even back then.\u00a0 When I read her orange cake recipe I loved its simplicity but also the fact that it was a little different to a melt and mix method so I was excited to see how it would turn out.\u00a0 Although making a new recipe is possibly not an ideal thing to do when you about to have guests I was ready and headed for my kitchen with my enthusiasm in toe.<\/p>\n

orange cake\u00a0\u2013 (recipe from Margaret Fulton’s Encyclopaedia of Food & Cookery)
\nmakes one 20cm round or square tin or one 21 x 11cm loaf tin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/span>
\n125g (4ozs) unsalted butter or soft margarine
\ngrated\u00a0rind and juice of 1 medium orange
\n3\/4 cup (170g\/6ozs) caster sugar
\n2 eggs, separated
\n2 cups\u00a0self-raising flour
\npinch\u00a0salt
\n2 – 3 tablespoons milk (I used 3 tablespoons)
\nicing sugar, to sift over top
\n\u00a0
\nPreparation<\/span>
\nPreheat oven to 180\u00b0C\u00a0\u00a0(350\u00b0F\/Gas 4).\u00a0\u00a0Prepare either a 20cm (8 inch) round or square tin or 21 x 11 cm (8 1\/2 x 4 1\/2 inch) loaf tin by greasing with melted butter, lining the bottom with buttered greaseproof paper and dusting the sides with flour.<\/p>\n

Cream together butter, orange rind and sugar until light and fluffy.\u00a0 Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well after each.\u00a0 Sift flour with salt and fold into creamed mixture alternately with strained orange juice and milk, beginning and ending with flour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and gently fold in.\u00a0 Spoon mixture into prepared tin of your choice, and bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a skewer is inserted in the centre and comes out clean.<\/p>\n

Turn out onto a wire rack and when cool dust with icing sugar.<\/p>\n

My tips\/alterations:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0*I use unsalted butter in all f my cooking as I prefer to be able to control the amount of salt that goes into my dishes. \u00a0*I found this mixture quite dense and heavy until I added the egg whites.\u00a0 It was lightened considerably after their addition.\u00a0 I cooked this in a 170\u00b0C fan-forced oven and it took about 37 minutes\u00a0 *If you would like this to have a more intense orange flavour you could add a teaspoon of orange blossom water to the batter.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ease: 9\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0
\nprep time:<\/strong>\u00a030mins.\u00a0<\/strong>
\ncooking time: 40mins.<\/strong>
\ntotal: 1 hour 10mins.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

taste: 9\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0When I removed this cake from the oven I was astounded with the\u00a0weight of the cake.\u00a0 It was one of the lightest cakes I have ever made.\u00a0 The smell of it baking was almost driving three grown men to distraction and when we all tasted it the flavour didn’t disappoint us.\u00a0 I didn’t wait for this to cool (naughty I know) which meant I had to cut it into thick pieces\u00a0(how sad \ud83d\ude42 ) and serve it warm, sprinkled with icing sugar\u00a0and accompanied by\u00a0a dollop of cream.\u00a0 G\u00a0and his friends really enjoyed it.\u00a0 They all commented on the texture contrast of the crunchy outside and feather light inside.\u00a0 The orange flavour came through well without being overpowering.<\/p>\n

It was also delicious cold and I didn’t have to worry about how long it would keep because I couldn’t find it in the cupboard a few days after baking it.\u00a0 Between G & I we devoured it all rather promptly.<\/p>\n

would I make it again:\u00a0\u00a0Yes, yes, yes.<\/strong>\u00a0 For me, this was my perfect orange cake.\u00a0 Thanks Margaret!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

Whenever we have visitors I always like to have something in the cupboard to offer them to have with a cup of tea or coffee. So when G told me that he was going to catch up with a couple of mates and then invite them over for a cuppa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78,79,31,48,35,29,27],"tags":[6,12,104,119,107,102,100],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}