Recipe update: Orange Cake from The Silver Palate Cookbook

Originally posted September 6, 2007, as part of the lead-up to the Silver Palate Cookbook recipe of the week.

If this is the cake I think it is, it is absolutely delicious. Even if it isn't, it's probably delicious anyway.

8 tbs (1 stick) sweet (unsalted) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
Grated zest of 2 oranges
1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease a 25-cm (10-inch) Bundt pan.

Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar, beating until light. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, and the orange zest.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the batter little by little, alternating with the orange juice.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.

Pour batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the sides of the cake shrink away from the edges of the pan and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then unmold onto a rack and drizzle with orange glaze while warm. Cool before serving.



Orange glaze:
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Put sugar and juice together in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a light syrup forms.

Edit, September 25, 2007:

I made the cake yesterday. It is the cake I thought it was. Someone once brought one to work and I loved it then and love it still. This recipe is going in my blue notebook where I write down my keeper recipes.



There are quite a lot of steps in making it: zest and squeeze the oranges, separate the eggs, beat the butter, beat in the egg yolks, mix dry ingredients together and mix in little by little with the orange juice, whip the whites and fold in, bake. But it is worth it!

The only Bundt pan I have is a miniature, so I used a small spring pan instead and baked it a little longer than the recipe calls for. The orange juice was rather weak, so I added a dash of Grand Marnier to the syrup to make the orange flavour stronger. The cake is very light and the orange taste is mild and lovely, and it is not too sweet. Probably not a cake to serve to kids, but the members of my, um, handicrafts club would love it.

Another time I would probably:
a) use a little more zest to get a stronger orange flavour,
b) make two smaller cakes in round molds, and
c) double the amount of syrup so there was enough for both cakes.