Whole Orange Cake

Last week, I created so many disasters in the kitchen I was ready to give up and live off fast food and pre-packed junk for the rest of my life. It was a very bad Pinterest recipe week – a few were so bad I unpinned them! I don’t want any of you to waste ingredients like I did. I was sad and angry and ready to give up all at the same time.  Then I tried this Whole Orange Cake. Sweet redemption!

The recipe was in Sunset Magazine.  Some of their recipes of late have some pretty exotic ingredients as they seem to be more interested in setting (or at least keeping up with) the latest foodie trends. But, in the February issue they had a simple Whole Orange Cake recipe that intrigued me, so I gave it a shot. It is a moist dense bundt cake, akin to a pound cake, with the peel in the cake.  If you like marmalade (I do, I do, I do!) this is one to check out. It is tangy but not overly sweet.

Only problem is my tiny little dwarf orange tree has yet to produce a single orange! I swear this is its LAST chance this year. Produce or be replaced. But we did have some tangerines in the fridge so I went with those instead. If you don’t like a lot of peel, you might want to peel a few of them before tossing in the food processor. Also, their recipe for icing tasted like pure powdered sugar, so I tweaked it a little for more citrus taste.

Whole Orange Cake

Print recipe

• Print with main photo
• Print text only

Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hours, 10 minutes
Meal type	Dessert, Fruit
Occasion	Easter, Mother's Day, Spring Recipes
From magazine	Sunset Magazine

Whole Orange Cake: A moist rich bundt cake made with whole citrus fruit - peel and all. If you like marmalade you are bound to love this cake.

Ingredients

• 1lb oranges or tangerines (2 large oranges, 6-8 tangerines)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (or other fruit wash)
• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Note

Since you will be using the whole fruit, peel and all, you might want to buy organic fruit for this. At the least be sure to scrub it well.

Directions

Grease a 10 cup Bundt pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Scrub the fruit with a brush dipped in baking soda to remove bacteria, wax coating, etc. and rinse thoroughly. Zest approximately 1 teaspoon of peel and reserve for the icing. Slice oranges into large chunks, quarter the tangerines, and pulse in food processor until it is mostly smooth, but not completely pureed (you want the bits of peel!). Reserve at least 3 tablespoons juice for icing.

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl, beat in eggs one at a time. Add 1 1/2 cups of orange pulp/peel and mix until blended. Add flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and beat until smooth. Yes, it is supposed to be a thick batter. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake for approximately 55 minutes. Cool pan on wire rack for 10 minutes then invert pan and allow to cool completely.

Combine, reserved juice, zest and enough powdered sugar to make a glaze. You want it thin enough to pour but not like a syrup that will just run off the cake. Drizzle over the cake and allow to set before serving.

—

I have it on good authority (my mother) that this goes very well with rainbow sherbert.

~Audrey