Orange Food Part 3: Cake !!

It's certainly citrus season around here. I have lots of my Satsuma mandarins and limes, friends and family are sharing their navel orange bounty.  

It's the perfect time to make this very orange cake. I was surprised when I found it several years ago while searching for a vegan orange cake to serve dinner guests, it was from Joy of Cooking !!

I have made it twice already this year.

The cake is delightful, moist, easy and very adaptable.
Very Orange Cake
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
 orange zest from one orange
Glaze
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest or tiny curls of peel

1) Preheat the oven 350 F. Grease and flour  a 9 inch round cake pan.

The original recipe called for an 8 inch pan, the first time I made it this year that's what I used, it overflowed the pan while baking...never a good thing, so be sure to go with a 9 inch round cake pan.

The original recipe also stressed the flouring part. I used spray oil and then floured it. I had no trouble removing it from the pan.

2) Grate the orange, and make juice to one cup. I was lucky and already had  a large jar made up.

3) In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients including the zest.

4) in a smaller bowl combine the liquid ingredients.

5) Add the liquid ingredients into the dry, mix just to blend.

6) Pour into the greased and floured pan, bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Do the toothpick trick to test for doneness. It will be a golden brown.

7) Cool for 10 minutes then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before adding the glaze.
8)  In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup powered sugar, 1 teaspoon zest or tiny curls of peel. Start with 1 teaspoon of juice and add more to get a thick paste.

9) Apply the glaze to cover the top of the cake.

It is the perfect cake for tea time, brunch or dessert after dinner.

Citrus Season

I do love the citrus season. There are so many great varieties and such a long span of productivity.
First come my sister's Satsuma mandarin in late fall, she is always generous, giving me huge baskets of these sweet little gems. Her navel oranges are next in the new year and are one of my favorite evening snacks. Our little Satsuma mandarin produces lots of fruit but due to our warmer climate they don't get very sweet, so I juice them.

A bushel of mandarins make about two gallons of juice. I have a glass every morning, liquid sunshine!

I freeze some, share with friends and use it to make this wonderful orange cake. It's so simple, moist and vegan !! I don't bother with the fancy candied orange peel in the photo below, but I do sometimes as some almond extract to the batter and some slivered almonds to the top.

My friend, Susan gave me this wonderful Cthulhu citrus, which is actually called Buddha's hand but reminds me of the H.P. Lovecraft monster. It's all about the peel, Susan uses the zest in all kinds of sweet and savory dishes.

I have been revisiting some of the fun breads from my Bread Machine Magic cookbook lately.
I was looking for one that used citrus and found this lovely marmalade and oats bread.
The recipe is for a bread machine but if you already bake your own bread I am sure you can adapt it.
I use my own marmalade but any commercial version will do.

Marmalade and Oats Bread.

Ingredients
2/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats ( not instant)
1 1/8 cup milk or soy milk ( or almond etc...)
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon butter or Earth Balance
1/2 cup citrus marmalade 
1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast ( Red Star is the one recommended in the cookbook).

Place all the ingredients in the bread machine in the order above. Use a light crust setting and regular baking cycle ( it's a three hour process in my machine).
Once the baking cycle ends, remove from pan and allow to cool for one hour. It's important that you let it cool. The oats in the dough make it very chewy and moist. It's fabulous toasted with butter and marmalade !!

Very Orange Cake !!

Last weekend we were supposed to host some friends for dinner and cards. Being the planner I am, I made the dessert ahead of time. They ended up having to cancel due to illness so Bob and I were left with the cake all to ourselves, so sad ;-)

My inspiration were twofold, my sister has been sharing her incredible navel orange crop with me. They are so juicy with just the right balance of sweet and acid. I wanted to showcase them in a dessert.
My dinner guests are vegan, I needed a cake that did not contain eggs or butter.

When I looked up vegan orange cake, I was surprised by all the entries. Apparently that venerable old favorite Joy of Cooking has a very tasty orange cake that fit my parameters.

One of the recipes I looked up had you decorate it with candied orange peels.

I followed the orange peel recipe but I wasn't very pleased with them, most likely due to operator error. To be honest they didn't add anything to the cake itself. It's certainly sweet enough especially with the glaze.Instead I would add some zest or tiny peel curls to the glaze for show.
If you decide to make them, here is the recipe .

The cake is delightful, moist, easy and very adaptable.

Very Orange Cake

1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
 orange zest from one orange

Glaze

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest or tiny curls of peel

1) Preheat the oven 350 F. Grease and flour an 8 inch round cake pan, a 9 inch round or 8 inch square would also do. The recipe stressed the flouring part. You could also use a piece of parchment if you are concerned. I had one with the little "cake release bar" at the bottom.

2) Grate the orange, and make juice to one cup. I was lucky and already had  a large jar made up.

3) In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients including the zest.

4) in a smaller bowl combine the liquid ingredients.

5) Add the liquid ingredients into the dry, mix just to blend.

6) Pour into the greased and floured pan, bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Do the toothpick trick to test for doneness. In the 8 inch pan my cake took 35 minutes to bake. It will be a golden brown.

7) Cool for 10 minutes then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before adding the glaze.

8)  In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup powered sugar, 1 teaspoon zest or tiny curls of peel. Start with 1 teaspoon of juice and add more to get a thick paste.

9) Apply the glaze to cover the top of the cake.

10) I know it doesn't look as cool without the candies peel. I would have been more creative with the glaze if I didn't have the peel. Not that it matters, because it won't last that long !!