Oranges, always a part of my life. Once again I am the proud owner of a glorious orange tree, currently brimming with fruit. This lovely fresh orange cake makes use of the complete beautiful fruit, a simple little jewel cake for the kitchen.
ORANGES IN THE GARDEN
My love affair with citrus is explained in this Meyer Lemon Marmalade post. This background makes the inordinate amount of citrus recipes on the blog understandable. Living across the street from the Sunkist factory and orange groves afforded me all things citrus.
I have always had an orange tree in my gardens, and it is the first thing I plant. A photo of beautiful fruit graces the cover of my From the Garden Cookbook. My current home came complete with a mature naval orange tree. It seems before the homes were built this land was citrus groves, some the original grove trees remain; lucky.
FRESH ORANGE CAKE
I love the fact that this recipe uses the complete orange: rind, pith, and fruit (sans the seeds if there are any of course). This technique is what drew me to this recipe, reminding me of a whole lemon tart recipe I have prepared. Simple to make and a joy to serve, this cake is worth your while in the kitchen.
As usual, I tinkered with the original recipe. I had a vision. A crumbly, tender cake with a craggy crust to soak up all of the Vanilla Orange Syrup poured over the baked cake. To achieve this I used 100% almond meal for the cake, this contributed to it’s tender & craggy result, also gluten free.
Now, I know the cake appears it would be super sweet, but it’s not. Using the whole orange, where the fruit been simmered until tender, creates a flavor leaning toward Seville marmalade. Even with the dousing of the Vanilla Orange Syrup the cake retains a bit of bitter, at its best. I used a medium-mild olive from California and California mid-coast locally harvested honey.
Citrus season is here, enjoy this Fresh Orange Cake from the Bijouxs Kitchen.
As always, enjoy. B
