Orange Cake

Got oranges sitting in the fridge and don’t know what to do? Bake this simple and moist orange cake. You won’t be disappointed; it’s zesty, bright and really superb.

Ingredients:

• 3 oranges
• 1 cup flour
• 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence (optional)
• 1 cup icing sugar
• ½ cup softened butter

Instructions:

1. Zest the oranges and set it aside.
2. Peel and divide 2 oranges into wedges, add the wedges to your juice blender and run the blender until it’s all juicy. Strain the juice into a small bowl and then set aside 1/3 cup of juice for the cake and 2 tbsp. of juice for the icing; keep these separately.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
4. Prepare a 7 inch round cake pan by either lining it with baking paper or greasing and dusting with flour. (To do this, rub around 2 teaspoons of oil on the bottom and sides the cake tin. Then dust the tin with around a tablespoon of plain flour. You can just place the flour in the middle of the tin and just gently tap while turning the tin this way and that to have it distributed evenly at the bottom. To dust the sides, hold the tin vertically, place the flour on the side, and then just turn it like a wheel while tapping.)
5. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and oil until you get a creamy texture. (For this you can use a stand mixer, hand held electric mixer, or even your juice blender. If you are using your juice blender, running it for around 2 minutes on low would do, and after you do this, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.)
7. Add around 4 tablespoons of the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix until the flour is fully incorporated. You can just use a spoon for the mixing and do this gently.
8. Then add in around 2 tablespoons of the orange juice (from the 1/3 cup you set aside for the cake) and mix until combined. Do this gently too.
9. Repeat steps 7 & 8 until you run out of flour and orange juice.
10. Add and combine the vanilla essence and the orange zest from step 1.
11. Pour the mixture into the cake tin you prepared before. Tap it on the countertop to release any air bubbles that might have formed.
12. Place the tin on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For us this took 30 minutes. But oven temperatures differ, so keep an eye on it and make the necessary adjustments.
13. When the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for around 10 minutes in the pan. Then remove it from the tin and allow it to cool down completely.
14. While the cake is cooling down, add the softened butter to a mixing bowl. Make sure the butter is soft before you start with this step. When soft, the butter will still feel slightly cold to the touch, but when you press it with a finger, you’ll easily get an indentation.
15. Using your hand mixer, or even by hand, beat the butter until it is smooth. Then sift the icing sugar into the bowl and mix with the butter until fully incorporated. Then add the 2 tbsp. of orange juice you set aside for the frosting and mix to combine.
16. Spread the frosting on top of the cake. You can decorate it with some orange slices if you want.