Very Orange Cake

Submitted by Mirj2338

"This cake was first written up in the Jerusalem Post back in 1999 by my friend Judy Montagu. It has not fat added to it and relies chiefly on the natural oil contained in orange peel. I made this cake back when it first appeared in the paper but have forgotten about it in the last few years. Thankfully, Judy wrote up about it again, and here it is."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 4
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup sugar (or a bit less)
• 4 eggs
• 1 whole orange, including peel, well scrubbed

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Quarter the orange and remove only the pits and center pith.
3. Pulp it in the food processor until smooth. (If it isn't very juicy, you can add a tablespoon or two of orange juice.)
4. Beat the eggs well with the sugar, add the orange and the flour until blended.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the top turns golden.

Reviews

[Dorie's Lori]

I took this cake to our cousin's house tonight, and although 5 of 6 people said they liked it, no one had seconds. It was a very moist cake, with a different texture - most similar to very moist corn breads, but different, too. It smelled heavenly! The recipe didn't specify what kind of orange to use; I used a navel and though the flavor was fine, I wouldn't consider it "very" orange. Perhaps another kind of orange would flavor it more strongly. I did add a few spoons of OJ to help in processing the orange. Also, the pan size or type was not specified, and not knowing what to expect about rising, I baked it in a 9x9 glass dish. Although thin, I baked it just over 30 minutes, and the top was barely turning "golden" but it seemed done anyway. This cake doesn't rise very much, so an 8x8 would probably work, but it would probably need longer to bake. This cake was really fun to make; I loved the idea of processing the orange whole. But, in the end, although I thought it was OK, I probably wouldn't make it the same way again. Might play with this recipe though :D

 

[the80srule]

Very interesting cake! I was curious to try it after seeing the simplicity and only requiring 4 ingredients. I took the previous review into account and decided to use a nice big Valencia orange since navel oranges tend to have a weaker flavor IMO. First, I pulverized the orange in the food processor then added a little Odwalla orange juice, just eyeballing it, and had a perfect orange compound. Then I beat the eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl until foamy. I used Recipe #5247 using my own homemade arrowroot baking powder, then put it in the food processor with the egg-sugar mixture, and let it whir for about a minute. I poured it into my 9.5 inch Pyrex pie pan that I greased with canola oil and dusted with flour and let it bake for 35 minutes-- the edges turned golden to perfection and made the whole kitchen smell like oranges! Interestingly, once it cooled a bit the edges started to move away from the pan a bit. It tastes wonderful with some tart frozen plain yogurt and a nice cup of black tea. Will definitely make again and again, am also curious to see if it works with lemons and limes!