This was a Sunday evening impulse, when you’re sitting in wondering why Sundays exist making a cake is probably the only thing that will answer your question as to why. This and the fact that I dug out 2 vanilla pods for £1.24 in Lidl (omg) inspired me to bake this cake! I bought the oranges from a local off license down the road, I like to support these kinds of businesses but when the man behind the counter said “I’ll give you two oranges for 50p” I knew something was up. I started squeezing the oranges for juice and nothing was coming out! The oranges were dead. Luckily the rind was still vibrant in colour and flavour, but the oranges were lost for juice. I added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into the batter to substitute for the lack of orange juice, and replaced the rest with more vegetable oil to make it extra moist.
I used the age old internet service to find a 'base' recipe for this loaf, which I adapted quite a bit to get the end result. You can find the base recipe by typing Orange Loaf Cake into the search engine
here.
The Recipe:
2 cups cake flour (self raising)
1 vanilla pod
A pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 and a quarter cups caster sugar
Quarter cup lemon juice
3 quarter cup vegetable oil
Rind of 2 of your favourite oranges
3 medium eggs
Half cup of lemon juice and half cup of sugar for a glaze, if you fancy it :)
The Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and lightly grease your loaf tin.
- Bung in all of the dry ingredients with the vegetable oil and whisk till just combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, whisking as you go along.
- Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and throw 'em in too.
- Pour in lemon juice and orange rind and mix till combined.
- Gently pour batter into tin, being careful not to get it on the sides as its a narrow tin!
- Bake for just under an hour until the cake appears well inflamed.
- If you'd like, pour on a citrus lemon glaze whilst the cake is still hot so that it absorbs well. Make this by gently heating the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.
- Serve as a perfect tea time component :)
What do you think of my loaf? Do you like the sound of the recipe or is orange and lemon simply not a match made in heaven? I like to hear your feedback :)