I made an orange loaf cake for my Mum’s birthday, and orange glazing to cover it. The cake turned out delicious, and it was very simple to make.
For the cake:
- Flour – 300 g;
- Baking powder – 3/4 tsp;
- Salt – 1/4 tsp;
- Sugar – about 160 g (up to 200 g if you like your cakes sweet);
- Orange zest of 3 large oranges;
- Vegetable oil – 240 ml;
- Fresh orange juice of 3 large oranges (approx. 180 ml);
- Eggs – 3 (large);
- Vanilla extract – 1 tbsp.
For the glazing:
- Orange juice of about 3 and a half large oranges (approx. 240 ml);
- Icing sugar – 3 tbsp;
- Cornflour – 3 tbsp.
Method is explained and illustrated below. Enjoy!
Sift the flower into the bowl…
… add baking powder…
… and salt…
… mix all together with a whisk, and put the bowl with dry ingredients aside. You can also start pre-heating your oven to 180C at this stage.
Grit zest of 3 large oranges (only the yellow part of it).
Place the sugar in a separate bowl…
… add orange zest…
… and then comes the fun part! 🙂 Using your clean hands, mush zest and sugar together until fully combined. This expresses the orange oil out and releases the flavour.
When the mixture gets a wet sand texture, it’s ready.
Now, cut the 3 oranges you peeled zest off, in half…
… and squeeze the juice out of them, using an orange juice squeezer.
You will get about 180 ml of pure orange juice.
Add the juice to your sugar and orange zest mixture…
… and a tablespoon of vanilla extract…
…and oil…
… and eggs…
… and mix it together with a whisk.
Now, carefully pour the mixture into your dry ingredients…
… and mix together with a whisk or a spatula, until fully combined, with no streaks of flour left. Please be careful not to overmix. Do not use an electric mixer.
Grease your loaf baking tray (a size of mine is 7.3×3.5 inches, or 18.5×9 cm).
You can dust your greased tray with some flour too.
Pour your batter into it, and bake at 180C for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Your loaf will rise and crack in a middle, and get a brown crust.
Now, make a delicious orange glazing.
Squeeze orange juice out of approx. 3 and a half large oranges, to get 240 ml of orange juice. Put it i to a saucepan…
… add icing sugar…
… and cornflour…
… and mix well.
Heat up the mixture on a low heat, stirring constantly.
The glaze is ready when it thickens like in this video.
Put hot glazing into a bowl to cool down.
When your glazing is cool, cover your orange loaf with it and serve. Enjoy!
