Orange cake

Make homemade orange marmalade. Take 1 1/2 cup of smooth orange juice…

… and 1 cup of sugar…

… zest of 1 orange…

…put all those ingredients into a pan over medium heat, and heat it up.

Stir the mix periodically, so it doesn’t burn.

Once it boils, let it simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes. Once it thickens, take it off the heat and set aside to cool down.

Prepare the dry ingredients for the cake base. Sift the flour into a bowl…

… add the baking powder…

… and salt..

… and mix together.

Into a whisking bowl, put 1/2 cup of the orange marmalade you’d made…

… add butter…

… and sugar…

… and whisk until light and fluffy.

Add eggs (one at a time)…

… and whisk to mix it in. Get the first egg well incorporated before you repeat the process with another egg.
You can also start pre-heating your oven to about 180 C at this stage.

I also used yolk of 1 egg, to make the cake extra moist.

Once the eggs are well incorporated, add the egg yolk…

… and whisk to mix it well in.

Add the vanilla extract…

… and whisk to mix it well in.

Now, add the milk…

Whisk just to mix in; be careful not to overmix.
Repeat the previous step and this step again, until all the dry ingredients are well mixed in.
Once you’re done, you’re ready to bake.

Prepare the baking tray. Cover the bottom of it with some parchment paper…

Pour the batter into the tray, and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 25 to 30 minutes. Check readiness by sticking a wooden stick into it; it should come out clean and dry.

Once you’ve done baking and the cake has cooled down for about 5 minutes, take it out of the baking tray…

… place it upside down onto a rack, and take the parchment paper off the bottom of it.

Now, make the orange cream.
Place the Philadelphia cheese into the whisking bowl (make sure the cheese is cold – straight out of the fridge).

Add the icing sugar (you may want to sift it in to avoid chunks)…

… and whisk together.

Add the softened butter…

… and whisk it to mix well together.

Add the orange zest…

You may use the orange food colouring to brighten the colour of the cake.

Add some of it into the cream…

… and mix it in.

Now, when your cream is ready, it’s time to assemble the cake.
Cut the base into 2 (or more, if you want) layers. Place a small amount of cream onto the cake holder, and put the bottom layer of the cake in the middle of the cake holder.

This step is optional. You can moisten the sponge base with the remainder of the orange marmalade you had made. Dilute it with some water and gently pour half of the mixture onto the bottom cake layer.

Now, cover the bottom sponge layer with a layer of orange cream, spreading it evenly with a scraper.

Remember to cover the sides too.

Decorate the cake in whatever way you like. I cut of a few slices of an orange and placed them on the cake.

The cake turned out very moist, with a fresh orange flavour, and absolutely delicious! Enjoy!