Isabelle's Orange Cake

Isabella's Orange Cake from Jamie Schler's cookbook 'Orange Appeal; Savory & Sweet'

A luscious single layer cake filled with the scent and flavor of orange.

Course Cakes, Cupcakes & Cheesecake

Cuisine American

Keyword cake, desserts, orange

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 482kcal

Author Barb

Ingredients

2 medium oranges
1 ½ cups flour, all purpose
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt increase to 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter
8 ounces sugar one full, packed cup, white or brown (I used brown and suggest it)
8 ounces butter melted
4 large eggs

For the Orange Syrup

⅔ cup orange juice, freshly squeezed and strained
2 tablespoons sugar, granulated or brown Again, I used brown
2 tablespoons orange liqueur

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom with lightly buttered parchment paper. Flour the bottom and sides of the pan, shaking out the excess, and set aside.
Finely zest and juice the 2 oranges; you should have about 1 full tablespoon of zest and 2/3 - 3/4 cups of juice.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.
In a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer), combine the sugar and butter until well blended and smooth. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet in 4 additions until well-combined and lump-free after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the zest and juice until blended.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until the center is just set and the cake is golden.

For the Orange Syrup

While the cake is baking, prepare the Orange Syrup by gently heating the orange juice, sugar, and orange liqueur together in a small saucepan over low heat just until all of the sugar has dissolved and the syrup is warm, about a minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside.
When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and run a sharp knife around the edge to loosen. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack, removing and discading the parchment pape, then invert again, bottom down onto a cake platter.
Use a toothpick to prick small holes all over the hot cake and then spoon the syrup evenly over the top of the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides and making sure the entire surface is infused with the syrup. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

Notes

If you want to make your presentation more like mine, here's what I did:

I used half of the syrup as made in the recipe to pour over the top of the cake. Then I added 3 more Tablespoons of brown sugar to the remaining liquid and returned it to heat, cooking it over medium heat until it coated the back of my spoon. I dripped that syrup over the outer edge of the cake.

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