Orange "Butter" Cake

I had such high hopes for this cake. Not just because it was a lot of work ( and I have the photos to prove it!),but also it sounded so darn good.
Imagine a cake with 2 entire oranges in the batter! Whole oranges, skin and all. Wow, I thought, this has to be great. And despite the name, there's not a drop of butter in it.
The recipe is another from Sherry Yard's book, "Desserts by the Yard". As I've mentioned before, one of my pet peeves with recipes is when there's no photo to accompany the recipe and you just don't know what the heck it will look like..or what it's supposed to look like!

There are many steps to making this cake.
First you boil, on low, 2 oranges for one and a half hours.
You also have to toast the almond flour. Now I didn't have almond flour so I pulsed almonds in the food processor and then toasted them.
You also have to peel and chop fresh ginger...and beat 6 eggs for 10 minutes..and...whew! I'm exhausted just typing it!

I think I did make one mistake that was totally my fault. Because the batter went right to the top of the cake, I thought it might overflow so I put the cake to bake on a sheet pan. Because of this, the very bottom of the cake didn't cook and came out almost like a layer of custard.

Bottom line, the cake did taste very good. The consistency reminded me of a friand, however, but with 2 whole oranges, it did have a great orange flavor. In the book, she says that the cake gets better overnight and it's great sliced and toasted. Hmm... will have to wait til tomorrow!



So you boil on low, 2 whole oranges for one and a half hours.

I made almond flour by pulsing almonds in the food processor til very fine.

After the oranges have cooked, drain them and cut into quarters.

Place them into the food processor which already has the pulsed ginger and some sugar in the work bowl.

In a mixer bowl, add the 6 room temp. eggs and sugar and beat for 10 minutes...

Til tripled in volume and lemon colored.

Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the orange mixture.

Then pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.

And bake for 50 to 60 minutes or til the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Orange "Butter" Cake ( from Desserts by the Yard" Cookbook by Sherry Yard)

2 medium navel oranges, about 1 pound

2 tbsp. peeled and chopped fresh ginger

1 cup sugar

2 cups almond flour, lightly toasted and cooled.*(See notes below)

2 tbsp. cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

6 large eggs, room temp.

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Place the whole oranges in a medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, place the ginger and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse til you have a paste.

3. Drain and cut the oranges into quarters. Remove and discard any seeds and allow the oranges to cool.

4. Place the oranges, skin and all, into the food processor with the ginger paste and process til smooth.

5. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Spray a 9" springform pan with pan spray and line with parchment. Spray the parchment.

6. Sift together ( I whisked) the almond flour, cake flour and baking powder. Set aside.

7. Combine the eggs and the remaining 3/4 cup of the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed til the eggs have tripled in volume, are thick and lemon colored and form a ribbon when lifted with a spatula, about 10 to 12 minutes.

8. Stir in one third of the pureed oranges.

9. Fold the flour mixture into the eggs in 3 additions, alternating with the remaining orange mixture.

10. Scrape the batter into the cake pan. Tap the pan on your work surface. Swing the pan around on the counter, using the same jerking wrist action you would use to throw a frisbee. This forces the batter up the sides of the pan and prevents a dome from forming in the middle.( I couldn't do this because my batter filled the pan right to the top but I did tap the pan on the work surface).

11. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. ( Mine took 50 minutes) or til the cake springs back when gently pressed with a finger.

12. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove the springform and allow to cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners' sugar.

*Note: To toast almond flour:

Place in a baking pan and toast in the middle of a 350 oven for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. The flour should be golden brown and smell toasty and fragrant.