I haven’t posted a dessert recipe in a loooong time … that’s because over the last couple of months I made a conscious decision to not tuck into sweet treats. I like to say that I am not really all that into cakes and desserts, yet, if the cake is there I WILL eat it … and sometimes just one slice just ain’t enough.
Today’s recipe is borrowed once again from the brilliant Annabel Langbein, but I made a few adjustments to it. This recipe comes from her Orange Lightning cake, and what is so unique about her recipe is that it uses a whole orange, skin and all, blitzed in a food processor along with all the other ingredients. I watched her put it all together on tv and it looked delicious… I had to try it for myself.
Ingredients for this cake is pretty basic … all the usual suspects apply. Annabel’s recipe uses all two cups of flour and she adds raisins … but I have omitted the raisins (simply because I had none on hand) and I added one cup of almond meal. Everything else I kept the same. I would put a link to her original recipe, but I cannot seem to find it on her official website, which I thought odd.
Orange & Almond Tea Cake
- 1 orange (unpeeled)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup water
- 125g butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup almond meal
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup sultanas (golden raisins) or raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease and line a 20 cm cake tin.
“Cut orange into quarters and remove seeds. Whizz in a food processor until finely chopped. Dissolve baking soda in 1/2 cup water andd to the food processor with butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour. Whizz to combine. Add sultanas and stir with a spoon or pulse a few times to just combine“
That .is the original Annabel Langbein method for making this cake, but I don’t have a food processor. I have a mini chopper and at the time of making this cake I failed to remember that I had put it in the fridge as it was full of chopped garlic and shallots from the previous nights cooking. Even if I washed it now I was sure the smell would still permeate the oranges and cake batter. I do, however, own an immersion blender.
To be safe, I altered the method by slicing up the orange and chucking it into a saucepan along with the sugar and water. Simmered everything for 10 mins to soften the rind, then I simply blitzed everything with the immersion stick until i got a pot of pulp. It was delicious! I would surely use this as topping for ice creams in future … like warm marmalade. Set aside to cool.
In a clean bowl I added the dry ingredients. Nothing needs to be sifted, then add the orange puree and the 2 eggs and soft butter.
Pour into prepared cake tin and bake until a skewer (or toothpick) inserted into center comes out clean.
Once cooled, I sprinkle powdered sugar (icing sugar) on the cake. The cake can be keep in an airtight container for up to a week or it can be frozen.
I went one step further and whipped up some brandy cream to serve along with the cake … yummy! The cake came out beautifully moist and it made my entire house smell like a little piece of heaven. I got to bake this cake in my brand new PINK springform pan that I picked up randomly at Lidl’s this morning. I don’t usually do my bakeware shopping at Lidl’s but a pink cake tin? C’mon, you gotta have that in your arsenal; cost me only € 5. They even had pink bundt tins and I really wanted that one too, except R. was already giving me the evil eye.
Anyway, that’s my contribution in the dessert section today … I will try not to gobble it all up in the next 24 hours. R. has been very good at hiding all the unhealthy treats in the house from me. He’s also much quicker than me at polishing off cakes, so let’s hope he gets to this one well before I do.
I expected this cake to taste bitter like marmalade, considering all the rinds and piths went into the mix, but I stand corrected and salute Ms. Langbein for yet another amazing recipe. She calls it her lightning cake, and rightfully so. If you own a food processor then good for you. I had to do it the hard way but hey, the results were still pretty amazing. I wonder what she’s going to churn out on her programme later tonight? All her beautiful recipes can be found on her website (except this orange cake, for some reason). Happy baking none the less.
~ Enjoy! ~
3 comments
Veejay Raizada
March 23, 2018 at 5:25 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Amazing recipe!
bubviv
March 26, 2018 at 1:27 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thanks! Did you try it out?
Veejay Raizada
March 30, 2018 at 6:05 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Yes, I tried!