This cake has been a huge part of my baking repertoire for years now, and I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to post here for you!
I used to make it at my old job every day, and once you make a citrus puree, making the actual cake is one of the easiest things you’ll ever do – it used to take me about 5 minutes from the time I started cracking my eggs to when I placed the cake tin in the oven. Seriously.
It’s a lovely cake, very moist and flavourful, and gluten free. The base cake on it’s own is also dairy free, which is a bonus if you’re intolerant (just change up the frosting!).
I made a few cakes for an order recently and this was one of the flavours, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make an extra one and share with you here.
I frosted this roughly with a mascarpone cream, and I think that’s now my new favourite frosting. It’s creamy and light and not very sweet and just delightful with this cake. I think I’ll be putting it on everything from now on. You could totally even just eat the cream with a spoon. Yum.
The raspberries also add lovely bursts of freshness to this rich cake. Orange and raspberry work so well together that you can even bake some berries into the cake layers if you want to.
My tip is to make a big batch of puree (use mandarins, oranges, whichever citrus you like) and freeze it in single – recipe quantities, so that all you need to do when you want to make this cake the next time is defrost some puree and you’re good to go.
I hope you love this easy cake, and that it becomes an essential part of your repertoire too! X
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 300g whole oranges (to make 300g puree)
- 9 eggs
- 375g caster (superfine) sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 375g almond meal
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 250g mascarpone
- 250g heavy cream
- ¼ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1 punnet raspberries, to decroate
- The first this you need to do is make an orange puree. Put the oranges, whole, in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Place a circle of baking paper on the surface of the water to keep the oranges submerged. Place the lid on the pot and place over a high heat.
- Boil the oranges until they are completely soft and squishy, about 1 - 2 hours.
- Immediately remove the oranges from the water and place in a blender or food processor along with 3 tbsp of the water and puree until completely smooth. Allow this to cool completely. Keep stored in the fridge.
- To make the cake, preheat the oven to 150 C (300 F) and line the base of three 9 inch springform tins with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until very well combined. Whisk in 300g of cool orange puree.
- Whisk in the baking powder and the almond meal until clear.
- Divide the batter between the three tins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until the cake is lightly golden and springs back when touched in the middle. Allow to cool completely and remove from tins.
- To make the frosting, using a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip together the mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth, thick and fluffy.
- To assemble the cake, place one layer of cake on your serving plate. Top with ¼ of the frosting and spread out in an even layer.
- Top with another layer of cake and another ¼ of the frosting. Spread out evenly and top with the remaining layer of cake.
- Use an offset palette knife to spread some frosting around the edges of the cake in a thin layer, so you can still see some of the cake but all the gaps are filled and the edges are smooth.
- Top the cake with the remaining frosting, and spread out in an even layer.
- Scatter the raspberries over the top of the cake and serve.
- Keep refrigerated. Serves 12 generously.
- Happy baking!
Orange cake adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion.