Monday, September 21, 2009

Sicilian orange cake


Only tinkling tweets from happy birds and guttural whines from my furry boy bounced through the house today. It seems that my husband brought the boisterous atmosphere, and without him the house is very still, almost meditative. I find that I seem to echo the house's mood, and without someone else's energy to affect my own, I am quite chilled and un-hurried.

Of course, I did stop by the shop to bring my husband a burger for lunch as well as a slice of cake to brighten his day and satisfy his tummy. Apart from that I have been home, furiously cleaning with some baking in between. It has been a productive, peaceful and pleasant day - I am quite pleased with myself. There was a tiny part of me that predicted nothing but moping on the couch, eating ice cream and popcorn, bored out of my brain waiting for my husband to come home. I did miss him terribly but I also managed to find some energy to start the mammoth task of Spring cleaning the home. I am about 1/3 of the way through the house, another two days and I should have it sparkling and singing with pride.


As I have said before, there is no nicer ending to a hard day's work than a nice slice of something sweet.


ease: 5/5.

prep time:
10mins.
cooking time: 1 hour.
total: 1 hour & 10mins.

taste: 4/5.
This was a slight disaster for me - my cake looked more like a fallen souffle on top. It took an extra 15mins to cook at which stage the top had risen and then deflated upon being taken out. It was also super dense and soft (which I didn't mind) - perhaps my eggs were too big? Aside from the fact that it looked nothing like the recipe it still tasted nice, but more like lemon than orange. I used Seville oranges and I felt that I could only taste them slightly in the icing. I would have loved a more concentrated orange taste.

would I make it again: No - might try my luck with another recipe.

recipe: Sicilian Orange Cake

11 comments:

  1. SUCH a refreshing cake variety - love it!

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  2. Looks like a yummy summer dessert. Perhaps adding some orange zest to the icing would have helped?

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  3. The cake actually looks perfect. It seems like it might have fallen because it's "too moist" to stay up... can that be a problem in an orange cake?

    NO!

    Seriously, how was the taste? Is that why you aren't making it again?

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  4. Straight out of the oven it still tasted great, not very orange-y but still nice. The next day though it was a little 'floury' in taste and the orange flavour was barely tasteable - I still ate it but it wasn't super delicious. And when I put it in the fridge it turned rock solid. It was a bit of a disaster so I'm not sure I want to try again - but try it yourself, because it looks great on the original recipe.

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  5. Hi there, I am not sure what went wrong but I have baked this cake many time and it keeps well in room temperature for 2-3 days but it tastes best when eaten fresh on the same day. Great picture!

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  6. What a lucky husband! 1/3 of the way through your cleaning is good! This cake sounds good, Ive only had a few orange cakes before. Sorry it fell a bit, perhaps another recipe like you said?!

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  7. So sorry your cake fell! It certainly looks good... and if it tasted good, you should give it another try. Maybe adding some orange zest to the frosting?

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  8. I'm days late to the party here, but I absolutely love how your photos turned out. I'll have to give this recipe a try soon!

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  9. awww how sweet that you miss your husband so much, the cake would definitely be nice to come home to...forget the slight flat top!

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