Orange madeira cake

There is something about the juicy flavour of orange that lifts a sponge and elevates it to something far beyond the sum of its parts, and yet I find that I don’t bake with it very often.  This is a conundrum.  To rectify this I found a madeira cake recipe that used lemon and switched it to orange, also adding an orange glaze.

Loaf cakes are very satisfying for a blogger – they are usually quick and easy to get into the oven, and you’re guaranteed nice even slices to photograph!  The shape of the tin provides a nice crust and a soft sponge underneath…no wonder they are Mr CC’s favourite (as a side note I am pleased to report that, while he doesn’t really understand why, he has learned that ‘dry’ is not taken as a compliment when critiquing sponge!)

This cake smells glorious while baking in the oven; it is a cake to bake while you have people looking around your home thinking of buying it!  The addition of a small amount of ground almonds also keeps the cake moist and gives it a lovely crumb.

Using freshly squeezed orange juice in the glace icing pays dividends; it’s almost confusing in your mouth because you’re eating icing but tasting orange juice – it really packs a punch in terms of flavour.

Ingredients

For the sponge:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
grated zest of 1 orange
200g self raising flour
50g ground almonds

For the glaze:

100g icing sugar
enough orange juice to make an icing – add 1 teaspoon at a time

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°C/340°F/gas mark 3.

Line a 900g loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy – don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding some of the flour if it looks like the mix might curdle (NB. Use this as a test – if you’ve beaten your butter and sugar enough it won’t curdle!)

Fold in the orange zest, flour and ground almonds.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool, in the tin, for approximately 20 minutes before de-tinning and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake is cold you can make the icing: beat together the icing sugar and orange juice until you have a thick glossy glaze.  Add the orange juice 1 teaspoon at a time – it is very easy to make it too runny.

Spoon over the cake and let drizzle down the sides.

Serve in thick slices with a cup of tea.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.