“A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away”. Arthur Miller
First of all, to give heads-up - the photo is "borrowed" for the time being - just to give an idea how my cake looked like prior I poured the glaze on - then it looked like it was sitting in a puddle of the glaze that was spreading all over the table and dripping on the floor. I know what I had done wrong, but now from the beginning...
A few weekends ago we were planning to visit some friends living in the neighborhood and I promised them I will bake a cake, having this particular one in mind. I had made it many times before and it has turned out absolutely lovely! This time I had the glaze (that I had learned from Martha Stewart) in mind and was very eager to try that one on my cake.
The first time I was flipping through the pages of Mario's book "Molto Italiano" and came across this recipe, I could not believe how simple it sounded. In fact it is very simple - apart from the orange zesting, which is not as difficult as it is time consuming. Good thing this time I had help :).
So... Oranges - from a regular store, probably brought in from Morocco, Spain or who knows... Maybe China this time (they CAN make anything there)? And Olive Oil - just a month old (young) - it was heavenly!!!
Preparation time - around 40 min to 1 hour, depending on the orange zesting time ;).
Ingredients:
* 7 medium oranges
* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 4 large eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 2 cups icing sugar
Preheat the oven to ~ 180 degrees.
In the meantime (prior to) zest the oranges with a grater in separate bowls - 6 and 1. The one zested separately is for the glaze. Juice 2 oranges, also separately - 1 for the cake and 1 for the glaze. The zest of 6 oranges and juice of 1 - combine with olive oil in a separate bowl and set aside for further use. The zest and juice of one orange - combine and set aside in a different bowl.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs with salt about 3-4 minutes, until light and frothy. Beat in the sugar. Beat until you cannot feel the sugar between your fingertips.
Sift the flour with the baking soda, gradually beat in the egg mixture. Fold in the orange zest mixture. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the pan you use. Mine usually takes less as I use a wide one and the cake ends up being thinner. Use the tooth pick to check.
While the cake is baking prepare the glaze - add a few tablespoons of the icing sugar at a time to the juice and zest mixture until well incorporated and there are no chunks left. The glaze should be the consistency of heavy cream - not too runny.
Once the cake is done, let it cool down and then pour the glaze over. Let it drip off the sides - will look very appetizing once it firms.
Bon appetit!
