Mum’s Orange Cake

Well we’ve finally had our first rainy Winters day. With no plans, and our usual walk to the park out of the question it was the perfect day to spend some time baking at home. For the past few weeks our fruit bowl has been overflowing, it should really be called the ‘fruit bench’ due to the ever-growing sprawl.  Spying a few Oranges that looked like they were well and truly ripe, I decided to make my Mum’s Orange Cake. It’s an old recipe from the local newspaper my home town in country Victoria, and was sent in by ‘Thelma’ from Eaglehawk.  With simple ingredients and enough steps to keep my little helper busy, it looked perfect.   My little helper is always asking to “mix cakes” but after being introduced to juicing oranges, I think he may just have a new favourite job!   I made the mistake let him choose which cake tin we were going to use, and naturally he chose one of the least practical tins we own.  The recipe recommended a 22cm x 10cm log tin, so when he chose a small novelty love heart tin, I knew we  had waaay too much mixture for the pan.  After filling the tin until it was 3/4 full, I spooned the remaining cake batter into a small loaf pan, perfect for him  have fun mixing with. After a small howl of protest when I had to take his cake away, both cakes were put into the oven and baked for 22 minutes at 180 degrees (fan forced).  Mine was just perfect, but his was a little overdone. It was still soft and moist and we ate it warm with a glass of cold milk.  I iced mine with a plain orange icing and sprinkled coconut over the top – because let’s be honest, coconut makes everything taste better!   If you decide to go with the cake tin suggested (which is probably a good idea!), you will need to bake your cake for 45 -50 minutes until it’s firm to touch on the top and a skewer comes out clean.  

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Mum's Orange Cake

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time45 mins

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Author: Lauren

Ingredients

• 125 butter
• 2/3 cup castor sugar
• Grated rind of 1 large orange
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups self raising flour
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• Icing
• 45 g of unsalted butter - soft
• Grated rind of 1/2 an orange
• 2 tablespoons of orange juice
• 1 1/3 cups icing sugar mixture

Instructions

• For the cake:
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan forced) and grease and line the base of a 22cm x 10cm log tin.
• Combine the softened butter, sugar and orange rind in a bowl and using an electric mixer, beat until it's pale and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs one at a time, making sure they are completely combined.
• Sift the flour over the top of the cake, and while on a low speed, slowly add the orange juice and milk and continue to beat until the mixture has combined.
• Pour mixture into the prepared tin and lightly smooth over the top.
• Bake in oven for approximately 45 minutes, until the cake is firm to touch on top and cooked through.
• After removing from oven, cool cake in tin for 15 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Icing:
• Add the butter, rind, and icing sugar into a bowl.
• Add the orange juice and using a metal spoon mix until combined and you have a smooth consistency.
• If the icing is a little hard to spread, just add a few extra drops of orange juice.

Enjoy xx

Linking up today with The Multitasking Mummy for Mummy Mondays