That is potentially the stupidest title I have ever come up with for a recipe but I was trying to convey just how intensely orange flavored this cake is (while admitting to the fact that I binge watch shows on Netflix, though I think that Wentworth is much superior to OITNB). Orange-olive oil cake with orange-orange blossom water syrup, homemade orange curd and candied orange slices is self-explanatory but a bit long for a title.
This cake came into being because I had a glut of citrus with which to work and was looking for dessert recipes in which I could use the oranges I had been gifted. Several recipes sounded really good but didn't quite scratch my dessert itch (so to speak) so I decided on a mashup of what worked for me from my three favorite recipes found online. The end result worked out very well and looked impressive.
I am a horrible dessert maker so this is a recipe for all levels of cooks. If I can successfully make it, so can you. You do have to be in a cooking mood though because it is a rather labor intensive production but well worth it for the resultant "oooohs and aaaahs". Make sure that you use organic oranges for this since you are using zest and sliced oranges with the peel. Also, the oranges I used were bitter oranges. Juice oranges might make the cake too sweet so taste your oranges before starting this recipe.
Recipe:
Candied Orange Slices
2 oranges, ends and pips discarded, thinly sliced
3 cups water
3 cups granulated sugar
2 Tbsp orange blossom water (optional, tastes good without as well)
Heat the water and sugar together in a saucepan, Once the sugar is melted, add the orange slices, reduce the heat to low and simmer for an hour. Turn off the heat. Use kitchen tongs to remove the orange slices and lay them on a sheet of parchment paper to dry.
Add the orange blossom water to the syrup used to poach the orange slices. Set aside for use in the cake.
Orange Curd
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
zest from 5 oranges
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons), cubed
Large pinch of salt
Beat the eggs, sugar, salt and orange zest together well until frothy. Add the juice and beat some more.
Put some water in a pan and bring to a boil. Place the bowl with the egg mixture over this and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture has started to thicken, about 10 minutes.
Once this happens, remove the bowl from the pan and add the butter cubes, a few at a time, whisking constantly, until the butter is melted and incorporated into the egg mixture.
Put the bowl in the fridge for use once the cake is done.
Orange-Olive Oil Cake
3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsps baking powder 2 tsps baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup poaching syrup from the orange slices 1 1/3 cup of water 2/3 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp of pure vanilla 1 1/2 Tbsps of apple cider vinegar or unseasoned rice wine vinegar
Preheat the oven to 350.
Oil 2 cake tins. I used 8" layer cake pans.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, the wet ones in another. Add 1/2 of the contents of the bowl with the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Add the remaining 1/2 and mix in. Make sure that there are no lumps in the batter.
Pour 1/2 the batter into each cake tin and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let sit for 10 minutes to cool down and then remove from tin in order to cool further. I ran a knife around the outside of hte cake, turned the tin upside down, thumped the bottom of the tin once and it popped right out in both instances.
Assembly
Cut the domed portion of each layer off the top of the cake and cut each layer in 1/2 lengthwise. You will end up with 4 flat layers with which to work.
Place the 1st layer on your serving plate. Brush it with some of the remaining poaching syrup and spred it with 1/4 of the orange curd. Place another layer on top and repeat the steps until you have reached the top layer. Spread the remaining orange curd over the top; if it drips down the sides that is just fine and quite pretty. Create a pattern with the orange slices and you are done.
I had a few orange slices and some poaching syrup left so I chopped the oranges up and served them as a snack with some plain Greek yogurt, a drizzle of the poaching liquid and some chopped pistachio nuts. As for the cake domes, L. and I ate them as soon as I cut them off in order to tide us over until we could taste the assembled cake.