Happy Tuesday FFFs: let's eat cake!

This cake is straight up, no nonsense good. We made it for a recent visit to the country and it was perfectly companionable with a pot of tea.  It’s tangy with orange, redolent with plump sultanas and crunchy walnuts, and the cream cheese frosting is—literally—the icing on the cake. Enjoy!

Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Adapted from a recipe by Annabelle Langbein

For the cake:

• 1 orange (unpeeled)
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 125gms softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sultanas or raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the icing:

• 100g cream cheese
• 65g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Zest from one orange (optional)
• 250g pure icing sugar

To decorate:

• Chopped walnuts
• Pumpkin seeds

To make cake: Preheat oven to 160 deg C. Grease a 20cm diameter cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

Cut the orange into quarters, remove the seeds and whizz in a food processor until finely chopped. Dissolve B soda in 1/2 cup water and add to the food processor with butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. Whizz to combine. Add sultanas or raisins, and walnuts if using, and stir with a spoon or pulse several times to just combine (don’t whizz them or they will break up).

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (about 1 hour).

To make icing: Place cream cheese, butter, vanilla and orange zest in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until pale. Gradually add icing sugar, beating until combined and smooth.

To finish: Once cake is thoroughly cooled, ice cake with a thick, swirling motion. Sprinkle around edge with walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

Comments

[Britt]

J, did you bake this beautiful creation, it looks absolutely delicious, Britt, x

[[FashionFoodFatale]]

Hi Britt — yes I did. It was delish ... until the ants came along and munched on the rest! Lesson: seal that container properly!