It was an important evening for the Memeoirs crew. After months of hard work at the Tech Peaks accelerator, they’d finally released the newest version of their amazing site which allows you to create a book from your emails. If you’re an emailer, or know one, definitely check it out (www.memeoirs.com)!
To celebrate the new release we were having dinner at Ivan and Simone’s place (other Tech Peakers) and I knew that I should make a dessert. I had some oranges on hand, leftover from something I’d wanted to make but never got around to, and decide to repurpose them for this recipe.
I’d tried it before and decided to edit it a bit in this iteration. First off, I realized the cake needed more orange flavor. When I’d made it the first time it was moist and vaguely orange-y but didn’t have quite enough zest. So I added an extra orange peel and made a couple of other tweaks to the recipe.
The result was great. Even though we’d just eaten a filling and delicious batch of mushroom risotto, prepared by Ivan, the cake was very nearly devoured in its entirety. With this recipe, I was also able to show that though this cake is written as a loaf cake, it does just fine as a standard round cake. This experiment was made possible by the fact that I have only one baking pan and it’s a round cake pan. Thus I discovered that this cake is versatile and being poor in bakeware can still lead to tasty results, that is, if you're not afraid of a little experimentation. Enjoy!
Also, special thanks to Fred (of Memeoirs) for allowing me to borrow his camera to take shameless amounts of pictures of this cake and for sending me the pictures.
Orange Sour Cream Cake (adapted from Nosh With Me)
1 cup sour cream (since I couldn’t find sour cream I used 1 cup plain yogurt, drained)
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
zest of 4 oranges
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
½ cup extra light olive oil (or any flavorless oil you have, I used sunflower oil)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
Cake Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to size and place it in the bottom of the pan.
2) In a bowl, combine sour cream, granulated sugar, eggs, orange zest, vanilla extract, salt, olive oil, and baking powder together. Add the flour and mix until just combine being careful not to over mix.
3) Pour the cake batter into a loaf pan or round cake pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes (adjust time based on the size of your pan), or until a toothpick comes out clean. Wait for 10 minutes and carefully remove to a cooling rack.
Syrup Ingredients:
½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1 ¼ Tablespoon granulated sugar
Syrup Directions:
4) While the cake is cooking, add the orange juice and granulated sugar to a small sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and the liquid is mainly clear. About 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
5) Place the cooling rack on top of a piece of wax paper. Spoon the mixture over the cake. Allow the cake to finish cooling.
1 cup powdered sugar
2 ½ Tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
Chocolate for decorating (optional)
Glaze Preparation:
6) Mix together powdered sugar and orange juice. Spoon glaze over the top and let the cake set up overnight before serving.
7) Optional: Melt the chocolate in your microwave or over a double boiler and drizzle cake with chocolate (much like these Orange Ricotta Cookies) or use a cake decorating bag or plastic bag to draw designs or lettering on the cake.
