Orange and Olive Oil Cake | Using whole oranges

Come January the supermarkets were flooded with oranges of every shape and size. We bought a ton of them home as we have two citrus fruit lovers – my hubby and daughter. We juiced the oranges, zested them, made marmalade and baked a lot with them. This particular recipe caught my attention especially because it asked for whole oranges to be ground and not just the juice or zest. Whole oranges?!! Fascinating! What a great way to get rid of excess oranges and also benefitting from the whole fruit! Was it bitter, you may ask. The answer is no! The cake wasn’t bitter and contrary to what I expected, it wasn’t reeking of the flavour of oranges either. The resultant cake was spongy and like a traditional sponge but with a mild yet unmistaken flavour of oranges.

Now this cake can be dense if you don’t pay attention to the details. The folding of the batter should be done very carefully as over mixing can result in a rather dense cake. If you love a simple sponge with a zesty addition to it, then this cake is for you! Although the dusting of the icing sugar is optional I highly recommend it as it adds a touch of sweetness to a simple-not-so-sweet cake, but you take the call!