Whole Orange Cake by Open Table

Ingredients

22-24cm cake/loaf tin OR muffin tin, knife, chopping board, blender or food processor, medium saucepan, mixing bowl, spatula

1-2 oranges, or mandarins or other citrus fruit about (325g), washed well
100g butter, softened
250g sugar
3 eggs
110g natural or Greek yoghurt
275g all-purpose flour or cake flour or almond meal (just add a few more tbs)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla essence, optional
½ tsp cinnamon or other spices, optional

Summary

This cake is based on a classic Sicilian recipe and uses whole oranges for the perfect zero waste tea cake.  This cake can be adapted to suit a vegan diet and you can use almond meal instead of flour to make it gluten-free, however, it will be a little denser. You’ll need a food processor or stick blender to puree the citrus but the remaining ingredients can be combined by hand or with an electric hand mixer.

Still got citrus? We’ve got more ideas to use up the glut here!

Whole Orange Cake:

Preheat your oven to 180°C

Thoroughly wash your citrus and place in a saucepan covered with cold water. Bring to boil and then lower to simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours, until totally softened. Remove citrus from the saucepan,  slice the fruits in half and remove the pips.

Place fruit in a food processor and blitz until pureed. Add the butter and sugar and pulse to combine. Add yoghurt and pulse again to incorporate, then add eggs one at a time and pulse after each addition. Finally, add the flour and baking powder in batches, pulse to combine. Place batter into a lined cake tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes.

Once cooled, top with a few tablespoons of warm jam, or icing of your choice.

Recipe by Open Table, adapted from the classic Sicilian orange cake.

Hints and Tips

Make it vegan

Eggs: can be swapped with carbonated water such as soda water or a mixture of veggie oil, baking powder and water OR you can also use a mixture of flax or chia seeds and water: see this handy guide to the best types of vegan egg swaps for baking

Yoghurt: swap for silken tofu, coconut cream or coconut yoghurt – keep in mind these will add a coconutty flavour

Butter: swap for vegan margarine