Orange Cake

Well, I still have copious amounts of Orange Simple Syrup in my fridge and am attempting to use it up. The decadently written book Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes is scattered with chapters of Tuscan recipes (one major reason I love travel/food books). Mayes just happened to include a recipe for lemon cake and as I read, my mind said, "Ah Ha! Use orange instead of lemon!" So I did and the result was better than I could have imagined. The cake is still super moist after several days and the orange flavor is so crisp and indulgent all at once.

In honor of Mayes, here is her lemon cake recipe with my adaptations to follow:

"Cream together 1 cup of sweet butter and 2 cups of sugar. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time. The mixture should be light. Mix together 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and incorporate this with the butter mixture alternately with 1 cup buttermilk. (In Italy, I use one cup of cream since buttermilk is not available.) Begin and end with the flour mixture. Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and the grated zest of the lemon. Bake in a nonstick tube pan at 300 for 50 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick..." 

Mayes, F. (1996). Under the Tuscan Sun. New York: Broadway Books, 238-239.

 Creaming together sugar and butter:

Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time.

I also used cream (instead of buttermilk), since I had it on hand. 

 

I substituted the zest of an orange and 3 T orange syrup. 

I used most (3/4) of the zest in the cake, reserving some (1/4) for the icing. 

I greased and floured my nonstick pan, just to be on the safe side.

 

The icing on the cake!

To make icing:

Whip the following ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk and pour icing over cake.*

3 c powdered sugar
1/2 c cream
reserved orange zest from cake recipe
3 T orange syrup
3 T  softened butter

*This makes more than enough...use the extra on some left-over Christmas sugar cookies