The Quest For The Orange Cake Grail Continues
Fresh from the oven
On 1 October, I resumed my quest for the Holy Grail of orange cakes, i.e. an orange cake so good that it becomes my “go to” recipe thereafter.
In embarking on this quest, my yardstick is the orange cakes that were standard fare in Brisbane (Australia) eateries in the early to mid ’90s, when I used to visit there a lot.
Whatever their provenance, I can tell you it’s not one shared by NZ cafes and purveyors of cake goodness, hence the quest.
In the 1 October post I mentioned that I had seen an interesting looking recipe for Orange and Poppy Seed Cake in a recent edition of NZ House & Garden (September 2018), so I felt honour bound to make it next.
The feature is called “Happy Days” but the recipes therein are not attributed to anyone (which is unusual.) Nonetheless, the Orange and Poppy Seed Cake is very good—even better on the second day, I think, than the first.
It came out with a lovely golden crust, too, that had a very nice, ‘crunchible’ texture when eating.
Check out those poppy seeds…
I should note, too, that the magazine recipe has the cake split in two and both iced and sandwiched together with an orange and cream cheese frosting. While that would probably qualify as both decadent and delicious, I eschewed the frosting in favour of a plain, unsplit cake–which was still delectable.
Ready to eat!
Was it the grail? Although very nice, I don’t think so. It inclined toward a more buttery character rather than the citrus zing I’m looking for.
Would I make it again, though? Yep, sure would.
The Taste Test Team say they would definitely eat it again, too. 😀
If this one was “close but not quite,” consider adding orange zest (or more orange zest, if it’s already in there). We like our lemon bars to be extra tart, and I’ve started adding zest to the crust. Zest gives the zing. Looks super yummy.
More zest could definitely be the go! (It has 3 tbsp currently but it’s a big cake…) What it doesn’t have though is an orange syrup component, ie that gets poured through after the cake is done, and I find I prefer the cakes that do. But I’m also enjoying exploring different approaches. 🙂
I “should” see if I can obtain permission to post the recipes, but haven’t had time to make the approaches so far. :-/
Syrups add good flavor and moisture. I have a lemon pound cake that I “paint” with syrup, upside down, while it’s hot from the oven. Winter’s coming on here, so baking season has begun!
I do the same with syrups–I also use a fine skewer to perforate the surface and ensure the zesty goodness soaks in. 🙂
I had no idea orange cakes can be this “culinary”.
I’d never heard of the orange and rosemary cake combo until I read your blog. Quite curious about it now.