Suspect that the origins of this recipe comes from the annals of the CWA. It is the recipe my Grandmother used when she baked with us, ostensibly because she did not like the feeling of her fingernails so close to the grater when preparing the orange zest. It also offers insight into the ratio of eggs, flour and sugar in a cake, and how cooks may have baked before recipes were adapted to using standard sized eggs. The rosy hue in the photo comes from blood oranges, not for flavour, but because their size most resembled the juicy variety ripening in my Grandmother’s bay window.
Orange Cake
| 3 eggs |
| same weight of eggs in caster sugar |
| quarter pound of butter |
| same weight of eggs in self raising flour |
| juice and rind of two oranges |
| Beat butter and sugar. Add two eggs, best well. Add half of the flour, then juice and rind. Keep beating. Add the last egg, beat well, followed baby the last of the flour. Beat well. Pour into tin lined and buttered loaf tin. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Alternatively, scoop spoonfuls of the mixture into paper-case lined cake trays. Bake for about 18 minutes at 190C. |
they look good!