Orange Ring Cake

Every morning I tried to serve fresh squeeze orange juice to my family. Normally I use local orange. They are a lot cheaper than the imported one, for example, a kilogram of good local oranges only cost me Rp. 5,500/kg ( US $ 0.60 ) and my supplier will deliver them to my front door with no extra cost since her store is so near to my home. I told her before to just deliver 20kg of oranges every Monday because I don't want to bother her too much, but she said since my home is near, she will deliver twice a week, Monday and Thursday. That way she said, I will have freshly pick oranges twice a week! I love her!!!

Personally I like local oranges more because Indonesian oranges have very little acidity and they are naturally sweet. The drawback with local oranges if I compare them to let's say Navel orange or Valencia orange is they have very little orange flavor in it. It's almost like when you dilute Navel orange with water then you add lots of sugar in it. But for cooking or baking, I still think imported oranges are more suitable because of they are pack with orange flavor.

Indonesian orange also great for baby because it has no acidity that can cause diaper rash. I gave my baby Indonesian orange juice everyday and she never has diaper rash at all. And becaues their taste is not to strong and they are very sweet, she loves it! She loves to eat it and drink it too.

The first time my dear husband drink Indonesian orange juice, he asked me why do I add a lot of sugar in it. He was very surprise when I told him that I did not add any sugar at all. The oranges are naturally sweet. Since then he request to have a big glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for his breakfast everyday.

So I love it, my husband loves it, and my baby girl loves it too. The only one that doesn't love it is..... our son. He hates it! He asked me why is Indonesian orange juice has no flavor at all? It doesn't taste like orange at all he said. So now beside Indonesian oranges, I also ordered my supplier to deliver Navel oranges too and since she is a wholesaler, she can only sell me in large amount, a 20 kg box full of New Zealand Navel oranges that cost me Rp. 280,000/box !

So when I see that big box of oranges I feel I need to make something with their zest! So many zest !!! Since I always looking for an easy but good recipe, I start searching through my cookbook library and I found this recipe below.

This recipe comes from Florence, Italy, and the book said that it is very popular with children ( perfect!!! ). The cake keeps well in an airtight container.

This recipe is easy, quick, cheap, good, and since it is not to big, it is just perfect for a small family or when you need to make a quick dessert for your guests. I think most family will have all of the ingredients in their fridge right now.

See for yourself ...

Orange Ring Cake

Serve 6 - 8

Ingredients:

140g ( 5oz ) unsalted butter
2 eggs, separated
100ml ( 3 1/2 fl oz ) milk
200g ( 7 oz ) caster sugar
finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed oranges
200g ( 7 oz ) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar, for dusting

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and flour a 1.7 L ( 3 pint ) ring mold.
2. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the egg yolks, milk, sugar and orange zest, and fold in for 1 - 2 minutes
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl ( I just use my whisk! ) and , using a metal spoon, fold in alternately with melted butter.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and firm to touch.
6. Leave the cake in the tin for about 5 minutes, then turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool. Before serving, dust with sifted icing sugar.