Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Orange and lemon cake

Orange and lemon cake

I was going through the huge pile of recipe print outs I have at home and was stunned by the amount of paper there. It made me feel really guilty. So I chose some of those recipes to make on the weekend. And will try to cut the pile down a bit before adding more paper to it.

I picked 2 savory recipes and 2 sweet. To kick things off in a great way, I baked this out of this world cake, which I got it from an equally out of this world blog, Ivonne’s.

Most of you know I’ll pick citrus over any other flavor. Yes, even over chocolate. That’s why choosing this cake was not a difficult task. It had been there for over a year – you read it right, Ivonne posted it on January, 2007. I don’t know why it took me so long to try it – talk about a waste of time.

The cake rose beautifully and smelled so heavenly that I couldn’t wait for it to cool completely. I never thought a burned tongue would make me so glad. :)

Orange and lemon cake

Orange and lemon cake

3 cups (420g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 orange
¾ cup (180ml) milk (preferably whole)
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF; butter and flour a round 25cm (10-in) cake pan or springform pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Once sifted, add the orange and lemon zests and mix well. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle attachment on medium speed, combine the butter and sugar and mix for 2 to 3 minutes until the butter is light in color and appears fluffy.
Combine the lemon juice, orange juice and milk and stir.
Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture, one at a time, on medium speed, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Begin adding the dry ingredients, in three additions, and then alternating with the milk/juice mixture. You should begin with the dry ingredients and end with the dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Check the cake after 50 minutes by inserting a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, continue baking the cake. In my oven the cake took an hour so the baking time may vary based on your oven.
Once done, remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, unmold the cake and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Orange and lemon cake

57 comments:

  1. That looks heavenly.

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  2. The cake looks lovely Patricia, I would love a slice right about now!:)

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  3. Well I have to admit that I am one of those waisting papers to print every single recipe that I like..the problem is that I like almost every recipe that I see! I have a huge pile of paper too on my desk! And I tried only few of them because of the time.
    Anyway this cake really makes my day cause I was looking for something to eat for breakfast and this is perfect!
    Thanks for the recipe
    Silvia

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  4. I'm starting to think I'm more of a citrus person vs. chocolate these days. This cake has my mouth watering!

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  5. It looks so light and airy. I'm picturing myself with some tea and a slice and my feet kicked up. Beautiful huh?

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  6. I too am a citrus person. I love the combination of orange and lemon in this.

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  7. This look gorgeous! How I wish I could have a slice :)

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  8. My list of "must try" recipes is sooo long--and gets longer and longer thanks to recipes like this!

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  9. That looks gorgeous and delicate. Oddly, I absolutely love citrus in cooking-but I don't like eating oranges or orange juice.

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  10. Wonder why we always make orange or lemon cake, but rarely combine the two? This sounds (and looks) heavenly!

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  11. Oh wow. It looks so moist. Give me some! :p

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  12. I'm laughing because I have a stack of recipes a mile high by my desk! There is never enough time in a day.

    I also love citrus desserts, especially cakes! This looks like a really nice recipe too. I will definitely put this at the top of the pile!

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  13. Looks delicious! I love the color. I am sure it tastes great too. Need to set my printer to work:)

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  14. I think lemon might be my favourite flavour as well Patricia. My favourite scent is vanilla:D The cake looks amazing...I will have to try it:D

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  15. You have definitely sold me on the citrus. Especially if you keep offering cakes like this up. It just looks heavenly with the light dusting of powdered sugar on top.

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  16. Greeks make and love cakes like this...coffee anyone?

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  17. Oh that looks so good. I real must try.

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  18. That looks really simple, delicious and elegant. I love going through all my recipe clippings. Beautiful photographs! :)

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  19. that cake looks and sounds incredibly yummy Patricia. For me chocolate and citrus share a first place. Unless there's passionfruit around, that trumps everything else!

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  20. I feel the same way about citrus that you do...more so with lemon than anything else. And now I have yet another recipe to try...I am never going to catch up!

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  21. Yum! This looks delicious, and easy! Although, don't you think orange, lemon AND chocolate would be a good combination? ;)

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  22. way to go, Patricia!

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  23. I bet a nice citrus glaze would also be nice on this. Sounds yummy.

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  24. I love the scent of citrus, this cake looks great!

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  25. I love how light and fluffy that looks! Fantastic job!

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  26. Finally a cake that uses *lots* of zest :-) I love citrus flavors and your cake looks wonderful. I can only imagine how insanely good it must taste.

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  27. Thanks for visiting my blog. This is a cake that looks really yummy.

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  28. Patricia--Reading your blog just before lunch is masochism in its purest form. This cake looks fresh and light and lovely, way better than the leftovers waiting for me in a few minutes.

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  29. Dianne, thank you.

    LyB, I wish I could give it to you, dear!

    Silvia, I totally relate to what you feel, I keep seeing these amazing recipes around and I want to make them all. :)

    Deb, a convert! :)

    Cathy, I agree - very beautiful!

    Peter, I never thought they would go so well together.

    Hi, darling! Thank you!

    Sarah, I know! :)

    Lorraine, really? :)

    Lydia, I would never have thought of combining them in a cake.

    Joy, have some! ;)

    Susan, we are a lost case, my dear. :)

    Farida, printer and oven. ;)

    Bellini, I'm crazy about lemon, too. :)

    Gigi, this is worth turning the oven for. :)

    Pete, tea for me, please. ;)

    Hi there! I hope you do.

    Laura, thank you for your visit and your kind words!

    Chipima, tks for stopping by - and I'm a total sucker for passion fruit too!

    Sarah, tks for your visit! I hope you try this, it's so good!

    Sarah, that is a wonderful idea. ;)

    Celine, tks, darling!

    Brian, as much as I love glaze I don't think it would be necessary here.

    Bri, thank you!

    Joey, tks, sweetie!

    Allen, loads of zest, orange and lemon. :)

    Helene, tks for visiting too!

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  30. Terry, I feel the same way reading your posts, my friend. ;)

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  31. Mmmm! Looks like just the thing for spring! Gorgeous photo's Patricia!

    paola

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  32. okay, I forgive you for choosing citrus over chocolate because this cake looks awesome. I love the crumb of this cake , it looks absolutely perfect with a cup of tea!

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  33. That cake looks nice and light and fluffy. I like the sound of the orange and lemon in the cake. The simple powdered sugar topping is also nice.

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  34. Mmm I love lemon cake! I'll have to give this a try and hope the orange part doesn't make me sick :)

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  35. Oh my, I don't want to even think about all the recipes I still need to try...or all the trees I killed printing them out. :)
    Cake looks lovely.

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  36. A warm slice of this cake with a cup of tea would go down really well. I'm going to trying making this soon.

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  37. HAHAHA! Oh Patricia, I hope your tongue is doing fine :) Of course, its sacrifice was worth it lol :) Great pics!

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  38. Nice!!! Would love to have a slice about now!

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  39. I'm going to have to try this!

    Paz

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  40. Yum!! So lovely and light and delicious.

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  41. Now that is a beautiful cake, full of flavour and looks so light.
    I'm the same, the pile of paper in the corner of the kitchen keeps growing....

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  42. One more for the pile! My best kitcehn investment is my laptop. It sits close to me and I can follow a recipe without printig it out. This looks divine!

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  43. Oh, I just adore light and airy citrus cakes like this, Patricia.

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  44. Citrus cakes are my favourites too and this one looks gorgeous - lovely and light!

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  45. I like citrus based food and desserts. Like the tangy flavor they gives.

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  46. I love using oranges and lemons in baking. Makes the end product feel so light and fresh.:)

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  47. Thanks for sharing. I got here from Cynthia's blog who had this recipe there. Decided i have to comment here as well. I am going to try the cake soon as i am drooling over the citrus favlor cake. Look forward to my commen :)

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  48. AnonymousMay 21, 2008

    HI! I found this blog through Cynthia (Tastes Like Home) Food Blog. It looked soooo good in the picture I decided to try it. It took 2 tries for me to get it somewhat 'right'. By that I mean, the first try wasn't that flavorful, so I tried again and added a bit more zest and lemon/orange juice and loved the taste. However, both times the cake came out 'dumpy'. By that I mean, it rose somewhat while it was baking but once it cooled it flattened a bit and doesn't look light and fluffy like your's and Cynthia's pictures. Maybe my baking powder is old? Or I didn't cream the butter and sugar enough?Do you have any tips on what I can do differently for the next time? I really like this cake; it's a simple recipe. My email is k_d92@yahoo.com Thanks.

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  49. Hey,
    Just to let you know, I've done this cake 3 times this year now and loved it every time! Just in case you're interested, I've mentioned this post in my latest post on a denser orange spice cake: http://twospoons.uber.com/blogs/Orange_spice_cake.html

    Happy Baking!

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  50. very nice

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  51. Hi I made this recipe today. I used bun cases instead of a tin and did them in gas4 oven for 10 minutes and they came out beautiful. It's a great recipe.Cakes taste great. Thankyou very much Patricia for posting it up. I used all organic ingredients and it's to die for!!

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  52. I made this last week (I'm on a bit of a roll Patricia - since I've found your recipes I'm baking flat out, thank-you) it was delicious, my work colleagues loved it!

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  53. PureLily and Antonietta, I'm glad you liked it! This is one of my favorite cakes. Thank you for letting me know how the cake turned out! xx

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  54. Hi, I tried this recipe last night and it was definitely a crowd-pleaser. I altered it slightly: instead of one orange and one lemon I used two oranges (one navel, one tangelo) and one lime (I would have used more had I realized how good it tasted -- little pockets of key lime flavour, yum!). I ran out of sugar so I put in a glob of wild flower honey. It came out so moist with a nice hardened crisp to the outside. It was delicious paired with cherry sauce. I was looking for a nice light orange cake, nothing too sweet, and this was perfect. THANKS!

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  55. Hey, Sarah! That is excellent news! I love the amount of citrus you used - I adore limes - and I'm glad to hear the cake turned out good!
    Thank YOU for stopping by to let me know!

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  56. Dear Patricia, this afternoon I was in a mood for lemon or orange cake….Which one to choose? I had a very hard time! Was struggling and was getting even more undecided. So, the decision was made! Both in one cake!! Soooo tasty cake! So fluffy, so scented and gentle! I used the cathedral bundt pan and it looks marvelous! I love your recipes! Once more thanks a lot! Xxx Evi

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  57. Dear Evi, I am so glad to hear the cake was a success! I particulally love this recipe and need to make it again, it's really good. Thank YOU for letting me know how it worked!

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