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Looks are ofttimes deceiving… Take that gorgeous slice of cake right there. One could look at it and imagine the beautiful cake it came from.

Or… one could imagine the mess I made when I flipped it out of its pan.

One could also imagine the words that came out of my mouth when I flipped it out of its pan and it went sliding across the island in a pile of crumbs. But that would not be a good thing, because they were not very nice words.

I baked a cake my mom made now and again – an orange cake with an orange and Cointreau glaze. Very simple and really really tasty. It’s baked in a tube pan and calls for a glaze to be poured on while it’s warm. I wanted to glaze it on its plate, so I took it out of the pan but it still had the bottom and the tube attached. Like an idiot, I tried flipping it, it slipped, and it went sailing. Did I mention bad words? When Nonna was retelling the story to Victor, she said “And he wouldn’t tell me the words he said.”

They were not nice words.

But the cake came out, in spite of my stupidity.

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I semi-placed it back together and glued it with the glaze.

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Parts of it were a little worse for wear, but, hell… It’s cake. It’s all edible even if it’s not that pretty.

Cake a l’Orange

  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tbsp grated orange rind
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1/3 cup Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat butter, 1 cup sugar,, and egg yolks in a large bowl until; light and fluffy.

Add orange rind and mix.

Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream starting and ending with flour.

Beat egg whites in small bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter and spoon into a greased 9″ tube pan.

Bake about 50 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

For Glaze:

Combine orange juice and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in small saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup Cointreau. Slowly pour over warm cake and let soak in.

Cool completely.

It really is good.