Fragrant Orange And Lemon Cake
Submitted by bettina on January 12, 2003 at 9:45 am

DESCRIPTION
Fragrant Orange and Lemon Cake

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under cakes

INSTRUCTIONS
This recipe comes from Patricia Well's "Trattoria" cookbook.

She suggests in her description of this cake, for serving on special occasions, serving it with a light drizzle of a simple icing, or serving it with sliced fruit macerated in in rum or sweet wine. It's just a little something to serve when you want a little sweet nibble, with a beverage.

"Unsalted butter and all-purpose flour for preparing the cake pan.
3 cups (405g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Grated zest and juice of one orange
Grated zest and juice of one lemon
3/4 cup(185ml) whole milk
16 TBS (8 oz, 225 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (300 g) Vanilla Sugar (page 324)
5 large eggs
Confectioner's sugar for dusting, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350F ( 175C, gas mark 4/5)

2. Evenly coat the interior of a 10-inch (12 cup, 2.5l) Bundt pan with butter. Dust lightly with flour, shaking out excess. Set aside.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the orange and lemon zests.

4. Combine the orange and lemon juices and the milk, and set aside to "sour" the milk.

5. In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vanilla sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition. The mixture will look curdled--don't worry. Alternating in thirds, add the flour and milk mixtures, beating well after each addition, and scraping down the dised of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake until the cake is an even golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. (Don't worry if the cracks on the top of the cake don't look dry--use the toothpick test to test for doneness.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto a serving plate. If desired, sift confectioner's sugar over the top of the cake. Slice into wedges and serve for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert.

Serves 10 to 14"

"Vanilla Sugar

4 plump moist vanilla beans
4 cups (800g) sugar

Flatten the vanilla beans and cut them in half length-wise. With a small spoon, scrape out the seeds and place them in a small bowl; reserve the seeds for another use. Combine the pods and sugar in a jar. Cover securely and set aside at room temperature for several days to scent and flavor the sugar. Use in place of regular sugar when preparing deserts. Vanilla sugar can be stored indefinitely. As the vanilla sugar is used, replace with new sugar. (When baking, I return rinsed and thoroughly dried pods to the sugar mixture as an added boost.)

Yield: 4 cups (800g) vanilla sugar"