Sicilian Orange cake

Sorry for missing in action for few days, i was busy with a team of contractors to fix some furniture in my house and another team doing water feature in my garden. When not updating for few days, I feel lazy to update a new post....Anyway, i'm back again with this buttery, moist and full of orange aroma butter cake.

I saw this cake in j3ss kitch3n and this cake is very similar to the orange butter cake that I learnt how to bake for the 1st time.

This Sicilian Orange Cake is the famous orange cake from the once popular Café Agostini (this cafe has closed on 22 July, 2005) owned by Margie Agostini, in the heart of Sydney ’s suburb for the rich and famous, Woollahra. Customers have often been heard to say that “Margie’s orange cake is to die for”.

I found this recipe on Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape Cookbook a while ago but was surprised to find out how this recipe was linked to Australia:

Rick Stein: "To be accurate, I suppose this cake should be known as Margie Agostini's orange cake. It was her signature dish at her greatly missed Caffe Agostini in Woollahra in Sydney. It seemed to me to be just made for Sicilian oranges. The recipe came from an article in the Times by Jill Dupleix, although I had eaten the cake at the cafe a few years earlier and I thought it was amazing. As Jill says, it has to be the richest, moistest, butteriest and yet lightest orange cake in the world."

Sicilian Orange Cake
(adapted and modified from j3ss kitch3n)

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
grated orange zest from 2 oranges
250g self raising flour
120ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2tsp Rum, optional ( worth to add this ! )

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a cake pan.
2. Using an electrical beater, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, if necessary adding a spoonful of flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. Beat in the orange zest and rum. Add the flour all at once and mix well, then slowly mix in the orange juice.
4.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 45-50mins or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake, comes out clean. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of lightly greased aluminum foil.
5.Leave the cake, in the pan, to cool on a wire rack, then unmold and serve.

Happy Baking !!

Happy Weekend and Happy Labour Day !!