oranges & lemons: the twin cakes!
Imagine an ultra-light, soft, moist, fluffy cake… just the cake (no additional whipped cream or butter cream, no cream cheese, no chocolate, no nuts, no …), but heavily flavoured w/ orange or lemon zest? Let’s have a go at it!
How to transform this into my “twins”?
We start w/ preheating the oven (160 °C w/ fan).
We melt the butter & let it cool.
We grease 2 baking tins w/ butter & trim to fit baking parchment for the bottoms.
How many oranges & lemons do we need?
I wanted definitely a strong orange resp. lemon flavour in my cake – therefore I used more than the usual single orange or lemon: I doubled! The flavour is intense, but delicious.
Feel free to reduce the amount of orange/lemon zest if you like a less intense aroma!
We start w/ combining the sugar (aka all sugars!) w/ the eggs & beat it until fluffy.
We add the flour (including baking powder & salt) & beat again… (of course we use an electric handheld mixer!).
When everything is evenly combined we distribute the dough evenly among 2 bowls. Each bowl gets its unique flavour i. e. the zest.
We fold in the zest w/ a spoon & pour the dough in the cake tins… & at once in the oven!
“The twins” will need about 35 min. If a wooden pin inserted in the cake comes out clean it’s ready – otherwise give it another 5 min or so.
Pls have in mind that each oven is individual: there are different manufacturers, there are different models, there are different electronics, there are different operating times, there are different operating modi… My data in my recipes rely always to my oven: take it as a starting point for your approach.
So: this was the main transformation!
I thought an additional glaze may improve the overall cake event!
Be careful w/ the amount of lemon juice! If you use too much lemon juice the glaze will become really sour & acid & might ruin the cake! The recipe gives a ratio of lemon juice & sugar leading to a quite hearty glace fitting to the cakes.
A glaze isn’t a sugar icing!!!
Imagine an ultra-light, soft, moist, fluffy cake... just the cake (no additional whipped cream or butter cream, no cream cheese, no chocolate, no nuts, no ...), but heavily flavoured w/ orange or lemon peel? Let's have a go at it!
Preheat the oven (160 degrees C w/ fan).
Grease both baking tins w/ butter.
Put baking paper on the bottom of both baking tins.
Melt the butter & let it cool.
Grate the zest of the oranges & the lemons, but don't mix them!
Press out the juice of the lemons.
Mix flour, baking powder & salt.
Mix icing sugar & vanilla sugar.
Mix sugar & eggs w/ the handheld mixer until well combined.
Add molten butter & mix.
Pour 1/2 of the dough in another bowl & add the lemon zest. Distribute evenly w/ a spoon.
Add the orange zest to the rest of the dough & distribute evenly w/ a spoon.
Pour each flavoured dough in its own baking tin.
Bake in the oven for about 35 min.
If a wooden pin comes our clean when inserted in the cake it's fine. Otherwise add another 5 min baking time.
Let the cake in the baking tins cool down for about 10 min. Then loosen the edges of the cake from the tin (if necessary) & turn out the cake.
For the glaze mix the lemon juice w/ the sugar & bring it to a boil.
Let the glaze simmer for about 20 min until the glaze seems sticky.
Spoon the glaze over the cakes - maybe use a brush.
Let the cakes completely cool down.
Prep Time: This covers the preparations as well as the mixing of the dough. In addition it covers the preparation & application of the glaze.
Cook Time: It's only the baking time. You may add another 5 min to the baking time if a wooden pin inserted in the cake doesn't come out clean after 35 min.
Vanilla sugar: It's sugar mixed w/ vanilla seeds.
Oranges & lemons: If there are rather small oranges or lemons take 2 of them; if they are large 1 may be sufficient. Have in mind that we'll go for a real fruity cake!
Glaze: Lemon juice is rather acid & sour - so you'll need a lot of sugar! If you use too little sugar the glaze won't enhance the cake, but ruin it: therefore be careful! You may substitute 50% of the lemon juice by orange juice.
The cakes are very soft & fluffy: you may keep them just under a plate cover for 1-2 days.
When storing in the fridge the cakes become more dense & moist; you may store it in the fridge for up to a week.
The sight of the cake makes my mouth water!
I won’t need much to do the cake: only few ingredients & little time – might it happen that it goes wrong? Of course as an amateur baker w/ almost no experience… but it seems unlikely if I stick to the recipe rules!