Orange Butter Cake

The following wonderful citrus butter cake recipe comes from Bakericious  a wonderful baking blog based in Singapore. It can be made as a bigger cake or as cupcakes as desired.

Ingredients: (for one 8" x 3.5" x 3" and 12 cupcakes)

• 225g butter (softened)
• 200g castor sugar (if you prefer to have sweeter cake, you may increase to 225g but I reduced to 180g)
• 225g self raising flour (sifted)
• 4 eggs
• 1 small orange (I used medium size naval orange)

Method:

1. Wash a whole orange, cover with water in a small pot, bring to boil and then turn fire down to simmer orange slowly for about 20-30 minutes.

2. Cut cooked orange and remove the seeds and blend it, set aside to cool.

3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

4. Add eggs, one at a time to beat till well blended

5. Add the orange pulp, mix it well

6. Fold in flour and gently mix it. As oranges and eggs vary in size, if you feel that the final batter is too soft (ie, not dropping consistency per normal butter cake), please don't hesitate to add 1 or 2 more tbsp of sifted flour to bring it to the right consistency.

7. Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 inch cake tin.

8. Baked in a preheated oven at 170C for 40-45 mins or till skewer comes out clean.

9. Let cake cool in the pan for about 5mins before turning it out on a cooling rack

Note:

1. If the cake turn brown before cook, then use aluminium foil to cover and continue with the baking

2. The orange puree MUST be room temperature when you add it to the cake mixture, so you can prepare the orange puree in advance, does not have to be necessarily just before you start baking (I did it one day in advance, I chilled the orange puree in the fridge and brought out to room temperature).

Orange and Blueberry Cake

The following recipe comes from keep learning keep smiling a wonderful food blog full of great Malaysian and World Recipes.



Ingredients:

• 250g butter
• 1C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1C spelt flour
• 1C wholemeal spelt flour
• zest of 3 oranges (medium size)
• 1/2C orange juice
• 1/2C goat milk
• 200g frozen blueberries

Method:

1. Beat butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.
2. Add the flours, zest and juice of the orange and the goat milk. Mix well. Finally stir in the frozen blueberries (taken out from the freezer just before mixing into the batter). Pour it into a shallow tin (lamington tin) and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes. 
3. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Page Oranges

Through the month of december we are picking and shipping page oranges. These little oranges known as petite oranges are a cross between a honeybell and clementine made in 1942. They have a short period of availability and make a refreshing treat with their super juicy interior and easy to peel skin.

If you live in Florida they also make a wonderful tree for your yard.

So why not order some today and enjoy this little gem of a fruit over the holidays.

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

The following wonderful treat of a cake comes from Of Muses and Meringues a fun food blog from Canada

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake


(adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• zest of two oranges
• 1 1/2 cups flour, plus one tablespoon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 6 Tablespoons buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup good semisweet chocolate chunks

For the syrup:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

For the ganache:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 6 Tablespoons heavy cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 6 cup bundt pan.  Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer for about five minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.
2. Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla.  Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour  Toss the chocolate chunks with 1 Tbsp flour and add to the batter.  Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
3. While the cake is baking, make the syrup.  In a small saucepan over medium low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves.  Remove the cake from the pan as specified at the end of the recipe, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake.  Allow it to cool completely.
4. For the ganache, melt the chocolate and cream in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.  Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Citrus Panna Cotta

The following citrus flavored panna cotta comes from the fun food blog Bunky Cooks:

Yogurt Panna Cotta with Grand Marnier

Serves One

• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from 1 envelope)
• Pinch ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1 navel orange
• 1 tablespoon orange liquor (I used Grand Marnier)
• 3/4 teaspoon mild honey, orange honey would also work really well 

1. Dishes to use: 1-cup ramekin (4 inches across and about 2 inches deep) – if you are going to unmold the dessert, like a panna cotta) or a glass dessert dish
2. Whisk together yogurt, sugar, vanilla and orange zest in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved. Put water in a very small saucepan and tilt pan so that water is on one side, then sprinkle gelatin and cardamom evenly over water. Let stand one minute to soften. Heat mixture over low heat, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved, about thirty seconds. Whisk hot gelatin into yogurt until combined well. * Do this step quickly so the gelatin does not have time to set up. Pour yogurt into ramekin or dessert glass and chill, covered, until set, about one and a half hours.
3. While yogurt mixture is chilling, cut peel and white pith away from orange with a sharp knife. Working over a small bowl, cut segments free from membranes from the orange, letting segments fall into bowl, then squeeze one tablespoon of juice from the rest of the orange and, if necessary, from membranes. (You should have about one tablespoon of orange juice.)
4. Bring orange juice, Grand Marnier and honey to a simmer in cleaned very small saucepan, stirring, then simmer until reduced to about one tablespoon, about one minute. Pour syrup over segments in the bowl, gently stirring to coat. Cool to room temperature, about ten minutes.
5. If unmolding – Run a thin knife around edge of ramekin to loosen panna cotta, then dip ramekin into a bowl of hot water thirty seconds and invert pudding onto a plate. Spoon syrup over panna cotta and arrange orange segments around sides.
6. You can also serve the panna cotta in a dessert glass and pour some of the syrup over the top and arrange several orange slices on top of the dessert.

Pumpkin and Orange Soup

The following recipe comes from Chow and Chatter. It is a colorful fall soup, featuring a rich pumpkin and citrus flavor, sure to be a hit at holiday gatherings :-)


Ingredients:

• half a roasted New Zealand winter squash or any desired pumpkin
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a chopped red onion
• 1/2 a glass of white wine
• one teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice and one tablespoon of orange zest

Method:

1. saute onion and garlic in olive oil, add the squash for 10 minutes 
2. then add the stock, wine, orange juice and zest and boil for 10 minutes 
3. then blend the soup with a hand blender 
4. serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and enjoy :-)

Orange and Nut Bread

The following first class recipe comes from The Ungourmet a wonderful Oregan based food blog:




Orange Apricot Date Nut Bread


by theUngourmet


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped apricots
• 1 cup coarsely chopped dates
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp grated orange zest
• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray oil bottom of one large loaf pan or two regular sized loaf pans. Line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine the apricots, dates, ginger, orange zest and Grand Marnier. Allow to sit for thirty minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium speed for about one minute, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the eggs, honey and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and orange juice alternately to the egg mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in the apricot date mixture and the pecans by hand.
4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan(s). Bake for 50-60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for about ten minutes and then transfer to a wire rack for cooling.
5. Note: I happened to have an oversized loaf pan that worked great for this recipe. If you have regular size loaf pans (9x5x2) you will want to use two pans.