It’s the season for so many sweets! This time of year, especially, I crave all kinds of store-bought and homemade treats, whether candy, cookies or pastries. In between nibbling on Tony’s Chocolonely bars and European biscuits, I (naturally) baked a Sicilian whole orange cake on a whim.
The inspiration? A recent shipment from Frui, featuring organic navel oranges, among other things. (If you live in California, use code ALISON20 to get 20% off your first Frui order!) While I generally prefer pie over cake, I gobbled it up.
Sicilian whole orange cake is light, tender and citrus forward – not to mention stunning. If you want to bring a little brightness to your holiday fêtes, bake one or two … or three! Who’s counting?
Recipe adapted from Little Spice Jar.
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 2 oranges, sliced into ¼"-thick wheels
- 2 oranges
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 tablespoons whole-milk plain yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a medium sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Add the orange wheels and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Spray a 9" springform pan with baking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Arrange the candied oranges in the prepared pan, overlapping them slightly; reserve the cooking liquid.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Finely grate zest from oranges and set aside.
- Remove pith from and supreme the oranges. Then transfer to a food processor and pulse a few times to break up the orange segments. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg, stirring with a whisk.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the sugar and eggs at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly add the olive oil and continue to beat for another minute.
- With the mixer on low speed, add flour mixture and yogurt alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add the vanilla extract and prepared orange zest and ¾ cup puréed oranges and beat until combined.
- Pour the batter over the candied oranges in the pan and smooth evenly with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for 30 minutes and then remove ring. Place a platter on top of the cake and quickly and carefully invert. Remove parchment paper and brush top with reserved cooking liquid.
