Orange Cake a la Dorie Greenspan

Orange Cake - made March 10, 2012, recipe adapted from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan (book #200)

(The 200-book mark - woo hoo!  The end is in sight.  I keep saying that but it's really true.  Maybe less than a dozen more cookbooks to go???)

My mom liked the Orange Bundt Cake I made a couple of weeks ago from the Susan G. Purdy recipe and wanted me to make it again.  But I have a hard time making the same recipe twice when I wanted to try other new recipes so I pseudo-compromised and went with this recipe from another Dorie Greenspan book.  This one came out more like a pound cake and she pronounced it "not as fluffy" as the one she liked.  Sigh.  So I may have to make her the other one again after all.  But this was still a good cake if you're looking for an orange pound cake for upcoming springtime picnics.

2 ¼ cups (250 grams) cake flour, sifted

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups sugar

Grated zest from 2 oranges

5 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup heavy cream (or use 2/3 cup crème fraiche and omit sour cream & heavy cream)

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)

7 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1.     Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350⁰F. Butter and flour a Bundt pan.

2.     Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

3.     Toss the sugar and orange zest together in a large bowl and rub together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, beating until the mixture is pale and foamy, then whisk in the sour cream, heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Gently stir in the flour mixture by hand with a large spatula.  Fold in the cooled, melted butter until batter is smooth.

4.     Immediately spoon the batter into the pan and place in preheated oven.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a crumb or two (but not moist batter or clumps of crumbs).  Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in the pan.  Then invert onto a plate and let cool completely.

5.     Glaze with 1 cup powdered sugar, orange zest from 1 orange and enough orange juice to make a spreadable consistency.