Orange Juice Cake with Honey-Orange Glaze

Orange Juice Cake with Honey-Orange Glaze - made October 12, 2021 from Averie Cooks

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 teaspoons orange extract or vanilla extract

Glaze

1/4 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 to 3 teaspoons orange zest or to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the orange zest.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, sour cream, orange juice, oil and orange extract until combined. Add mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon or spatula until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 27-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Poke holes generously in top of cake. Let cool while you make the glaze.
5. In a medium-size, microwave-safe bowl, combine orange juice, honey and butter. Heat for 1 minute or until butter has melted. Add confectioners' sugar and whisk until smooth. Pour over cooling cake. Sprinkle with orange zest.

This is a basic, straightforward orange cake. I wasn't paying attention to the bag of oranges I bought and ended up with "pink navel" oranges. Unfortunately, they weren't that juicy and even more unfortunately, they didn't taste that orangey.

I relied on using the zest (which was at least orange) for most of the orange flavor as I didn't feel I got it from the juice. So I'm a little tepid about this cake, likely more because of the oranges I used rather than anything to do with the recipe itself since Averie Cooks typically has great recipes.

I posted the honey-orange glaze as written on her site but I only made a simply orange glaze with orange juice, powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract. Since the oranges weren't very orange-tasting, I didn't want to jeopardize the orange flavor even further by adding honey. 

Flavor aside, this cake did deliver on a cakey texture, which I liked. Next time I'll have to try these with regular oranges.