Recipes Lost and Found

In this digital age, our generation reveals itself when we still collect newspaper clippings and file them in a folder. I have such a folder sitting on my kitchen bookshelf, filled with recipes in greying newsprint, having caught my interest at one point, waiting to be tested, but mostly ignored in favor of brighter food magazines and cookbooks.

These days we scan through information at warped speed, getting to the point in nanoseconds with a series of rapid clicks. I found this recipe the old fashioned way, leafing through the pages of my folder, straightening the folded edges, reading each clipping to find my culinary inspiration for the day.

I thought I would challenge my aversion to baking once more, and this recipe from The Straits Times October 2007 issue looked simple enough. It involves boiling and pureeing oranges and does not use any butter, but a lot of eggs and two kinds of flour. This zesty cake is as yellow as the afternoon sun! Serve with a bowl of cream cheese frosting on the side.

Orange Cake

3 fresh oranges, medium sized

230g granulated sugar

6 eggs

140g cake flour

100g ground almond flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

Boil the washed oranges in a pot of water for about 20 minutes. Drain and cool. When cooled, slice oranges into quarters, remove seeds, and puree in a blender, unpeeled.

Beat the eggs, adding the sugar a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl, add the almond flour and fold gently. Mix in the orange puree and fold until blended.

Lightly grease a cake tin and pour in the batter. You may need 2 tins depending on its size. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, testing for doneness by inserting a skewer. If batter clings to the skewer, bake for a little longer and continue testing until the skewer comes out clean.

Dust top with icing sugar, or serve with your favorite frosting.