Day 118: Orange and almond cake

Tonight was a big night in our house because Dear Son is starting playschool tomorrow. Being such a big event, my parents, sisters and brother-in-law all called round with cards and presents to wish him well. The poor wee pet did nothing but chat all day about going to playschool that he must have exhausted himself because, by 7:20pm, he was flat out sleeping on the sofa so there were a few disappointed visitors this evening as he was long sleeping by the time they arrived. Thankfully, Dear Sister No.1 has gotten out of her habit of wakening him when he’s sleeping which is what she used to do when he was a baby just so that she could entertain him. I swear, when Dear Son was a baby, Dear Sister would call round and could be there for 2 hours and not a chirp out of him and as soon as she’d go home, he would open one eye and peak out at me – looking round – I’m guessing to see was the coast clear. There are ‘Stalker moms’ but she has been the ultimate ‘Stalker aunty’ since the day and hour Dear Son was born and he is absolutely crazy about her which is the way it’s supposed to be. Having a boy in the family is such a novelty for all the family considering we all grew up in a house of girls. Either way, she spoils him rotten and he knows it. Just look at the beautiful card she made him which, by the way, she is brilliant at and in case you’re ever wanting a fabulous personalised card for a loved one, check out her website on www.clairescreations.ie – they really are beautiful cards and I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister. She also posts nationwide.

So, on with tonight’s recipe and I decided to make Orange and almond cake for our mini-celebration. To begin, I whisked up softened diced butter until it was light and fluffy. I then added in caster sugar, the zest of one lemon and the zest of two oranges before whisking in five eggs one at a time. Lastly, I stirred in ground almonds before tipping the mixture into a spring form cake tin which I had lined with parchment paper and buttered the sides of it. The cake cooked for an hour and then I let it sit in the tin for about 15 minutes before attempting to slide it onto a plate. While the cake was cooking, I made the orange syrup which was very straightforward. All I had to do was juice one lemon and two oranges into a saucepan, add caster sugar and boil for 10 minutes. When I was juicing the citrus fruits, I ended up with quite a bit of pulp so I strained it through a sieve before adding it back into the saucepan. The recipe said that once the cake was cooled to poke about 15 holes in it using a skewer and then pour the orange syrup in. Unfortunately, by the time I went to pour the syrup onto the cake, it was rock solid at the bottom of the jug and I didn’t have the inclination to attempt to re-heat it in order to soften it so I abandoned the syrup and served up the cake as it was.

The verdict…

Dear Husband loved this recipe which is no surprise considering it was a cake – 9 marks out of 10. The cake also went down well with Dear Sisters and Dear Brother-in-law. I didn’t ask them for marks out of ten because I thought they’d automatically give me 10 out of 10 – they’re very good sisters! Nonetheless, the feedback was very good as they said it was a beautifully moist cake and loved it which is good considering that Dear Sister No.2 is the cooking and baking expert so if it got her approval then it must’ve been good. I really enjoyed it too and I think it’s worth about 8.5 marks if I am being really particular about it. I supposed that considering it didn’t have flour in it, it probably deserves 9 marks from me.

Overall, the cake was really simple to make. The only thing that got me was the syrup. Obviously, when I make it next time, I will leave making the syrup until the cake is actually cooling but I’ll definitely make it again. To be honest, I think the cake was moist enough as it was so maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I messed up the syrup. A bit unusual for me to be baking midweek but, still, I was very glad I made this recipe this evening and so was Dear Husband…and Dear Sisters…and Dear Brother-in-law…and whoever you make this recipe for will be very glad you made it too! Just a pity that my wee playschool-goer missed out on it...