Sunshine on a Plate

‘Sunshine on a Plate’ should be the perfect title for this lovely orange chiffon cake.  It reminds me of the great California oranges, that hung over our backyard. We use to pick them and sit and eat them. I love the white inside flesh, which I found that this is where flavanones come from.

The recipe itself is called, ‘Heavenly Orange Chiffon Cake’ from the magazine Quick and Simple.

This is a great light cake and taste ooooh so good!

I have found out by using powdered egg whites in some of the wedding cakes, that I have made it gives the cake a lighter spring to it. Since this recipe calls for 5 egg yolks and 7-8 egg whites, I just used the powdered egg whites for the two extra that it calls for in the recipe, so that I wouldn’t waste extra egg yolks.

Also I didn’t use this icing recipe, I used the one that follows the main recipe, and we think it tastes better, not as sweet.

 

Heavenly Orange Chiffon Cake

 

Cake

2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour (do not pack)

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

5 large egg yolks

Juice of 2 medium oranges, plus water to make ¾ cup

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (from 7 or 8 large eggs)

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ cup sugar

 

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons orange juice

 

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil, egg yolks, juice, zest and vanilla. Stir together with a wooden spoon until smooth.

3. Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until foamy. Add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until very stiff peaks form.

4. Pour the batter gradually over whipped egg whites, gently folding with a rubber scraper until just blended. Do not stir. Immediately pour the mixture into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.

5. Bake 65-70 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan over the neck of a bottle and let it sit for at least 1 hour, or until cool. Use a small knife to loosen cake from sides of pan; remove cake to platter.

6. Meanwhile, make icing; In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice until smooth. Add more juice if needed for the consistency you want. Drizzle glaze over cake.

Serves 16.

 

Orange Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon grated orange peel

2-4 tablespoons orange juice

Melt butter in small saucepan. Blend in powdered sugar, and orange peel. Stir in juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until glaze is of proper consistency.

Glazes a 10” tube pan cake.

 

*Note to self: Future son-n-law, doesn’t care for the sweetness of cakes, but had 2 pieces of this one!!!!!