Orange Olive Oil Cake

I made this over the weekend.  Needed to test out our new ovens.  Conclusion…they need to be recalibrated.  I knew it was going to be the case but the only way to know is to bake something.

The cake took forever and we had to get somewhere so I just cranked up the heat.  Not the right answer but at this point the only answer.  I need to make it again when my oven works properly.

2 oranges
2⅓ cups sugar
Unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
2½ cups flour, plus more for pan
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Use a 10 inch cake pan.  Butter and line the bottom with parchment.  This recipe is from Saveur

Slice the ends of the two oranges off.  Then cut them into quarters.

In a 4 quart pot boiled 6 cups of water.  When the water is boiling add the orange pieces.  Let the water boil again.  Drain.  Do this two more times.

Now put in 4 cups of water, the orange pieces and 1 cup of sugar and set over a medium high heat.  Stir on occasion.  It takes about 30 minutes for the oranges to get soft enough that you can push a fork tine through the orange rind.  Then let it cool.

Put the flour, baking soda and baking powder into a bowl.  I mixed it with a whisk to incorporate.

In a food process, add the oranges and pulse about 12/14 times until the mixture is chunky.  Add everything else (including the rest of the sugar) except the olive oil.  Mix for about 2 minutes or until totally incorporated.  Then add in the olive oil and mix again.

Pour this into the cake pan and bake for about 40/45 minutes.

When it is cool, I made a simple sugar because I did not have any confectioners sugar on hand.  I poured that over the top and then used sea salt over the top.

For a cake that went through a variety of heat issues…it was pretty tasty.