A whole orange. Not a typo!

Oranges are plentiful, sweet and delicious at the moment. We’ve been buying them to chop up and eat at weekend sports games the girls are involved in. However, I wanted to try this easy orange cake where you literally use the whole orange. Yes, the WHOLE orange! It is best to use a thin-skinned navel orange that is around in winter and spring, as it has no seeds and very little bitter pith.

I’ve heard of this unique recipe that you literally blend everything up in a food processor. I know, it sounds completely crazy but it works! You just have to trust me.

You might think you can substitute a whole orange and use orange juice instead. I am telling you… it won’t work.

Citrus fruits have a lot of flavour and aroma in the zest which is very much needed in this recipe. While the juice and zest contain the flavour and sweetness, the pith has the bitterness which balances out the sugar. Oranges by design don’t have a lot of pith so the bitterness isn’t at all dominant or overpowering.

As mentioned earlier, choose a navel orange as they have only a thin pith and no pips. However, any orange will work. If yours contains pips, just blitz the orange and eggs in the food processor a bit longer to ensure they are well and truly pulverised. By blending the whole orange up, you get an intense orange flavour throughout the cake without an overload of sugary sweetness. Honestly, this cake is the best and received rave reviews from the family.

The key to this cake is a food processor. It will blitz up the orange into smithereens. Once you add in the flour, just pulse your food processor to quickly incorporate the flour. Don’t let your food processor run for too long otherwise the gluten will be overworked to make your cake somewhat hard and rubbery in texture. Definitely not the result you’ll be after!

Also, this easy orange cake is dairy-free. It doesn’t contain any milk, yoghurt or butter. Instead, it contains vegetable oil. A great recipe to make if you have dairy intolerances.

Lastly, add the orange icing on top. You won’t be disappointed – it adds a wonderful citrus explosion in your mouth. It isn’t too thick and I can say it’s probably one of the best icings I’ve ever made. I’m not sure if it would work on any other cake (possibly a Jaffa cake?)… but it’s perfect on this one!

Easy Orange Cake

So super easy to make. Everything goes into the food processor, including a whole orange, to blend together. Ice with orange icing for a truly delectable and flavoursome cake.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Servings 10 People

Ingredients

 

Cake

• 1 orange, whole
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 Eggs
• 2 cups self-raising flour

Orange Icing

• 1 orange, zest & juice
• 2 cups icing sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 175 Celsius with rack positioned in the middle.
• In a food processor, add the whole orange cut in half (flower stalk removed if still present), sugar, oil and eggs. Blend together until the orange is completely pulverised.
• Then add in self raising flour. Blend again until thoroughly mixed.
• Line a loaf tin with baking paper. Add the cake batter into the tin.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer shows the cake cooked right through.
• Cool completely then top with orange icing.

Orange Icing

• In a medium sized bowl, mix together the orange juice, orange zest and icing sugar. The icing is to hold onto the cake when applied. Add more icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, if the icing is too runny.

Notes

• Remove the flower stalk from the orange before adding it into the food processor. 
• This recipe can be used to make cupcakes.