Citrus Love

While mandarin oranges were still in season, I’d hoped to find the perfect recipe to utilize the cute little fruits. I love colorful mandarins because here where I live, they’re the only citrus fruit with a genuine pretty orange-colored peel. Zesting the yellow-green sour oranges or lemons just isn’t as visually appealing as picking up a nice pile of vibrant happy orange zest, not to mention the fact that mandarins have nearly no pith, meaning that if the skins break while you’re zesting, you can literally mince the peel and use it in the recipe; speaking from experience here.

Jill Dupliex’s “Amazing Orange” Cake is just that. I baked the original gargantuan-sized recipe, which made me a 10-cup bundt, 8″ round cake, and a pair of 1-cup ramekins single servings. I wasn’t upset with the volume, in fact, I was quite smitten, since this cake is really, really tasty. I took the whopper of a bundt cake to a gathering, and it was devoured. One friend staked her spot at the buffet right next to the cake and as we chatted on about her upcoming nuptuals, she picked at it until it was nothing but crumbs. 

I loved the simplicity of this recipe. The only difficult thing about it is keeping your fork away until it’s cooled. Scrumptious. 

Amazing Orange Cake 
Adapted from Jill Dupleix; Serves 15-20
*Jill says that this cake recipe may be halved and baked in a 22cm pan for 45-50 min.