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Orange Flower Water Cake

From The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider. Copyright 2007 by Sally Schneider.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Yield: Serves 8

Use this Orange Flower Cake as a blueprint for other citrus cakes. Serve it plain, with a dusting if confectioners sugar, or poke the top with holes and saturate it with a tart glaze as follows.

Categories:
  • Cake
  • Dessert
  • Mother's Day
  • Vegetarian
Print
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour, plus some for flouring the pan
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
  • 1 cup packed light brown or granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon orange flower water or vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • Butter for greasing the pan


  • confectioners sugar for dusting
Citrus Glaze
  • Scant 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
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Instructions
  • 1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  • 2. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.
  • 3. Sift together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 3/8 teaspoon salt. Beat 2 large eggs with 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest and 1 cup packed light brown or granulated sugar until light and frothy.
  • 4. Whisk in the flour mixture until almost incorporated, then whisk in 1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon orange flower water or vanilla extract and 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted.
  • 5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
  • 6. Cool the cake on a rack 5 minutes, then invert to cool completely. Transfer to a platter and sift confectioners sugar over the top.
  • Or, to glaze and soak the cake, cool the cake in the pan 5 minutes while you make the citrus glaze.
Citrus Glaze:
  • 1. Combine a scant 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar in a saucepan.
  • 2. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack; with a toothpick, poke holes into the top of the cake.
  • 3. Spoon the glaze over the cake, letting it soak in before adding more.
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About The Show

Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Host

In 1994, acclaimed food writer and cooking teacher Lynne Rossetto Kasper was receiving accolades for her debut book, The Splendid Table, which at that time was the only book to have won both the James Beard and Julia Child Cookbook of the Year awards. Among the many people enchanted by the book was producer and foodie Sally Swift, who thought the time could be right for a radio program on food.

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