Wednesday 4 January 2012

Iced Orange Loaf

This wouldn't be my choice of my loaf, but then again I had no choice in what I wanted to make... All of this is my mum's fault. But mum, if you're reading this, I still love you.

Ingredients
2 large unwaxed oranges
1 unwaxed lemon
100ml cold walker
175g golden caster sugar
175g unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for greasing)
175g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
100g icing sugar

Method
1. Peel the oranges with a potato peeler and cut each strip into long, thin shreds. Finely grate the zest of the lemon and set aside. 

2. Cut the oranges and lemon in half and squeeze out the juice. Reserve 4 teaspoonfuls and put the rest in a small saucepan with the orange shreds. Add the water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until well softened.

3. Stir 50g of the caster sugar into the pan and boil for another 4 minutes until the liquid is syrupy, stirring occasionally. Lightly drain and reserve a third of the orange shreds. Then pour the orange syrup and remaining shreds into a large bowl and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and butter the inside of the tin well.

5. Put the remaining caster sugar, butter, flour, baking powder, eggs and lemon zest in a food processor and blend until just combined, thick and smooth. Transfer to the large bowl and gently golf in the orange syrup, including the orange shreds.

6. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until well risen and pale golden brown. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until cool.

7. To make the icing, blend the reserved 4 teaspoons of citrus juice with the icing sugar until smooth. Drizzle the icing over and leave to set for 10 minutes. Scatter the reserved orange shreds on top of the icing.

Did it all go to plan? No. 
I didn't really have my brain switched on, so I didn't leave the syrup to cool. Meaning that when I folded it into the mixture, the egg started to cook. Complete disaster.



Ok, while I've got you all here, do you mind checking out my friend's YouTube channel? She's really good at singing, the ukulele AND the guitar (and don't even get me started on her mum's baking. One word: HEAVEN)



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