ORANGES

Fresh Oranges

Orange is the best of citruses,  the plant is suitable for home gardens, it can grow in a yard, or in pots.  We love oranges, as they are excellent for juices and the rind is useful for cakes and also for candy making.

Right now oranges are at their best, the colour is deep orange, the skin shreds beautifully and keeps it's colour well in syrup.  I purchased some the other day,  and enjoy eating them as fresh fruit, an orange a day for breakfast. I am trying to make the use of the skins, and I have been saving them for my future cooking.

Eat and enjoy the flesh/meat or get the juice out of oranges.  Preserve the skins/peels and use the zest for cooking.  Nothing is wasted.

Preserving orange peel and sliced oranges in syrup.

cooking the orange skins in syrup

Soak the skin of oranges in water overnight, rinse in the morning.  Repeat the process for a few days or a week.  The idea is to get rid of the bitter taste from the pith.

Gather the skin, roll and thread them with cooking string, knot it in the end to secure.  Boil the oranges until they are soft, about twenty-five minutes.  Continue cooking in syrup over low heat for another ten minutes.

The syrup: two cups sugar and 1 cup water and some lemon juice.  Put the tender cooked orange skin/peel with the syrup and continue cooking over low heat.  Place in a clean storage jar.  It keeps for a long time in the pantry, but once it is opened, keep refrigerated.

Preserved orange skin or orange peel in syrup is convenient to have, also shredded orange rind in sugar syrup is good to have too.

Shredded orange peels.
Peel the skin carefully, to make sure it does not have to much pith, shred finely.  You can do ten oranges to make it worthwhile.  This is what I do, every time I have an orange, I peel the skin
and shred it and refrigerate to save, until I have enough amount to work with.

To make the preserved shredded orange peels in syrup is natural, boil them for twenty minutes or until tender.  Drain properly.  Boil a cup of water and a cup of white sugar, and some lemon juice to make the syrup.  When the syrup is ready, put in the tender cooked shredded skins and keep on cooking over low heat for ten minutes.
Pour into a storage jar, keep at a dry place in the pantry.

Oranges to dress cakes.
Slice orange thinly, one orange is sliced to seven.
Boil the sliced oranges until tender about twenty-five minutes.  Drain and pat them dry.

Put them back on the cooking pot, add a cup of sugar and a cup of water, keep on cooking for another twelve minutes or more.

Rich and glossy orange colour are excellent for topping any cakes.

Orange Cake

Family favourite cake, it's so moist, quick to bake and very economical.  There are times that you are asked to bring a plate for supper or luncheon, if you decided to take a long a sweet, this cake is the answer.  Prepare the day before and keep in an airtight container before you dress it.

There are a lot of recipes of orange cakes from flourless cake to the orange cake with syrup.  I am sharing my very own orange cake with whole fresh orange without the pith.

Recipe:

Susy Orange Cake

Ingredients

325 g self-rising flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of raw sugar

Skin a whole orange, and chop

Fresh orange peels of an orange

2 eggs

½ cup oil and 3 tablespoons margarine

½ cup milk

Method

Butter, and line a tin with baking paper

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (a fan-forced)

Using Food Processor

Place the orange, peels, oil/margarine, egg and raw sugar in the processor, process all until smooth.

Add in the flour and milk, process – mixing together quickly to make a smooth batter.  (The cake batter should be thick, not runny.)

Place in the prepared lined baking tin, and bake in the preheated oven at 175 degrees C for 25 minutes until cooked.

Keep in the tin for 10 minutes, take out and place it to a more cooling baking tray.  When is cool dress the cake with orange icing or dust it with icing sugar. 

To serve

Serve with coffee or tea.  I love the cake simply dust with icing sugar.

Baking and Dressing the Cake

The cake mixture in a lined tin is ready to bake.

The cake is dressed in melted white chocolate.

Beautiful orange cake (centre) and mini sweets to be taken out for supper to share with friends.  

A plater of sweet cakes

Spring is here now, you may be going out to visit family and friends, bake the orange cake to share.  Enjoy the recipe and happy baking.

You could bake the cake for 'Father's day this weekend.  Have fun!

Until Next Post

Susy