This very special Orange Blossom cake, from the wonderful Palestine On A Plate cookery book, is ‘filled with exotic aromas and a wonderful crumbly texture, yet quick and certainly not fussy’. It is made with whole oranges and fragranced with orange blossom water, which is popular in the Middle East (and luckily available in supermarkets in the UK). It also contains olive oil, which is lovingly revered in Palestine.
The subtle flavour of the cake is complemented by the sweet syrup, which you pour all over the cake after pricking it, so it soaks up the aroma and moistness. The whole thing is unique and delicious and comes highly recommended! Allow about 40 minutes to prepare the cake, an hours baking, then another ten minutes to add the syrup.
Thank you to Xeinab for buying me the Palestine On A Plate cookbook. It is full of more recipes that I cannot wait to try, particularly the falafels, stuffed vegetables, sweet potato kubbeh, sesame breakfast bread and orange blossom rice pudding. For more information about the lovely Xeinab, her family and their life in food check out my article on page 14 of the local newspaper: http://walthamforestecho.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Echo-24.pdf. It will definitely make you hungry!
Orange Blossom Cake (serves 10)
For the cake
2 large oranges (or 5 seedless mandarins if you prefer)
150g caster sugar
180ml olive oil
1 tsp orange blossom water
5 eggs
320g fine semolina
4 tsp baking powder
Optional – edible dried rose buds to finish (I couldnt find any!)
For the syrup
150g caster sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp orange blossom water
180ml water
Wash the oranges, place them in a saucepan of boiling water and let them simmer for around 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6 and line either a large loaf tin or around 23cm (9 inch) cake tin with baking paper.
Drain the oranges, leave them to cool then blitz them in a food processor/blender. Add the sugar, olive oil, 1 tsp orange blossom water and eggs. Blitz until smooth. Add the semolina and baking powder and mix with a spoon until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter in to the prepared tin and bake for 45-60 mins, or until a knife inserted in comes out clean. Leave to cool.
While the cake is cooking make the syrup. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat and simmer for around 5 minutes. Set aside.
Carefully remove the cake from the tin by lifting it up by the baking paper. Prick the surface of the cake all over with a skewer or something similar, then carefully spoon the syrup all over the top so it can run down in to the holes (and probably over the sides a little!) Stud with the edible rose buds, if you have them. The cake will keep for 2 days in a container.
katielovescooking 