Citrus Butter Cake

This cake is a sweet celebration of all citrus in season and a celebration of things starting to return to normal, whatever that is now.  Beautiful orange navels, juicy limes, and tangy lemons found their way into my shopping basket, and the cake I needed to make just had to be a citrus one. With a teaspoon of my homemade lemon curd on the plate and a slice of candied orange, it was such a treat. Mr. HRK called it a citrus fest. A wonderfully fragrant and delicious cake to make, I recommend this one my friends. However, it is so delicious that it could stand alone without the icing, with just a dusting of icing sugar perhaps, and some yoghurt, creme fraiche or cream and a slice of orange.

I made this for our first Mahjong ladies reunion when restrictions were lifted slightly last week. Five people from different houses are now allowed to visit. Hands were washed, sanitiser used, our brains  kicked back into gear, although there's a lot of luck involved with mahjong as well😔,  and it was lovely to catch up again and enjoy a few games of mahjong and have some laughs. It made me realise how much I had missed the company.

Ingredients:
250 gram butter, softened, chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cup (330 g) caster sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup (225g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1/2 cup (125ml) orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice

Candied Citrus Slices
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) water
1 (240g)medium orange, thinly sliced
1 (75g) medium lime, thinly sliced

Glace icing
2 cups (320g) soft icing sugar
1/4 cup boiling water

Let's Cook:
Preheat the oven to 160 deg. C (140 deg. Fan Forced). Grease a deep 22cm round cake pan, line the base and sides with baking paper.

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, orange and lemon rind and sugar with an electric mixer  in a large bowl until light and fluffy. I used my Kitchen Aid. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions. Fold in the sifted flours and juices in two batches. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.



Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes. Check it after an hour.

Stand the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.



Candied Citrus Slices



Meanwhile to make the candied citrus slices, combine the sugar and the water in a large frying pan. Stir over a low heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Add the orange and lime slices and bring to the boil.



Reduce the heat to very low, simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, turning slices occasionally. Remove from the heat, and cool the slices on a wire rack.



Glace icing

Sift icing sugar into a bowl with boiling water, stir until smooth. You might need to add more sifted icing sugar or water until you get the required consistency.

Drizzle cake with glace icing.

Add the candied citrus slices to the top of the cake just before serving.


This cake recipe is taken from an Australian Women's Weekly online recipe that I found. Where would we be without the Australian Women's Weekly which is published monthly now, I buy it every month and always find lots of interesting stories. This is a magazine that has survived despite difficult times, with the staff changing the way they do things and a lot of them working from home. That is a free promotion from me by the way.
Warm wishes everyone and I hope you all have a lovely weekend. It's cold and wet here today, so it's chicken and vegetable soup bubbling on the stove for us. How about you?

Thanks for dropping by,

Pauline