It's from my mother's old McCall's cookbook from the 1970's. I've been making this recipe on and off since about 1990. I used to make my own version of strawberry shortcake with it. I would take my fresh orange sponge cake and make whipped cream ( heavy cream, vanilla extract and confectioners sugar) and add fresh strawberries that I had sprinkled with some sugar and lemon juice to bring out the juices. The cake then a big dollop of whipped cream and a nice helping of the strawberries and strawberry juices on top- yum 😋
by Anonymous | reply 40 | October 31, 2024 7:16 AM |
I love orange flavor in pastry. It's generally the most overlooked fruit flavor.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | October 30, 2024 4:05 AM |
look who is back.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | October 30, 2024 4:05 AM |
It's been many a year since I've had sponge cake. Orange sounds dreamy.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | October 30, 2024 4:09 AM |
Where's the McCunting recipe OP
by Anonymous | reply 4 | October 30, 2024 4:21 AM |
I don’t get Greg vibes from OP.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | October 30, 2024 4:42 AM |
At Christmas my mother used to make Orange Blossoms, very small muffins soaked with an orange/brown sugar syrup. My mother would make them and then store in a big tin. The longer they sat the better they were. I think she used a lot of orange liqueur in the syrup.
Apparently the recipe is from Helen Corbitt, who ran The Zodiac Room in the Dallas Neiman Marcus. She was a proto-Julia Child and invented poppyseed dressing, flowerpot cake, Texas caviar, and many other well-known dishes which were the first flush of modern food in most southern homes.
Helen was a real character and would be a good candidate for DL fav status. One time she supposedly got so mad at her staff she fired them en masse and sent them home immediately. Just as they all walked out, she remembered she had a restaurant full of people expecting food so she called security and had them block the doors and make the staff return to their work.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | October 30, 2024 5:06 AM |
Thanks R6!!!
by Anonymous | reply 7 | October 30, 2024 5:37 AM |
R6- That sounds like a Martha Stewart type of thing to do.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 30, 2024 6:03 AM |
R8, it does but at least Helen was honest about it. She had a sign in the kitchen which read:
[quote] “This is the kitchen of Helen Corbitt. I am the Boss! If you don’t believe it . . . Start Something!”
You couldn’t be any clearer than that! I suspect she might have been a lesbian. She never married.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | October 30, 2024 6:08 AM |
Would love to see a pic of the cake-sounds great.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | October 30, 2024 7:14 AM |
I made an orange butter to go with dinner rolls (Thanksgiving). I mixed a very fine zest of the orange peel (using that part of the grater that looks like it's been ice-picked to death). Then, mix some sugar into the butter.
I had it at a restaurant and liked it, so I recreated it.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | October 30, 2024 7:15 AM |
R10- This one I made in early September. I took a photo of the Sponge cake last night but it came out blurry.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | October 30, 2024 2:50 PM |
Orange juice is too diluted to add much flavor without using huge quantities. Orange ZEST works much better for adding orange flavor.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | October 30, 2024 3:07 PM |
Looks so good. Any ‘’sweet’’ diversion from the political drama is welcome.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | October 30, 2024 3:11 PM |
R13- This recipe calls for one tablespoon of orange zest- which I put in along with the fresh squeezed orange juice.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | October 30, 2024 3:14 PM |
A secret I learned from an old cook was that you can really amp up the orange flavor you get from your orange zest in sweet recipes by mixing the sugar from the recipe and the zest and whir them up in the food processor or the mixing bowl before you cream the butter and the sugar together. It gets the orange oil out of the zest and attached to the sugar and it permeates the cake better.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | October 30, 2024 3:58 PM |
R16- I might try that next time but this cake does not have any butter in it.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | October 30, 2024 5:27 PM |
I’m sorry, I was confused. Where I’m from they call them Angel’s Food cakes and I always think of sponge as that dryer European type.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | October 30, 2024 7:57 PM |
I like the Sicilian orange cake with an entire orange, rind and all, ground up in it.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | October 30, 2024 8:48 PM |
Orange juice is the secret ingredient in orange cake? You don’t say?
by Anonymous | reply 20 | October 30, 2024 10:19 PM |
R20- It's not the fact that it's orange juice . The secret that makes it so good is the fact that it's FRESH squeezed orange juice.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | October 30, 2024 10:23 PM |
Ugh, this shit again.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | October 30, 2024 10:36 PM |
[quote] The secret that makes it so good is the fact that it's FRESH squeezed orange juice.
Ina Garten is now posting on DL.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | October 30, 2024 11:34 PM |
Make sure you use good, quality butter and organic oranges and buttermilk!
by Anonymous | reply 24 | October 30, 2024 11:44 PM |
Gerg
by Anonymous | reply 25 | October 30, 2024 11:47 PM |
And Le Creuset cookware, whenever possible!!!
by Anonymous | reply 26 | October 30, 2024 11:51 PM |
Excuse me-Sicilian use the entire orange? How is this a thing?
by Anonymous | reply 27 | October 30, 2024 11:57 PM |
R27, the whole orange cake has been known by some for awhile. I think Marcella Hazan is the way it got to mainstream America.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | October 31, 2024 12:01 AM |
I think that entire orange cake tastes good in spite of, not because of, all that pith and membrane. I bet it's even better without all that pith and membrane.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | October 31, 2024 12:02 AM |
Where's the fucking recipe??
by Anonymous | reply 31 | October 31, 2024 12:51 AM |
The secret is always freshly squeezed ingredients!
by Anonymous | reply 32 | October 31, 2024 12:54 AM |
R30- As opposed to using 6 tablespoons of the Tropicana orange juice from the half gallon carton.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | October 31, 2024 1:55 AM |
Use Tang in a pinch.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | October 31, 2024 3:48 AM |
I highly suggest you moisten it with an orange zest infused simple syrup. While the cake is still warm, apply it with a silicone brush and finally, shove it up your ass.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | October 31, 2024 5:36 AM |
Remember hot syrup cold cake or cold syrup hot cake… and hot ass, always.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | October 31, 2024 5:39 AM |
This is a great recipe! I had an aunt from Sicily & when she'd visit us, or we'd visit her, this was always made every other morning to have with morning coffee. She'd get up at 6 am & start baking. (this is essentially the same recipe) A bygone practice & woman I truly miss. Cin Cin Aunty Anna Banana!!!!
by Anonymous | reply 38 | October 31, 2024 6:56 AM |
Italians LOVE icing sugar. They put it on everything.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | October 31, 2024 7:00 AM |
I need a ciggy after OP's vivid and coquettish description of her cakes. Brava!
by Anonymous | reply 40 | October 31, 2024 7:16 AM |