Orange and Walnut Cake

I have been obsessed with The Great British Bake Off and have been binge watching all the seasons on Netflix.  I admire those bakers, how they weigh everything and make their own jam for their cakes, and all the different meringues...  I think it's way more involved than American baking. 

I recently found these cute little cookbooks on the internet and bought them, mostly for the illustrations!

I found many recipes I do want to try, and one of them was this cake. I like simple, rustic cakes and this sounded so good. But I had to buy a kitchen scale! It was a little nerve-wracking baking this way, but I did it and the cake turned out great! 

I did convert it to American measurements if you'd like to make it and don't have a scale. But if you go buy a scale, it's pretty fun and it opens up a whole world of baking the British way!

Ingredients:

6 oz unsalted butter (1-1/2 sticks) softened

Grated rind of one orange

6 oz caster sugar (super fine) (3/4 cup)

2 eggs, separated

10 oz flour (2-1/4 cup)

1 tsp baking powder

2 oz orange marmalade (1/4 cup)

3 oz chopped walnuts (3/4 cup)

6 TB orange juice and water, mixed

WATER ICING 

• Made with sifted icing sugar (confectioners or powdered sugar) and sufficient water and strained orange juice to give a good coating consistency. 
• Walnut halves to decorate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour (or use baking spray) a round 8 inch cake tin and line the base with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter, orange rind and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolks.  Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the butter mixture. (It will be crumbly and dry.) Add the marmalade, chopped walnuts and the water/orange juice and combine lightly. 

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks, then fold into the mixture. Batter will be thick!

Spread the batter in the tin.  The recipe says bake for 1 hour but mine was done in 45 minutes! Be sure to just check it with your finger tip. If it browns too quickly, cover with foil. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. Ice and decorate with the walnut halves.

Happy Baking!