As a child, I was not a great eater and my parents had to force me to eat. But I have always been greedy about sweets and would go hunting for cakes and biscuits.
My mother has always been an excellent cook, but she used to cook only a few desserts and was never terribly passionate about pastry. Sometimes she made this recipe for my snacks. It has only a slight hint of orange but not persistent because at the time I didn’t eat fruit.
Suddenly, in my early adolescence, she completely stopped making cakes and donuts. The excuse was that I risked gaining weight … strange because the kitchen cupboard was full of industrial snacks for my little sister’s breakfast. It was the start of me making cakes for myself!

Orange juice cake

  • Preparation time: 60 minutes
  • Ingredients for a 7 7⁄8 inch cake tin
  • Difficulty: Easy recipe

  • Ingredients
  • 250 gr or 2 cups of baking flour
  • 50 gr or 2 oz of starch
  • 250 gr or 9 oz of sugar
  • 150 gr or 5 oz of butter
  • 4 eggs
  • All the juice of a big orange
  • 1 grated orange peel
  • 1 tablespoon of baking powder
  1. Instructions
  2. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl.
  3. In another large bowl, whip up 1/2 of the sugar with the butter.
  4. In a small bowl, mix the remaining sugar with the egg yolks.
  5. Add the whipped yolks to the bowl with the mixed butter and continue stirring. Now add the orange juice and the orange peel.
  6. Insert the starch, the flour, and the baking powder all sifted.
  7. At the end, add the whipped egg whites with a spatula, stirring gently from bottom to top.
  8. Pour the mixture into a 7 7⁄8 inch buttered and floured cake tin.
  9. Cook at 350 °F for about forty minutes.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • The butter should be left at room temperature for a couple of hours prior to use.
  • The orange juice should not be cold but at room temperature.
  • Flour and yeast should always be sieved for this type of recipe.
  • The timing of baking is suggested because each oven cooks differently. It would always be advisable to do the toothpick test to see if the cake is ready. If the toothpick, inserted into the cake up to its heart, comes out wet but dry then the cake is ready.