Orange Semolina Cake

I can’t take any credit for this – it was a rather odd recipe I saw from the recent ‘Hairy Bikers – Mum know’s best’ series, and felt I had to give it a try.  From that perspective, it’s here more as an experiment – On the positive side, it’s really easy to make, incredibly moist and full of the most intense orange flavour and aroma.  However, the semolina gives it a coarse crumb and makes it apparently quite dry, and the whole oranges contribute a degree of bitterness.  I think this is work in progress, and can be overcome with a sticky sweet orange drizzle or icing…

Makes 10 reasonable sized slices

Ingredients

• 2 Oranges (unwaxed, or very well washed)
• 115g Vegetable Fat
• 115g Golden Granulated Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 175g Semolina

Method

• Dice the whole oranges, skin and all, and remove any pips
• Blitz the oranges to a puree in a food processor
• In a bowl, cream together the sugar and fat until smooth, then add in the eggs and beat well
• Stir through the semolina and baking powder and carefully fold in the orange pulp – make sure it’s well mixed, as the batter is quite stiff
• Line a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin with greaseproof paper
• Pour the batter into the tin and bake in a preheated oven ant 170oC Fan
• After 10 minutes, turn the temperature down to 160oC and bake for a further 30-40 minutes until golden brown on the top, and cooked through
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before removing – it will start to shrink away from the sides
• [at this point, I’d consider doing something creating on the top to add another degree of sticky-sweetness… entirely optional & not part of the original recipe, ideas welcomed!]
• Turn out and remove the paper.  Cut & serve!  Store in an airtight tin – very moist from the fruit, it will keep for up to 5 days (apparently)

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