Orange Olive Oil Cake
I was curious about the Italian cake and had been searching for a recipe since then. One of my magazines in the bookcase, issue #129 of SAVEUR had a lovely picture and recipe of Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake from Sicily. Dense, moist and full or orange flavors sounded close to what J's relatives described.
Since the original recipe made 10 inch round cake for 10-12 people, which would be too much for two of us, I adjusted amount of ingredients to fit into a modest 8 inch round. Organic Valentia oranges were my pick for this special cake. I reduced sugar as usual, and used cake flour - probably that was why the texture was sort of "cakey" not so dense, which we didn't mind. Brushing fresh orange juice syrup over the cake after baking helped the cake keep moist. I secretly mixed 1 tbs of Grand Marnier into the syrup.
The slice of cake showed off its beautiful sunny orange color. I topped with soft whipped heavy cream - I am a big fan of whipped heavy cream on cakes in many cases, but like J did, having the cake straight was delightful.
Some cake tastes better the next day than the day it was baked because the cake becomes mellow and velvety. This was one of them. The taste was definitely orangy. It should be because I used one and a half candied oranges and fresh juice from half an orange!
