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Orange Cake, Ancona-Style
![Orange Cake, Ancona-Style](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/11/10/magazine/10eat5/10eat5-articleLarge-v3.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus flour for dusting the pan
- 3eggs
- Grated peel of 3 oranges
- 4tablespoons (½ stick) butter, softened to room temperature, plus butter for greasing the pan
- 1cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2tablespoons ouzo liqueur
- 1tablespoon whole milk
- 2½teaspoons baking powder
- 2cups freshly squeezed orange juice, with 3 tablespoons sugar dissolved in it.
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350.
- Step 2
Put the flour, eggs, orange peel, 4 tablespoons softened butter, sugar and ouzo in a food processor, and run until all the ingredients are evenly amalgamated.
- Step 3
Add the milk and baking powder, and process again to incorporate into the mixture.
- Step 4
Thickly smear a tube pan with butter, and dust with flour. Put the cake mixture in the pan (it won’t fill it up all the way), and place the pan in the preheated oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top of the cake becomes a rich gold color.
- Step 5
When the cake is done, place the bottom of the pan over a tumbler or tall mug, using pot holders, and push down to raise the loose bottom. Take the tube with the cake out of the hoop, work the cake loose from the bottom with a knife and lift it away from the tube. Place it on a plate with a slightly raised rim.
- Step 6
While the cake is still warm, poke many holes in it using a chopstick or any similar narrow tool. Into each of the holes, slowly pour some of the orange juice. At first the hole fills to the brim with juice, but this will subsequently — in about an hour — be absorbed by the cake. Serve at room temperature, with more orange juice drizzled over each slice.
- You can keep the cake for up to 1 week in the refrigerator, fully covered by plastic wrap.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Could you use Grand Marnier or Cointreau instead of Ouzo?
This is the best cake I ever made. I used a bundt pan similar to the one in the photo. Only modifications were to skip the Ouzo (I didn't have any) and use 2% milk (because it was on hand). Make sure you put the cake on a plate or pan with a lip on it when you pour on the orange juice. The cake is delicious cold out of the refrigerator the next day, and for the next 4 days thereafter. I thought about putting icing on it, but it doesn't need it. Make this, you won't be sorry.
The picture suggests a Bundt pan but the recipe calls for a tube pan (with removable bottom.) The cake doesn't rise much and is a little dense. Probably based on the technique.
It was a dense dough, only filled the bundt pan about 1/2 full. It worked out just fine. Really good.
I make this 3-4 x a year and use Grand Marnier or Cointreau, both are great (and then can be used for Margaritas). I also add a couple of tablespoons of GM or C into the orange juice and pour into the finished cake, yum! I use a Bundt pan, only because it's so pretty when it comes out. Does taste better the 2nd or 3rd day, so good for making ahead of time.
Thanks for this comment, besides the Bundt versus tube pan question what does "place the bottom of the pan over a tumbler or tall mug, using pot holders, and push down to raise the loose bottom" even mean???
How about leaving cake in Bundt pan and pouring syrup over it to soak in?
Replaced ouzo with Cointreau and used a Bundt pan. Cake looked exactly like the picture. So far so good. But I agree with others that filling holes with (spiked) OJ was far more tedious than the end result suggested - there must be a better way to achieve the glorious flavor and texture.I like the cheesecloth suggestion - has anyone tried it yet?
I have no food processor so I found an alternate method to prepare this cake with wonderful results. 1) combine peel and all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix for 30 seconds. 2) beat eggs and liquids together in a measuring cup. Add half of this to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 3) Beat in butter 1 tb at a time. Add remaining liquid, beat at low speed until smooth batter forms then continue at high speed 2 minutes. Continue from Step 4 above.
To make the cake in a mixer try this-- 1) put peel and sugar in the mixer bowl and rub together with your fingers. Add flour and baking powder to bowl and mix for 30 seconds. 2) beat eggs, liqueur and milk together in a measuring cup. Add half of this to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 3) Beat in butter 1 tb at a time. A thick dough will form. Add remaining liquid, beat at low speed to make a smooth batter then beat at high speed 2 minutes to aerate. Continue from Step 4 above.
The dough was so dense that it caused my food processor to stop. While very delicious, it was too sweet for my taste and I will reduce sugar in the future. You might also try Claudia roden’s orange and almond cake. Equally tasty and easier to make.
My challenge with this cake was having a uniform soak. I used a bundt pan and it came out easily and looked beautiful, until I poked holes all over it. Maybe use a knife instead and wrap it in cheese cloth and every 10 minutes soak it again? If I can solve this issue, I'd love to make it again.
My results were not spectacular. Very dense and dry cake, even with all that juice. Next time I’m going to rethink the order the ingredients are added and go with a more traditional method - cream the butter and sugar, mix the flour and baking powder together, etc. Here’s hoping!
use a bamboo skewer to poke the cake all over. almost all the liquid will go in. the rest will get absorbed as the recipe says.
Great flavor. Dense No rise brick. Definitely not the cake pictured.
I’ve made this twice now. Absolutely delicious. The first time I followed the instructions on taking the cake out of the pan and pouring the orange juice over it. It tasted great but looked terrible with all the poke holes. The second time I, I released the cake from the pan after cooling then put it back in pan, poking holes in the bottom. Poured the juice over. Being in a more enclosed container, it absorbed the juice much better. After an hour or so, I easily turned it out of the Bundt.
This cake gets better and better as each day passes. It was delicious on day one, served in a pool of juice and a daub of whipped cream (looked dinner-party fancy, too!) By day three, it was heavenly--especially toasted! I used about half the sugar, both in the cake and in the juice. Also, because I was afraid it would be heavy, I used yogurt instead of milk, so there could be a little more action with the baking powder. My cake was not heavy--just pleasurably dense.
I made this in a bundt pan and learned why the recipe says to unmold before pouring juice over the cake. Parts of the crust softened so much that they stuck to the well-greased pan. I found the crumb to be coarse & dry, even after pouring 1.5 cups of labor-intensive fresh squeezed orange juice over & adding extra on cut slices. Great aroma though
All of My changes made it an epic failure so please don’t follow any of my directions lol.
I don’t usually deviate from recipes too much except for a little tweak here or there but with this one I had to sue to lack of ingredients. Instead of butter I used half cup of olive oil. No milk, one cup almond and one cup general purpose flour. I didn’t use alcohol, added a tsp vanilla and a little salt. I used paddle mixer and mixed wet ingredients, then added dry. Poured OJ over warm cake while in pan without poking holes, it was completely absorbed.
I have no food processor so I found an alternate method to prepare this cake with wonderful results. 1) combine peel and all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix for 30 seconds. 2) beat eggs and liquids together in a measuring cup. Add half of this to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 3) Beat in butter 1 tb at a time. Add remaining liquid, beat at low speed until smooth batter forms then continue at high speed 2 minutes. Continue from Step 4 above.
Is it OK to make with GF flour?
My results were not spectacular. Very dense and dry cake, even with all that juice. Next time I’m going to rethink the order the ingredients are added and go with a more traditional method - cream the butter and sugar, mix the flour and baking powder together, etc. Here’s hoping!
To make the cake in a mixer try this-- 1) put peel and sugar in the mixer bowl and rub together with your fingers. Add flour and baking powder to bowl and mix for 30 seconds. 2) beat eggs, liqueur and milk together in a measuring cup. Add half of this to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 3) Beat in butter 1 tb at a time. A thick dough will form. Add remaining liquid, beat at low speed to make a smooth batter then beat at high speed 2 minutes to aerate. Continue from Step 4 above.
I made it in a bundt pan and lost patience (and truly ran out of surface to poke) after only 1 c. OJ. The texture in the dry parts was scone-like, but very tasty so I’ll try pouring it all on next time, perhaps while in the pan? Will it come out? My Cake looked like it had chicken pox. I substituted the butter and milk with plant-based options for allergy reasons but it was still worth repeating.
use a bamboo skewer to poke the cake all over. almost all the liquid will go in. the rest will get absorbed as the recipe says.
See Erin McDowell's great video on cake tips, including how to insure any liquid evenly spreads throughout a cake. At about 16 mins in, she provides tips specific to baking in bundt pans: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=how+to+get+cake+out+of+bundt+pan+erin+mcdowell&t=newext&atb=v238-1&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1JSvh-5x5BE
Delicious! Used rum instead of ouzo. Used a non-stick pan 2piece angel food cake pan, which allowed it only to rise 1" and be quite dense, but still delicious. A non-nonstick pan would be better risen I think. The dough went from sticky dough to creamy batter texture with an extra pulse in the food processor. Question: is the sugar 3 cups +3T inside the cake batter, or just 3 cups with 3T reserved for the orange syrup? It does actually soak up 2c OJ! I added orange zest icing on top.
What icing would you recommend for this cake?
Heidi, one would put the tube pan over the bottle, not the Bundt pan. I use a tube pan frequently and don’t use a bottle, I just lift out the center part.
What size tube/bundt pan?
Skip the poking holes concept (it make the cake look ugly) and simply pour the juice over the cake.
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