Instructions:
This is a delicate orange cake that has a syrup made of orange juice and sugar poured over it as it comes from the oven. The cake keeps well and seems to improve in flavor for up to three days.
- THE ORANGE CAKE
- 1 cup sugar;
- 1 cup butter;
- 2 eggs;
- Grated rind of 2 medium oranges;
- 1 teaspoon baking soda;
- 1 teaspoon baking powder;
- 2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour;
- 1 cup chopped dates;
- 1 cup chopped walnuts;
- 1 cup buttermilk;
- Juice of 2 oranges (about 1 cup);
- 1 cup sugar.
- Butter a 9-by-l3-inch cake pan or a 91⁄2- to 10-inch Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cream 1 cup sugar with butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs, until mixture is light and lemon-colored. Add grated orange rind. In a bowl, stir together the baking soda, baking powder, and flour. Put dates and walnuts into another bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture to dates and nuts and mix until coated. Add the rest of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk, until a smooth batter forms. Add the flour-dusted dates and nuts. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 35 minutes for a 9-by-l 3-inch cake pan, or 55 minutes to 1 hour for a Bundt pan, or until cake tests done.
- While cake bakes, combine the orange juice and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan. Stir and bring to a boil. Pour the hot glaze evenly over the hot baked cake. Cool thoroughly in the pan. Invert cake baked in Bundt pan onto a serving plate. Serve oblong cake from the pan, cut into squares.
MAKES ONE 9-BY-13-INCH CAKE
