Orange Cake

GF NF

Makes 1 sheet cake

This is an easy cake with a lovely orange flavour. To save a bit of time, do the first two steps of making the icing in advance.

What you need for the cake:

200 grams of salted butter

200 grams of white sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

4 eggs, divided

40 grams of buckwheat flour

70 grams of white rice flour

40 grams of cornflour (also called corn starch in some countries)

50 grams of tapioca starch

15 grams of baking powder

4 grams of salt

3 grams of xanthan gum

30 mls of fresh orange juice

What you need for the icing:

120 grams of white sugar

120 mls of fresh orange juice

200 grams of butter, roughly diced

100 grams of icing sugar

Pinch of salt

What to do for the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a baking pan with baking paper and grease the sides of the pan with butter to prevent sticking. My baking pan measured 28cm x 22cm but any similar size pan should be fine.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl.

3. Add the orange zest, 1 egg and the buckwheat flour to the bowl and mix together well with the butter and sugar. The eggs are added in stages with the flours to avoid curdling.

4. Add another egg to the bowl, along with the white rice flour, and mix everything together well.

5. Add a third egg to the bowl, along with the cornflour, and again mix everything together well.

6. Add the final egg to the bowl with the tapioca starch, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum, and again mix everything together well.

7. Add the fresh orange juice to the bowl and mix well into the other ingredients to form a smooth cake batter.

8. Spread the cake batter evenly across the prepared baking pan and place into the middle of the preheated oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes or util the cake is cooked.

9. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the baking pan on a cooling rack.

What to do for the icing:

1. Place the white sugar and orange juice together in a saucepan with the lid on and heat over a medium heat until the mixture is bubbling gently and the sugar has completely dissolved into the orange juice. Turn off the heat.

2. Add the butter to the saucepan while the sugar/juice mixture is still hot and stir gently to melt the butter into the juice and mix everything together (I find this easiest with a whisk). If the butter is very cold, you may need to put the saucepan back over a medium heat until the butter has melted and then mix everything together. Take the saucepan off the hob, if you turned it on, and set aside to cool completely.

3. Once cooled, place the juice/sugar/butter mixture into a bowl, add the icing sugar and salt and beat together very well to make a light, fluffy icing. I find this easiest with a stand mixer or electric handheld beater.

4. Once the cake has cooled completely, ice the cake in the baking pan with the prepared icing. Cut into pieces of the desired size and serve. Store leftover cake in an airtight container in a cool place. This should keep for a few days after making.

5. Enjoy!