Citrus Cake
As if snow days needed to get any sweeter! This has got to be the best ugliest cake I’ve ever made.
The recipe is simple, and the cake is decadent–both moist and flavorful at the same time. The simplicity of its ingredients are perhaps what makes it so lovely to eat as each one is able to shine through in a mesh of pure flavor.
Olive Oil Citrus Cake
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup coconut sugar (you can substitute date sugar or regular if you wish)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 knuckle fresh ginger, peeled and minced
zest of 1 lemon and 1 small orange (about the size of a tennis ball)
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/2 cup)
1.5 cups cold water
2/3 cups olive oil (again you can substitue the oil of your choice, I think it would be lovely with coconut)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans or one 9×13″ rectangular pan. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the liquid ingredients. Make a crater in the middle of the dry ingredients and add in the liquid. Stir thoroughly to make sure there are no lumps! Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost with your favorite creamy frosting (I recommend cream cheese or buter cream) or add on my
White Chocolate Citrus Glaze
1 tablespoon raw cocoa butter
2 heaping tablespoons Totuffi or other vegan sour cream
juice of 1/2 orange
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon coconut or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon citrus zest for garnish (optional)
Melt the cocoa butter over low heat. Whisk in the powdered and granulated sugar, then orange juice and vanilla. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Pour over your cake, and add citrus zest to the top as a garnish.
In between my topsy turvy layers, I poured a few Tablespoons of the glaze before sinking one cake on top of the other, then added the rest to the top.
Perhaps I will make a variation of this cake for my birthday this year! I loved the glaze, but think it would be better on a single layer as opposed to a multiple layered cake. It has certainly kept the cake moist, but to the point where it’s hard to cut successfully!
I think that a creamier frosting would be a lovely compliment to this elegant cake, and would make it so beautiful, especially with zest on the top! You could vary this recipe easily by adding poppy seeds and increasing the amount of lemon and omitting the orange, or by adding a bit of orange flower water instead of regular water. I’d only recommend a couple of Tablespoons, though, it’s strong stuff!
That cake looks wonderful. Citrus and ginger sound so cheery in the winter! I might have to make this sometime.