Whole Orange Macadamia Cake

I’m the type of cook that doesn’t follow recipes. I see them as a guide that I may, or may not follow. Predictably, this baking strategy does end badly on occasion, however, it does nothing to deter the method in my madness!

The reason I continue to bake, even though it’s not my strong point, is my social life - weird yes … but you’d be surprised who turns up when there’s cake waiting.

At the start of the week I’ll send a group text saying “Baking orange and macadamia cake for the blog this weekend, 2pm Saturday, RSVP”. The response rate stands at a nine out of 10! As a result of my popularity, my baking skills have improved significantly, and this cake is one of my best!

My advice for fellow cooks who, like me - love to bake, but don’t have the skills or precision and patience – bake away! And follow my recipes - their delicious, nutritious(!), Grace proof, and a lovely reason to get together over a cup of tea!

Ingredients

1 large navel orange

300g raw macadamias

2/3 cup plain flour

300g caster sugar

100g unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup thick Greek-style yoghurt

3 eggs

Grapefruit Icing:

30g melted butter

1 cup pure icing sugar, sifted

Juice of ½ ruby grapefruit

1 drop red food colouring (optional)

Method

1.   Place orange in a small saucepan of boiling water (top with a small saucer if necessary to keep submerged). Boil for 1 hour or until very soft when tested with a skewer, then remove from heat. Drain and cool completely. Place orange in food processor and whiz until a smooth puree. Transfer to a bowl.

2.   Preheat the oven to 150°C fan-forced. Grease and line the base and sides of a 18cm round cake pan with baking paper.

3.   Place macadamias and plain flour in the clean food processor and whiz to a meal. Transfer to a bowl with the caster sugar and butter, then, using your hands, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4.   Whisk yoghurt and eggs together with the orange puree. Add to the macadamia mixture and gently stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes or until golden and just firm to the touch. Cover cake with foil if it becomes too golden. Cool completely in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

5.   For the grapefruit icing whisk all ingredients together in bowl until there are no lumps

6.   Pour the grapefruit icing over the cake, using a palette knife or butter knife to smear it out to the edges and allowing it to drip down the sides

Tip: this cake is best served on the day but will keep in an airtight container for 5 days