Blossoms and Orange Olive Oil Cake

Tree blossoms. The yards are blanketed in them.

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And the rhododendrons - they are late coming to spring's party - but they are here. They're pretty fleeting. One swirl of the Minnesota winds and they scatter. But everything is fleeting, isn't it? The days I thought I would never be able to walk through my home without stepping on a lego or a miniature racing car - are gone. A blip in our history.

And now one of the culprits of my "toy-carpeted home" is in China - for his work in plant pathology.. And his partner in crime is getting ready to go to Mexico - for her work in audiology. I received an e-mail from China today:

"I tried duck blood soup because I am adventurous. It was pretty good! And I took a photo because I am my mother's son."
I saved the photo. Yeah - I saved the entire e-mail. We scatter. But we don't go as far as we think.

I could make an analogy about cake - you bake it and it's fleeting. It's true but not important. What's important is you bake it and you savor. And if you're kind you share.

And if you're smart - you'll make this - for a homecoming, for a picnic or just because it's Thursday. Which is partly why I made it. It was Thursday and the day called for cake. Husband-person was working late again and I got it in my head that he needed to come home to cake. And so he did. And a good one. Just sweet enough (because I am not saccharine - just sweet enough).

I love how olive oil cakes crust on the top and then give way to delicate, melty crumbs. Yin and yang, crunch and smooth, yesterday and today. If I add some Orange Blossom Water - I could declare this an Orange Blossom Cake!

Orange Olive Oil Cake
from the blog: Where Women Cook

Ingredients:
Nonstick spray with flour
4-5 naval oranges (or shhh ...1-1/2 cups orange juice) - 3 zested and 4-5 juiced
3-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-3/4 teaspoons - Kosher salt (or shhh ... table salt)
5 large eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil
confectioner's sugar for dusting (I didn't dust - I frequently don't dust)

Preparation
Position rack in middle of oven. Remove upper rack. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan or tube pan with spray. Really coat it! Don't be shy. This is a sticky batter.

Zest 3 oranges. Squeeze the juice of 4 oranges. If you don't have 1-1/2 cups of orange juice, juice another one. (Or shhh ... add orange juice).

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl (and set aside).

In the bowl of a stand mixer (use paddle attachment) or with a handheld mixer and a la-r-g-e bowl, beat the eggs for one minute.

With mixer on, slowly pour in sugar and beat until well-combined - about 3 minutes. You should have thick, pale yellow ribbons.

On low speed, alternate adding the flour and the olive oil - starting and ending with the flour.

Pour in orange juice and zest and beat until well combined - just 10-15 seconds really.

Pour into prepared pan and cook for 1 to 1-1/4 hours - until a tester comes out almost dry - a few moist crumbs are fine. Mine took 65 minutes. If the top is browning too much, cover with a little foil. Mine did brown a lot. I didn't cover it - I like it. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Turn the pan upside down and flip and cool on rack. You can cool over night - just cover and let it sit. We ate it after 45 minutes!

Before serving dust with confectioner's sugar. Or not.

This would also be good with berries and cream. Or orange curd. Or lemon curd. Or tangerines... or - yes oranges.

Or toasted the next day for breakfast. Or dolloped with creme fraiche... it's a canvas. And it's pretty tasty on its own.

I am learning the secret of cooking with Luce. He passes out fifteen minutes after eating.

That's when you do your prep.

Or you open a window.

And let him sit.

I still don't have the secret as to how to let a pie cool without a paw indentation in it (yes - it's covered with something).  I really need kryptonite to cover my food. And that photo above is apropos of nothing. I just love those double-jointed back legs! I hope they're not fleeting.

Simply Sublime

This February 14th Day (known in some circles as "Single Awareness Day"), we'll be celebrating the orange. I have nothing against chocolate - in fact I am sitting in my kitchen in sweet bliss munching on Bissinger's Dark Chocolate Wine Grapes which counts as one of my fruits for the day.

But this Sicilian Orange Tart - sparkles - in aroma and taste. It brightens the kitchen - it lightens winter.

True - it emerges from the oven a wee bit homely. Lightly browned - asking for a dusting of confectioner's sugar. Chocolate shavings wouldn't hurt.

As winters go - we are a balmy 27 degrees F which is most welcome after two days of 1 degree F.

The only snow is in the back of the yard waiting for longer days of sun.

It's coming. But if the days are not long enough, this dessert brings the sun into the kitchen long after our nurturing star has left.

The Sicilian Orange Tart is from Giuliano Hazan's Every Night Italian. He promises "a refreshing and aromatic dessert that leaves a clean taste in your mouth. It has received rave reviews whenever I have made it."

The orange tart lives up to its press. My February-Minnesota kitchen was an orange grove for a few hours. My daughter was shocked that I was going to let it sit in the fridge over night - telling me I shouldn't tease her with baking aromas.

And it was easy - I am a non-baker who likes to estimate and add pinches and fistfuls of stuff - and not rely on things such as measuring spoons. But I followed the recipe and dotted my i's and crossed my t's and was rewarded with a smooth, sublime tart that gave me the warm Sicilian sun.

Sicilian Orange Tart (Crostada all'arancia)

Crust:

Grated zest of 2 oranges

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into 12 pieces

3 extra-large egg yolks (I used large)

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon ice water or more if needed (I needed 3)

Filling:*

2 extra-large eggs (I used large)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (the juice from the zested oranges is usually sufficient)

You will need an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

*If you can look past the sugar, this is breakfast. Orange juice and eggs. Check off another fruit for me and protein.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. For the crust: Zest your oranges. Make the crust by placing the flour, sugar, butter, egg yolks, orange zest and salt in the food processor. Process it until it is well mixed. Add the ice water and process again until a dough is formed. If the mixture is dry add a little more water - 1 teaspoon at a time. (I did need 3 teaspoons - not surprisingly as the kitchen is dry these days and the furnace was working away!)

3. Remove dough from processor (carefully!) and place it on the removable bottom of the tart pan. (Note: Next time I will spray the tart pan a bit.)  Using a rolling pin, roll dough until the dough is 1/4 inch thick - allowing the dough to extend over the edges. Carefully slide the removable bottom off the edge and lift it into the tart pan. Press the dough against the sides of the pan and trim any overhang.

4. Cover the dough with aluminum foil and weight it down with rice or dried beans (or pie weights!). Bake for ten minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake for another ten minutes.

5. While crust is baking, juice your oranges. Put eggs and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat at high speed until pale, yellow ribbons form - 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and pour in your orange juice beating for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

6. Pour mixture into baked crust and place tart in oven. Bake until the filling is set and the top is browned - about 40 minutes. Allow the tart to completely cool before serving. Hazan advises putting it into the fridge - and I let if chill there over night. (Love make-ahead-desserts even if my daughter doesn't.)

And if your heart is set on chocolate for Single Awareness ... make that Valentine's Day, remember that President's Day is a good day for a tart... and Carnevale... and Leap-Year-Day... and you really don't need an excuse to make a tart. Everything should be celebrated, right? Surprise someone and make it "just because." But - do make it.