A few weeks ago I bought a giant orange for no particular reason. Or there probably was a reason, and I forgot what it was. But the orange had been sitting in the refrigerator for a while, and today seemed like the perfect day to try an old Betty Crocker recipe for Orange Loaf Cake. I'm so happy with how it turned out!
Orange Loaf Cake Texture
This cake is not a heavy pound cake, but rather a light and soft loaf cake with a deep brown and buttery crust. The key to the cake's soft texture is a combination of cake flour and shortening along with some European style butter, which contributed flavor and maybe some color. But the shortening did some work here because the crumb is so light! To get the buttery flavor, I put a generous amount of extra butter on the pan itself. It's surprising how much flavor you get just from greasing a pan with butter.
Basic Blueberry Sauce
The vintage cake recipe said "Delicious uniced", but I think you could definitely add a glaze or frosting if you'd like. I decided to go with whipped cream and a little blueberry sauce made with the basics (and Grand Marnier). If you don't have the Grand Marnier, no worries. The sauce is good without. I just felt like putting it in there because the bottle's almost empty. You can also leave the cardamom out if it's not your thing, but we've learned to love it with blueberries.
Reverse Creaming Method
Another fun thing about this cake is that it calls for the reverse creaming method, which I like for some reason. You mix all of the dry ingredients together in the stand mixer bowl, add the fat and stir to coat, then add the eggs, orange juice and vanilla and beat to make a soft batter. Here's a photo of my flour mixture with some blobs of shortening and butter. The fat coats the cake flour which curbs gluten formation that would otherwise happen during beating. I guess if you really like this cake you could mix all the dry ingredients head of time, coat them with shortening and store in a bag.
Loaf Cake Pan Size
This recipe calls for an 8x4 inch loaf pan with sides at least 2 ¾ inch high. Be sure to use one with a 6 cup capacity so that the batter has some room to climb. Below is a picture of the batter in my loaf pan. There was 1 pound 10 oz of batter, and I thought maybe that was too much and transferred 2 oz of batter to a cupcake size mini Bundt, leaving a little more room for it to climb. As it happened, the cake rose beautifully in the middle and probably would have fit just fine all in one pan. Just be mindful of the loaf pan size. If you use a larger loaf pan, be sure to check the cake earlier. My cake took about 55 minutes.
Recipe
Orange Loaf Cake with Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients
- Softened butter for greasing pan
- 1 large orange (280 grams)
- 2 cups cake flour (230 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups sugar (250 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup shortening (50 grams)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (58 grams)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Blueberry Sauce with Grand Marnier (optional)
- 1½ cups frozen blueberries 200 grams
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 25 grams
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- Pinch of salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 6 cup capacity (8 x 4 x 2 ¾ inch) loaf pan generously with softened butter. Dust with flour.
- Zest the orange and measure out 1 tablespoon of zest. Put it in a glass measuring cup, then add enough orange juice (and water, if needed) to make ½ cup. Set aside.
- Sift the cake flour, baking powder and sugar into a stand mixer bowl, then add the salt and whisk until your dry ingredients are evenly blended.
- Spoon tablespoons of shortening and softened butter over the dry mixture. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, stir until fat coats the flour mixture.
- Add the eggs and continue beating with the paddle on low, then stream in the orange juice/zest mixture and vanilla extract.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until smooth and silky.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and let cool completely.
Blueberry Sauce
- In a small saucepan, combine the frozen blueberries, sugar, and pinch of salt.
- Cook over medium heat until the berries thaw and begin releasing their juices, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir together the cornstarch and water. Add it to the blueberries while stirring.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook for about 1 minute, just until slightly thickened.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier and lemon juice. Add cardamom (if using).
- Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
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