Spring is just nine days away. But we couldn’t wait that long for sunshine, so we tried this incredible, and incredibly easy, citrus bundt cake from Patricia Wells’ “Trattoria” cookbook. You can dust it with powdered sugar, or drizzle it with a simple icing, or just gobble it up plain. Wells says it’s OK to eat this cake for breakfast, and we believed her. Although, in the interest of not spending an entire Sunday feeling guilty, we dressed it with a handful of blackberries and orange segments.
Fragrant Orange and Lemon Cake
We didn’t have any vanilla sugar on hand, so we did a quick version by stirring about a tablespoon of real vanilla extract into the amount of sugar called for in the recipe, tossing until the vanilla was mixed in well (it made the sugar look kind of fluffy). Makes 10 to 14 servings.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter and all-purpose flour for preparing the cake pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla sugar (recipe below)
- 5 large eggs
- Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Evenly coat the interior of a 10-inch bundt pan with butter. Dust lightly with flour, shaking out the excess flour. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the orange and lemon zests. Combine the orange and lemon juices and the milk and set aside to “sour” the milk. In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vanilla sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition. The mixture will look curdled – don’t worry. Alternating in thirds, add the flour and milk mixtures, beating well after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake until the cake is an even golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45-55 minutes. (Don’t worry if the cracks in the top of the cake don’t look dry – use the toothpick test to test for doneness.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto a serving plate. If desired, sift confectioners’ sugar over the top of the cake. Slice into wedges and serve for breakfast, as a snack or for dessert.
Vanilla sugar
Ingredients
- 4 plump moist vanilla beans
- 4 cups sugar
Directions
Flatten the vanilla beans and cut them in half lengthwise. With a small spoon, scrape out the seeds and place them in a small bowl. Reserve the seeds for another use. Combine the pods and sugar in a jar. Cover securely and set aside at room temperature for several days to scent and flavor the sugar. Keeps indefinitely.
