The Cookbook Challenge is on! Week 1 wrap up

A clever little concept has formed from some fellow food bloggers to make the most of all the cookbooks in your house. Cook 1 new recipe each week from your library, to a new weekly theme pre-set over the course of the year.

http://myfoodtrail.blogspot.com/2009/11/cookbook-challenge-is-underway.html

With the great vic bike ride coming up, a couple of weeks overseas, and Christmas coming up, it looks like I won't be able to always do the weekly new recipe cookup. I am however, aiming to complete all 52 themes - I just have to knock a few off over the course of each week.

The themes until the end of the year are as follows:
Week 1 Monday 16/11/2009 Citrus
Week 2 Monday 23/11/2009 Indian
Week 3 Monday 30/11/2009 Hor d'oeuvres
Week 4 Monday 7/12/2009 Beans
Week 5 Monday 14/12/2009 Greek
Week 6 Monday 21/12/2009 Christmas
Week 7 Monday 28/12/2009 Soft

Week 1 wrap up - Citrus

Cookbook : French, by Damien Pignolet
Recipe : Serious orange cake
Serves : 8-10 (about 13 people managed to eat my cake)

1 orange (about 150g), washed well and diced, with pips removed
200g sugar
3 x 60g eggs
150g self raising flour, sifted
180g butter, melted and cooled a little
small pinch of salt

Orange syrup
60ml orange juice
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs caster sugar
1-2 tbs Cointreau

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degrees C. Grease and line a 24cm diametre springform cake tin with baking paper


2. I peeled the orange and added the zest into a food processor with the sugar, then whizzed it until it was smooth (I've seen recipes where you don't need to peel). Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions

3. Add the flour and the salt and combine for 30 seconds. With the machine running, add the butter all at once. At this point I considered adding poppy seeds, but added a handful of sultanas to half the mix instead (so half the cake wouldn't have sultanas. A bit weird, but I'm all about catering for the wider palate base)


4. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a bamboo skewer emerges clean and dry

5. In a small saucepan, start the orange syrup by combining the OJ, lemon juice and sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add the Cointreau to taste and simmer for an additional minute.



6. When ready, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes. Pierce the cake all over and slowly spoon the syrup over the cake. Leave until completely cool before turning out.


The verdict
Beautifully moist and well received by the work colleagues. Will definately make again - will try next time without peeling the oranges. Cointreau orange sauce was the star of the recipe.