Sicilian “Pan d’ arancio” (Whole Orange cake)

” Pan d’ arancio” means orange bread.  Is a traditional cake recipe from Palermo. All the fruit is used, only the seeds are discarded. The whole orange with all the peel is blended & added in the mixture.

Full of flavor and nutrients. Extremely quick & easy to make. Baking a cake doesn’t have to be complicated. This recipe work well for cupcakes too,  you can add mini chocolate chips in the mixture,  an orange icing or chocolate frosting on the top.  Perfect for hungry kids at school.

Orange peel is rich of polyphenols (helps keep the gut healthy and is important in helping to reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease), vitamins A, C, folic acid B9 (a water-soluble B vitamin) and other B vitamins, calcium,  copper,  magnesium and dietary fibers, essential oils and carotenoids 

Ingredients for the cake

• 2 organic oranges, washed and cut into pieces
• 100gr seed oil (or 100 gr softened butter)
• 300gr all purpose flour
• 16 gr baking powder
• 250gr sugar
• 100gr milk
• 3 eggs

Ingredients for the icing

• 300 gr icing sugar
• 1 orange (juice)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F
2. Puree the diced oranges in a food processor.
3. Add all the rest of the ingredients over the purèe (flour+baking powder, sugar, eggs, seed oil, milk)
4. Mix  until blended
5. Grease and flour an 9″ (23cm) pan lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 60 minutes (The cake is ready when a knife or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean)
7. Remove the cake from the oven, and allow to cool completely
8. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake

Icing: In a bowl,  mix together the icing sugar with  half of the orange juice.  Whisk until there are no lumps.   You can adjust the consistency  to your liking  by adding more powdered sugar or juice, to thicken or thin it out.

Pour the icing over the top of the cake.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.