I love using fresh fruit (and vegetables!) in cakes… it just feels so wholesome to literally be able to pick your flavour straight off a tree! In this case, we’re using the WHOLE orange - skin, pith, rind the whole lot! Talk about no waste. The skin of the orange contains SO much flavour, it really adds something that juice alone cannot. And it means we can get away with baking an amazing cake from scratch, using just six ingredients. Usually people would boil their oranges first, but because we’ve got a Thermomix machine or other brand of thermo cooker, it’s just so easy to steam them instead! I have seen other thermie recipes where they don’t bother with this step and just blend up the raw orange - I’ve tried this but honestly it leaves a bitter flavour thanks to the pith, which then results in people overcompensating with the amount of sugar they add. While I love sweets, I never want to add more sugar than I have to! So by cooking the oranges first, we get rid of that bitter flavour meaning less sugar needed in the final recipe. Win! Plus, thanks to the oranges and oil this cake is incredibly moist yet still light - it’s a hard combo to master, but we’ve done it.
You can cook this cake in a standard round cake tin, Bundt pan or even loaf tin - all work, just depends on the occasion. For an afternoon snack or lunchbox option I’d probably go loaf tin and slice it like banana bread and serve simply dusted with icing sugar, but for a celebration I’d go a round tin or Bundt pan with a basic sugar icing, cream cheese frosting or orange glaze. What makes baking a cake like this just SO easy is using one of our silicone baking pans - there’s no need to line and the cake comes out clean as whistle perfectly every time! And while you’re shopping, make sure you check out our BRILLIANT cookbooks and accessories designed for use with Thermomix machines… they’re absolute game changers!
Ingredient
2 whole oranges, rinsed
200g macadamia or light-flavoured olive oil
3 free-range eggs
180g white sugar
300g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
Method
- Place oranges in TC steamer basket inside TM bowl - if they don’t fit side-by-side trim the ends off. Fill bowl with 1.5kg water (this should come about half way up the sides of the oranges, but it doesn’t matter). Cook for 40 minutes, steaming temperature, speed 3.
- Preheat oven to 170C.
- Remove oranges from steaming basket (be careful they will be hot! best to allow to cool a bit first). Cut into quarters and add back into a dry TC bowl. Puree for 8 seconds, speed 10.
- Add oil and eggs, mix for 5 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides.
- Add sugar, flour and baking powder, mix for 30 seconds, speed 3. Mix remaining flour in by hand using our silicone thermie spatula.
- Transfer mixture to a silicone pan (or lined cake tin) and bake for 45 minutes, or until top is golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool for minimum 15 minutes before removing from pan. Ice with a basic sugar icing, cream cheese frosting or orange glaze, dust with icing sugar or simply leave as is - delicious all ways! I like to decorate mine with some thinly sliced dehydrated orange slices semi-reconstituted in a splash of orange liquor.
