This cake was moist and delicious. It was sort of a cross between pound cake and angel food cake.  We loved it and served it with a Santa Cruz classic Marianne’s Ice Cream (bittersweet chocolate ice cream) for Mother’s Day.

Portuguese Orange-Olive Oil Cake Recipe
by David Leite
from The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast Cookbook
(Clarkson Potter, 2009)
Serves 10 to 12

TIPS from LeitesCulinaria.com: Make sure to use a light-colored Bundt pan. A dark one will turn out a cake that sticks and is unpleasantly brown. Since this cake only gets better with age, don’t even think about taking a bite until the day after you make it, or even the day after that.

My TIP: My mom said that when she made this recipe the cake was a dry and almost cornmeal-like cake. When I made it I cut all of the ingredient portions in half and made it with a dark-colored Bundt pan.  It turned out a bit moist. We served it with bittersweet chocolate ice cream with orange zest on top.

Ingredients

Nonstick baking spray with flour
4 to 5 large navel oranges
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
5 large eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups mild extra-virgin olive oil
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Method
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven, remove any racks above, and crank up the heat to 350°F (175°C). Coat a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan with baking spray and set aside.

2. Finely grate the zest of 3 of the oranges, then squeeze 4 of them. You should have 1 1/2 cups of juice; if not, squeeze the 5th orange. Set aside.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs on medium-high speed until well-combined, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the granulated sugar and continue beating until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and oil, starting and ending with the flour, and beat until just a few wisps of flour remain. Pour in the orange juice and zest and whirl for a few seconds to bring the batter together.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1 1/4 hours. If the top is browning too much as the cake bakes, cover lightly with foil. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.

6. Turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely, then place it in a covered cake stand and let it sit overnight. Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar.

Youtube video of this Recipe being prepared: http://leitesculinaria.com/20321/recipes-portuguese-orange-olive-oil-cake.html

Oranges and tangerines are symbols for plentiful happiness. Tangerines with leaves intact assure that one’s relationship with the other remains secure. The Chinese New Year Flower Market in SF will be selling supplies for the new year starting next Sat. Feb. 6th.

This is a beautiful orange that a friend from Singapore gave me.  I wrote her and thanked her for the beautiful, good luck orange.  She said we were so Chinese!

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade & Festivities begin next weekend in Chinatown, Feb. 6th- Feb.27th.