The Most Amazing Orange Cake

This cake was well know at Agostini in Woollahra when the leafy courtyard by the bookshop was home to Margie Agostini's cafe. Bill Granger has now moved in and is serving up his own Sydney food favourites (it's only a matter of time before his famous ricotta hot cakes and scrambled eggs land on this blog), but the ghost of Margie's cake lives on. The foundation of this cake lies in the butter, flour + sugar being of equal weight. This recipe makes a very large cake (which is a good thing as, trust me, it goes quickly), but I halved* the recipe when I made it this time.

Serves 10
Takes 1 hr 30 mins + cooling time

Ingredients:
500g butter
500g castor sugar
8 x 60g eggs
1 tbsp grated orange zest
500g self-raising flour
200ml freshly squeezed orange juice

Icing:
250g icing sugar and 50ml orange juice

+++++

Heat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. You will need a 30 cm cake tin with removable sides, lined with non-stick baking paper.

• Cream the butter and sugar well, until it is very pale and thick - this will take quite a while
• Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition, and the zest, if using. Add the flour all at once, and beat well, then slowly add the orange juice, until it is incorporated
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes - or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (slow is best, so don' t be afraid to cook it longer. If it starts to brown too much on the top, cover loosely with a sheet of buttered kitchen foil)
• Leave the cake in the tin on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the tin

To make the icing, stir the orange juice into the icing sugar until you have the right spreading consistency, and apply with a palette knife, allowing the icing to drip down the sides of the cake. Leave the icing to set before cutting the cake into wedges or storing in an airtight container.

* If you halve the ingredients bake at 170C/Gas 3 in a 22cm cake tin for 45 to 50 mins or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Margie Agostini shared her recipe with Jill Dupleix.