Citrus Sponge Cake
I avoid eating cake–I always ask for a different dessert entirely for my birthday, I didn’t eat a bite more than was smashed into my face at my wedding, and I only make it when especially necessary (like my twins’ first birthday) and even then I don’t eat any, and not just because raising twins means I hadn’t slept in a year! So, when I finally started the last class of my baking program – Patisserie – I was not enthused. I had been dreading this class the entire year of the program, but I was also anxious because I knew I had A LOT to learn!
Like all my previous courses, I had a fantastic teacher and mentor that pushed, encouraged, and motivated me to dream beyond what I thought I was capable of. By the end of the six week course, I was wishing it was another six weeks…or months! I ate cake that I actually enjoyed! I discovered a new kind of frosting that I could eat by the spoonful with or without the cake! I made a sunflower (and other flowers), petal by petal, and it actually looked like a sunflower!
I made a lemon-flavored cake for the extra credit assignment, and I may have made several (secret) trips out after everyone was in bed to sneak bites. It was unlike any cake I ever had tasted. The fun thing about citrus is that they’re fairly interchangeable with each other! I love to pair blueberry with orange, so when I was constructing this week’s Feature Dessert, focused around blueberries I had in my freezer, I knew I could transform that irresistible lemon cake into orange.
One of the things I love about this cake is that it takes you a little by surprise. Looking at it, it’s probably not going to scream “ I’M ORANGE CAKE!” at you, because it doesn’t have that box-mix signature fluorescent orange color. But once you take a bite, there’s no denying that natural sunshine flavor. The only visual clue you’ll get is the subtle specks of orange zest floating throughout.
First rule of working with fruit…
The first thing you need to do when you’re baking with fruit, is taste it. It may sound obvious, but it’s a step often skipped. There’s almost always sugar, citrus zest and juice, and salt added to bring out the fruit flavor during the cooking or baking process. You never want to add so much of those that it overpowers the fruit’s natural sweetness and flavor–just enough to balance and enhance it. You’ll taste and adjust as your recipes progresses, but if you know up front the starting flavor or your fruit, it will get you closer to your desired results with less altering.
IMPORTANT: It is okay to adjust the fruit-enhancing ingredients (sugar, citrus zest, juice and salt) in your recipe. I am making a point to say that because if you are a rule follower like me, you might need to give yourself permission to not follow the recipe exactly. You’re welcome! 😉
A few tips…
The addition of the zest and juice of the orange is the key to achieving maximum flavor. The zest – which is the very outside of the orange, before you get to the bitter white pith – actually provides more flavor than the juice does! To collect the zest, take a fine cheese grater, or Microplane Zester, and scrape the very outside of the orange peel. If you get any of the white layer just underneath, it will be unpalatable, so don’t press too hard! Also, make sure to do this step before you juice your orange!
This recipe calls for buttermilk, which isn’t something most people normally keep on hand. When I do buy it, I rarely need all that comes in even the smallest carton available, so I’ll meal plan breakfast for dinner with buttermilk pancakes, so that it doesn’t end up getting tossed.
One way you can avoid all that, is by making your own buttermilk! Just take one cup of regular milk, and add one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to it. That will “sour” the milk to give it the signature tang of buttermilk. Once you mix it together, let it sit for 5-10 minutes to fully develop.
The mixing process…
The process of mixing this particular cake batter may look different than you’re used to. Instead of the traditional creaming method most people are familiar with, this cake is mixed using the two stage method. I’ve found that I prefer this over a traditional creamed cake, and it’s no harder to make!
The two stage mixing method is most often used for what is called “high ratio cakes”. That’s just fancy talk for “this recipe uses as much or more sugar than flour”. The mixing method you choose determines the texture and volume of your cake. This method generally yields a thinner batter due to the higher amount of liquid, so it pours more freely out of your mixing bowl, but won’t rise quite as high when baking. It is not the mixing method you would use for angel food cakes or chiffon-type batters.
The first stage is combining all the dry ingredients – sugar included – with the solid fat (butter) first, followed by the adding the remaining fat and a controlled amount of liquid (oil and buttermilk). It’s important to follow the mixing speeds and times closely, especially for this second step, because it’s imperative to the structure building of your cake. By only adding a small amount of liquid initially, you’re controlling the gluten development, which can be the difference in a tough or tender cake.
The second stage is when the eggs and remaining liquid ingredients are added in three additions, mixing on low speed and short intervals (10-15 seconds), scraping in between. That’s it! In two simple steps, you’ve created a cake batter that’s going to be tender and moist, with a very fine crumb. Using this method also creates less air holes, which is why the crumb is “tight”, or visibly smaller.
One other perk I’ve found with this mixing method is that the cakes bake up flatter. I don’t have to waste half of the cake by cutting off a dome to stack or decorate. Combining this method with evenly heat-conducting cake pans like these, have yielded me flat cakes each time!
Fillings and frostings…
This recipe makes enough for one 9” cake pan, so you can easily double it to make a two layer cake. A tart, sweet orange curd would be a delicious way to glue the layers together! For frostings, you have a couple options. A whipped chocolate ganache would be a nice surprising accent to the orange flavor, while a buttercream variation (Swiss, Italian, American) would balance the tang of the citrus flavor. Or you could keep things simple and let the citrus sing by blanketing it with a light and fluffy whipped cream frosting. You honestly can’t go wrong any way you go!
P.S. I love to see your creations! Share your own results in the comments or in our Facebook group, Rachel’s Kitchen Conversations!
This week’s Feature Dessert…
I crumble up the cake to use as the base for my Feature Dessert, an Orange Blueberry Cheesecake Dessert Shooter. This personal sized dessert has a layer of toasted cake crumbles, topped with luscious blueberry cheesecake mousse, and then finished off with a crispy orange lace cookie. It’s like a tiny glass of summer that’s fun to eat!
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Citrus Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 175 g cake flour
- 175 g sugar
- 1 g salt
- 4 g baking powder
- 1 g baking soda
- 107 g butter softened, and cut into pieces
- 54 g buttermilk 1 (40%)
- 81 g buttermilk 2 (60%)
- 40 g vegetable oil
- 72 g eggs
- 16 g orange zest
- 3 g vanilla
- 25 g orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 335
- Combine buttermilk 1 and oil; set aside.
- Combine buttermilk 2 with eggs, zest, juice and vanilla. Mix to combine and break up eggs; set aside.
- Put flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in stand mixer bowl. Stir on low with paddle to combine.
- Add softened butter into flour mixture, mix on low speed until it resembles sand.
- Add buttermilk 1 and oil mixture and mix on medium speed (KA 4) for 2 minutes.
- Add buttermilk 2 mixture in 3 batches, mixing on low for 10 seconds between additions, scraping down each time.
- Pour into prepared (greased and parchment lined) 9" cake pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove cake pan to cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto cooling rack until it releases from pan, removing parchment round. Cool completely.
