6 • THE CAMBERWELL CITIZEN • ISSUE #8
SICILIAN ORANGE CAKE Serves 8–10
INGREDIENTS For the cake • 1 small organic orange • 3 medium eggs • seeds from ½ vanilla pod • 80g demerara sugar • 50g caster sugar • 1 generous tbsp almond or orange liqueur • 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing • fine durum wheat semolina flour, for the tin • 100g ‘00’ pasta flour • 50g ground almonds • 1 tsp baking powder • pinch of fine sea salt
Photo: Penguin Random House
The story goes that monks at the Benedictine monastery in Catania invented this cake. While we’ll never know for sure, they certainly had a reputation as true food connoisseurs. What an ingenious idea it was from the Sicilians to throw whole citrus fruits into a cake. After all, why bother peeling an orange when it’s the skin that has most of the flavour? This cake can also be made with lemons, mandarins or clementines. And instead of butter, which was not as widely available in Sicily in the past, you can substitute olive oil.
For the icing and decoration • 2 tsp orange juice or liqueur • 100g icing sugar, plus extra to dust (optional) • finely grated zest of 1 organic orange • candied orange slices (optional)
sugar, and the almond or orange liqueur for about 5 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/ Gas 4). Grease a large loaf tin (800-900ml) and dust with semolina flour. Gradually stir the orange purée and butter into the egg mixture. Mix the flour with the ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients in batches into the egg mixture. Spoon into the tin and bake in the bottom of the oven for 45–50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre emerges clean. Leave to cool, then turn out of the tin. To make the icing, gradually stir drops of juice or liqueur into the icing sugar until you have a viscous glaze. Pour this over the cooled cake. (If you like, you can dust the cake with icing sugar beforehand.) Sprinkle with orange zest and decorate with candied orange slices if you like.
METHOD (Prep 1 hr 10 mins)
For the lemon and olive oil cake (pan di limone):
Wash the orange in hot water and chop into pieces, but do not peel! Remove any pips. Purée the orange in a food processor.
Replace the butter with 80ml olive oil, use lemon instead of orange, and limoncello or amaretto instead of orange liqueur.
Use an electric whisk or free-standing mixer to beat the eggs with the vanilla, both types of
This is an edited extract from Cettina Vicenzino’s The Sicily Cookbook (DK Books, RRP $34.99), available now.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW CAMBERWELL? Test your local knowledge of the Camberwell shopping precinct. ACROSS
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5 A department store that aims to cater to everyone
1 A popular hair salon that has been open for more than 35 years
7 Where you can find fun pyjamas for the whole family
3 Outdoor apparel brand that shares its name with Nepal’s capital
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4 Where you can find a great drop to take home
11 This restaurant brings the flavours and traditions of France and Belgium together 15 A popular destination for cycling lovers
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6 One of the sweetest places in Camberwell since 1958 10
12 A popular phone and internet store on Burke Rd 13 A cafe with a tradition of colourful and tasty treats
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14 A prohibition-style cocktail bar in a basement 16 A modern Mexican restaurant known for its burritos and margaritas
Across: (5) Target, (7) Peter Alexander, (8) CoffeeHead, (9) Music Junction, (10) Abode Living, (11) Franco Belge, (15) Bike Gallery Down: (1) Ulms Hair, (2) Specsavers, (3) Kathmandu, (4) Dan Murphys, (6) The Chocolate Box, (12) Optus, (13) Legacy, (14) Bar None, (16) La Cabra
CITIZEN
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8 A coffee playground where they roast their own coffee beans
10 A family-owned luxury bed linen maker that has been operating since 1991
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