14 February 2013

Rose and Blood Orange Ambrosia Cake




A fancy name for quite a simple recipe, ambrosia cake is a sponge with citrus icing on top. My grandmother used to make it often so it was with some nostalgia I decided to come up with my own version. Blood oranges are in season and I love their characteristic flavour, perfect for the icing but I also put some juice and zest in the cake itself to zing things up. A few drops of rose water adds a subtle fragrance - delicious and ladylike.

125 gms Butter
3 Eggs
270 gms Sugar
195 gms Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Juice and Zest of 1 Blood Orange

180 gms Icing Sugar
3 tbsp Blood Orange Juice
5 Drops of Rose Water

Red Food Colouring

Grease a non-stick cake tin lightly. Melt the remaining butter and leave it to cool. Whisk the eggs and sugar until really pale and fluffy. Stir in the flour and baking powder, then add the butter and orange juice and zest. Pour into the tin and bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
Once the cake has cooled mix together the ingredients for the icing. Add more icing sugar if necessary to make sure it is not too runny. Pour onto the cake and spread all over using a knife or spatula. The cake will look perfectly gorgeous without any intricately piped icing, but if you want to go the extra mile, mix together some more icing using half the quantities above and add food colouring gradually until you achive the right shade. Fill a piping bag and go for it!

Sketching out design ideas for the icing.





2 comments:

  1. That's so pretty!

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  2. Thank you! Normally I prefer a more rustic and less pink look, but once in a while it is fun to do something pretty as well.

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