Orange Madeira Loaf Cake

It's been a hectic few weeks and I've abandoned the blogosphere since the New Baby Cake which kind of took it out of me to be honest! Anyway, I finally found time to get back in the kitchen and made something considerably less complicated yet utterly delicious. It's a Rachel Allen recipe from her Home Cooking book which I love, I've mentioned it in previous blog posts and really rely on it as a go-to whenever I'm lacking in inspiration; in fact, it is probably second only to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Everyday book in terms of how often it gets used at Colehill Kitchen.

This time it was a lovely warming orange loaf cake, perfect now that the weather is cooling off, but not in the realms of dense wintery fruit or chocolate cakes. It's a nice change from the traditional lemon drizzle cake, but no less delicious.

Orange Cake

175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 eggs

Zest of 2 oranges

225g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I used part golden caster sugar and part normal caster sugar, but it's entirely up to you!

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each one, then add the orange zest.

Sift the flour and baking powder then fold in with the juice, stopping as soon as all the flour is combined.

Transfer into a greased and lined loaf tin, then smoth out the top.

Bake in the oven at 170 degrees for 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

The icing in particular went down a storm, which was simply 75g icing sugar and 2-3 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice. Combine the juice with the icing sugar gradually until it is soft but not runny, then spoon over the cake.


Slice and enjoy with a cuppa for the perfect afternoon tea!