Orange and Cardamom Celebration Sponge Cake

Readers, I’m getting more experimental these days with sponge cakes.  I’ve realised that birthday or celebration cakes can be more exciting than a standard Victoria Sponge.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a classic cake every so often, however, sometimes just adding a couple of extra ingredients puts a whole new dimension on a sponge cake.

I was challenged to make something for a person who absolutely doesn’t like chocolate cake (or anything chocolate related… really, those people exist??!) but they love citrus cake.   I didn’t want to make a standard lemon drizzle, so decided to experiment with orange and cardamom.

The cardamom gives amazing nutty and spiced undertones to the cake whilst the orange juice and zest make it light, fresh tasting and airy.

This recipe is easily adaptable from a classic sponge cake aaaaannndddd... I'm also entering it into #recipeoftheweek over at A Mummy Too

Orange and Cardamom Celebration Sponge Cake

Ingredients

200g self raising flour

200g unsalted butter (softened)

200g caster sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

4 medium eggs

Zest of 1 large navel orange (finely grated)

Juice of 1 large navel orange

1 heaped teaspoon ground cardamom

Cake Filling and Decoration

200g butter

125g Sugar and Crumbs Orange Drizzle Icing Sugar

300g Icing Sugar

2 heaped dessert spoons orange marmalade with champagne

Method

1. Grease and line 2 x 8in cake pans. Preheat the oven to 190c/Fan 170c/Gas 5.
2. Cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and creamy.
3. Grate in the zest of one large navel orange and mix to combine.

   

   Note the orange colour once the zest has been added

4. Add in the eggs one by one, and fully stir in each egg with a teaspoonful of flour to prevent curdling, before adding in the next egg.
5. Add in the cardamom and mix to combine.

   

   Adding in the ground cardamom

6. Once mixed, sift in the baking powder and self raising flour and mix until a cake batter is created.
7. Juice one large orange and add the juice to your cake batter, stir to combine.
8. Equally split the batter between the two cake pans and smooth out the top with a spatula.
9. Transfer to the oven (same shelf) and bake for around 20 minutes until golden on top and a metal skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and cool in tins for a few minutes, before removing from the tins and cooling fully on the cooling rack.

    

    Fresh from the oven

11. While cakes are cooling begin prepping the frosting for the filling, top and edges.
12. Soften the butter using an electric mixer and when smooth, add in the orange drizzle icing bit by bit until combined. Then, add in the plain icing sugar and mix until fully combined and smooth, to a consistency which can be spread with a pallet knife.  

    

    Smooth consistency of buttercream

13. Add in orange food colouring bit by bit, and mix until your buttercream frosting reaches the desired colour.
14. Once cakes are cooled, spread some of the frosting over half of the one of the cakes and then top with the orange marmalade with champagne.  Sandwich the two cakes together.

    

    Top with the second cake to finish the sandwich

15. Decorate the top and sides with the frosting, to cover the entire cake and finish with additional décor as required.
16. Refrigerate on completion to firm up the decoration then store in an airtight container for 2-3 days. 

    

    The finished cake before cutting