I’ve been craving citrus flavours lately, which is the inspiration for this week’s recipes.  My orange cake is actually my easiest, standard go-to recipe for a simple baked treat. The great thing about it is, once you’ve gotten the hang of making this cake, the flavours are endlessly interchangeable. For example, I’ve used this same recipe with coffee flavours, lemon and thyme, blueberry, and even an Irish cream version!
Not only is this cake very user-friendly, it requires only about 40 minutes worth of work, and basic ingredients. It is also easily doubled.

This cake goes well with tea or coffee, but goes especially well with my citrus-honey sorbet.  My citrus-honey sorbet combines all the fresh flavours of freshly squeezed oranges and lemons, and pairs it with the sweetness of honey for an unbelievable combination. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, don’t worry- this recipe can be done granita-style, by placing the sweet liquid in the freezer and giving it a whisk every 40 minutes or so. It takes a while to freeze, so keep in mind you will be waiting for your frozen treat for over four hours if using the freezer method.

Citrus-honey sorbet
You will need

• 5 lemons, juiced and zested
• 5 oranges, juiced and zested
• ¼ cup cold water
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup honey
• 1 tsp of salt

Method:
1. In a stainless steel bowl, combine zest, juices, water, salt and sugar. Pour mixture into a medium-sized saucepan, and heat over medium-high heat.
2. Add honey as liquid begins to heat. Bring mixture to almost a boil, and then immediately remove from heat.
3. Pour liquid back into stainless steel bowl. If you wish, you can at this point strain the mixture to remove the pieces of zest, or leave them for a more rustic feel.
4. Allow to cool to room temperature, then place bowl into freezer for 40 minutes to 1 hour. After 40 min to 1 hour, remove from freezer, whisk mixture, and return to freezer. Continue until mixture is completely frozen (about 4-6 hours)
5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop one to two scoops into a martini glass or wine glass. Garnish with mint or fruit slices.

Orange cake
You will need:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• Zest of 1 large orange
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp plain or vanilla yogurt (low fat or fat free is fine)
• 3 eggs

For syrup:

• 2 oranges, zest and juice
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup sugar

Method:
1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. In a large stainless steel bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and zest until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.
4. Add the flour in two separate additions, mixing only until incorporated.
5. Fold in the yogurt.
6. Place into a prepared loaf pan. Tap the pan firmly against countertop to get rid of any air bubbles from inside batter.
7. Bake in the oven at 380F for 350-40 minutes, until golden brown and a knife comes out clean when inserted into cake. While cake is baking, prepare the syrup (see below)
8. While cake is still warm, pour syrup over and allow to cool inside loaf pan.

To make syrup:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn heat down to low.
2. Allow syrup to continue reducing until halved.
3. Pour prepared syrup over cake.