Brown butter orange marmalade cake

Why would I call a cake without any marmalade in it orange marmalade cake? Well, because my first bite of this tender cake was reminiscent of those slightly bitter orange pieces studded throughout the sweet jam.

And it's no surprise, because instead of simply juicing/zesting oranges to impart their fragrant nature and flavor into the cake...

...you blitz them in a food processor and throw in the whole shebang!!

 
I've made an olive-oil almond cake in the past, which included a whole orange and lemon, but in that case I pre-boiled the citrus to mellow the flavor a bit.

Another delicious take on whole oranges in dessert

No such mellowing with this cake--full on orange flavor only!

I won't lie--it's a bold flavor. So if you're not all that into oranges or you're not a big fan of the slightly bitter citrus flavor this cake probably won't be your favorite. BUT, if you can't wait for your teeth to bite into the citrus chunks in an orange marmalade, then you'll be in heaven.

My glaze is more of a simple syrup than a thick coating to cut down on the sweetness

Oh, and did I forget to mention the brown butter??? How could I--it's only one of the most delicious flavors on earth! And yes, it's in this cake too. (Of course it is.)

Don't skip out on the nuttiness of browning your butter

So dig in, and your taste buds will thank me.

My cake was a bit crumbly, but really tender

Buen Provecho,
Jacqueline

Brown butter orange marmalade cake, from my friend Liz @ The Floating Kitchen

Ingredients

For the Orange Cake
1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces, room temperature
2 oranges
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder

For the Glaze
1 cup confectioners sugar for a thick glaze; for a less sweet and very thin glaze I used closer to a few tablespoons
1-2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 10-cup Bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour. Set aside.

Make browned butter

• Melt the butter in a saucepan or skillet over medium heat.(see here for great stepwise photos)
• Continue heating the butter, whisking constantly, until it begins to foam. Continue to cook (and continue to whisk) until the butter has deepened in color (there should be brown specks on the bottom of the pan) and smells nutty. 
• Remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a small bowl. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get any of the solids. Set it aside to cool for about 10 minutes. 

Prep cake

• Wash the oranges and trim and discard the ends. Cut the oranges into chunks and remove any seeds. Place the oranges in your food processor and process until the oranges are finely chopped, but not puréed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and set aside.
• In the bowl of your mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the browned butter and the sugar until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the processed oranges and beat until well combined. 
• Add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix until the flour is well incorporated and no more white streaks remain. Spread the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and place in your pre-heated oven. 
• Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in it’s pan for about 10 minutes. Then invert the pan over a wire rack to remove the cake, allowing it to cool completely.

Glaze the cake

• Once the cake is cooled, make the glaze. In a small bowl whisk together the confectioners sugar and the orange juice. Start with 1 tablespoon of orange juice, adding more as necessary to thin out the glaze to the desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.