Orange Cake

The recipe comes from an Italian cookbook called The Silver Spoon. I baked it for dessert last night after a meal of fresh pasta and meat sauce, bread, and salad. Since the meal was a bit on the heavy side, I decided to go with a fresh, lighter variety of dessert. To me, citrus desserts always do a great job of lightening the heavy (but delicious) load that my taste buds experience after eating garlic, tomato, and meat. You will most likely have all the ingredients in your pantry, which is a plus when you are in a pinch!

Ingredients:

butter, for greasing plus
scant 1/2 cup sweet cream butter, gently melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar 
scant 1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
juice of two oranges, strained or about 1 1/2 cups orange juice and poured it through a fine mesh strainer to get out all the pulp
orange zest (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a cake pan with some butter. Whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, and half the powdered sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the melted butter. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture, mix well and gently stir in half the orange juice. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until barely browned on top and cooked. Meanwhile, sift the remaining (and you may need more) powdered sugar into the remaining orange juice, whisking to get out all the lumps, until you have a semi-thick consistency. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool, then turn out onto a serving dish. Spread the orange frosting evenly over the cake and let set in a cool place. Lightly sprinkle a small amount of orange zest over the cake before serving!

Makes 1 (9-inch) cake; about 8 small pieces.