Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat your oven to 360 F.
- Add the butter, oil, sugar and orange zest into the bowl of your stand mixer and beat using your paddle attachment until smooth. Mix in the orange juice. Add the eggs, one at a time. Only add the next egg once the first one is mixed in.
- Sift in the flour, salt and baking powder and mix just until combined. Add the milk at the end to help get a smooth consistency.
- Line your baking tins with parchment paper, then spray with cooking spray or brush with butter. Divide the cake batter into the two cake tins. Tap lightly on your counter to even out the batter.
- For the Almonds: If you want to add the optional almond halves, place them in a circular pattern until the top is covered. Don't puch them in, just lightly place them on top of the batter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 12-15 minutes before removing the cake from the tins.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Variations. If you want to skip the oil you can use all butter instead of half oil half butter. I sometimes use a lemon instead of oranges. I imagine a mixture of lemon and lime zest would taste wonderful.
Cake tins. I usually make this using two 6 inch cake tins because that's how my Grandmother made it, but you can use a bundt pan, a loaf pan or a 9 inch cake tin. Adjust the baking time accordingly. It should take 45-55 minutes to bake one large cake, depending not he shape you choose. A 9 inch round cake takes 50-55 minutes to bake.
Over mixing. If you are using a hand mixer make sure you don't overman the batter. Mix the flour in until just combined. Over mixing the batter will result in a dense cake.