Orange Crumb Cake with Cinammon Crumb Topping

I did not take the photo above, I mean, I was the one who baked the goodies, but I was not the one who took the shot of that picture. It was my pre-teen daughter! If it was me, the picture would look like this:



I have a thing or two to learn from my daughter as well!!! :)

I had some extra ripe oranges in my refrigerator, and I was wondering what dessert can I make out of these sweet oranges. Before internet days, I would peruse my cookbooks. Nowadays, I would just google... :)

I found this very interesting recipe from About.com (Southern Food). Why is it interesting? Because it is a cake, but you do not need a lot of ingredients - just the basic and common ingredients in our pantry. You do not need a mixer. You just need 2 bowls. And you know what that means? Less utensils to wash! The instructions does not seem complicated. Isn't this ideal !?! Ideal for novice and lazy bakers like me who still craves for a dessert or two. :)

1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
4 T butter, room temperature
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking powder
dash of salt
1 egg
1/2 C orange juice
1 t finely grated orange zest

1. Combine flour, sugar, and butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles meal.

2. Measure half cup of the crumb mixture and move to a separate cup or bowl. Blend in the cinnamon and set aside.

3. To the main crumb mixture, add baking powder and salt; blend well.

4. Beat orange juice with egg until well blended; stir with orange zest into the crumb mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8 inch square baking pan.

5. Sprinkle reserved cinnamon-crumb mixture over the batter.

6. Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.


Some tweaks: Have you noticed that whenever we cook or bake something from somewhere, we always have to make some little tweaks ? I do not think we deliberately change something, just to make the recipe more "ours." I think it is more to do with what ingredients we have on hand, or what tastes our families prefer.

1. I used freshly squeezed orange juice, as that is what I have on hand. I used 1 orange for the recipe. To make half-cup of juice, I added only a few tablespoons of water. This is why my cake is not too sweet. If this was made from ready-made orange juice, I think this cake would have been sweeter.

2. I did not use the zest. I have this thing (suspicion) about the skins of fruits being laden with pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals. Sorry, I am obsessive-compulsive in this area. So, what I did was, I added the pulp bits of the squeezed juice. I think the cake still turned out fragrantly orange-y.

3. I added probably 1/4 C topping mixture to the cake because when I added the juice/egg mixture, it turned too watery. Only 1/4 C of crumb topping mixture was left for the toppings.





The verdict? You would love this if you love the fragrant orange with a whiff of cinnamon! For me, this is an ideal snack/dessert. Easy to prepare, no fuss and no mess. Delicious paired with a cup of tea or coffee. It is not too sweet, just the way we like it!



This cake goes to the Bookmarked Recipes community. Bookmarked Recipes is a world-wide foodie event....where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup. It is created and regularly hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. For last week's edition, Deeba of Passionate about Baking did a wonderful and beautiful round-up. This week, I will be guest hosting as well. This is my first time to host a food event, I am so excited about it. I hope you can join and play!

Personally, I enjoy taking part in this event and I enjoy reading all the entries. Because these are the recipes carefully picked and chosen by wonderful food bloggers around the world. The recipes have been tried and tested in real kitchens, commented and improved. In other words, these are the weekly compilation of one of the best recipes in the blogosphere!

It is so easy to play! If you have any recipes you got from another source, you cooked it, and want to share your cooking experiences with it, please blog about it and post it between now to Sunday, Sept 21. I will do the round-up on Monday, Sept.22. Of course, this is an ongoing weekly event, so in case, you were not able to participate this week, come join us the following week or the next, or the next... :)


To take part here's what you do.......
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from


I'll be looking forward to the dishes you're all cooking!!!