Orange Spice Cake | Baking with Dorie

The orange spice cake reminds me of the pecan-cranberry loaf we made last year around Thanksgiving. Fall theme, warm spices, quick one-bowl hand mixing and a cake you can easily bake in loaf pans. Two very similar cakes in so many ways. The best part: these cakes are plain but appealing—not taxing at all even around the busy holiday weeks. I like to have these easy recipes on hand when I’ve been on the road and find it hard to keep up the baking and blogging.

The cake is flavored with orange (lemon also works), cardamon and ginger. However, I can hardly taste the spices. Take Dorie’s suggestion: add cloves, allspice, coriander to the mix. Run some candied peel or toasted nuts through the batter. Why not: it’s the holiday season? I don’t mind baking several of these in mini-loaf-pans and wrap them up as gifts.

The glaze is optional, according to Dorie, but I won’t skip it. The glistening jam on the cake, the crusty edge, an additional coating of flavor are refreshing. Take a few spoonfuls of your favorite marmalade, heat it up with a few drops of water in the microwave. Then brush the glaze on top of the warm cake. Voilà, I think this is the outstanding part of the cake.

Another virtue of the cake: it keeps for days.

Whether you pack this cake as a gift or have it ready when visitors come to you, the imperative to share is implicit in its name. The cake is built for comfort and durability – make it on Thursday or Friday and have it all weekend. And if it stales, toast it; the heat will intensify the orange/lemon and spice deliciously. The cake is easy to make (no machines needed) and, like all spice cakes, better after a day’s rest. Giving it a swish of warmed marmalade when it comes out of the oven is optional. What shouldn’t be passed up is what I call the ‘lemon trick’: Use your fingertips to rub the recipe’s orange/lemon and sugar together until the sugar is moist and aromatic. This easy step transfers everything essential from the orange/lemon to the cake. Think of it as aromatherapy for the cake and you. – adapted from Dorie Greenspan