As discussed with Renee Krosch (ABC radio Sydney) this evening. It’s the easiest orange cake you could ever wish to make, taught to me as a child by my Gran.

At the end of the recipe are some variations you might like to try.

Orange Cake

This recipe can also be used to make small cakes or muffins.

Here is the basic cake batter:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

¼ cup milk

¼ cup orange juice

1½ cups self raising flour

125g melted butter

1 large tablespoons finely grated orange zest

1 teaspoon lemon zest, optional

Method

Heat oven to 160 degrees C (fan forced). Grease an 18cm or 20cm round tin and line base with baking paper, grease over this.

Place all in a bowl and beat with electric beater for 2 minutes.

Transfer mixture to the prepared tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes for 20cm tin or 40 minutes for 18cm tin.

Remove from oven, leave to stand in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

Ice if you like with a well flavoured orange icing that contains just a little lemon juice as well. Cream cheese icing, again orange flavoured, is also very nice.

Variations:

Add half cup poppy seeds (fold these in after beating the cake batter)

Add a cupful of chopped pistachios

Bake the mixture in a slab tin 18cm x 28cm (grease and line tin with baking paper). When baked and cooled, ice with orange icing, keeping a little of it back to which is added a little cocoa and a tiny bit more orange juice so it remains the same consistency as the original orange icing. Ice the slice with orange icing, then pipe lines of the chocolate icing over (1cm intervals), then drag a skewer through to make a feather and fan pattern.

Another way to decorate the slice version is to insert almond slivers at intervals before baking.