My father-in-law's birthday was at the beginning of April, and my thoughtful husband wanted to make him a cake that would remind him of the orange cake that his mother used to make him. The result was this, Torta di Arancia (Italian Orange Cake), from a recipe found online and modified only slightly from the original. It was a hit!


Italian Orange Cake (Torta di Arancia)
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
3 tablespoons finely ground almonds
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whipping cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
Grated peel of 2 oranges
1/2 cup orange marmalade
Honey-orange glaze (see recipe below)
Brush a 9- or 10-inch Bundt pan with 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with ground almonds. Set aside. Cream remaining 1 cup butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cream. Stir in vanilla and orange peel. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 1 hour, or until lightly golden and wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Invert onto cake plate. Brush cake with orange marmalade. Spoon honey-orange glaze over cooled cake. Yield: 16 servings.
HONEY-ORANGE GLAZE:
1/2 cup orange juice, strained
1/2 cup honey
Combine orange juice and honey in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring once or twice, until honey is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Let cool. Spoon over cooled orange cake. Yield: About 1 cup.
We sliced the oranges we had used for the zest and used them to decorate the plate.
Experimenting last weekend for Easter dinner with my family, I used the batter recipe to make a pineapple upside-down cake. I omitted the zest and added a bit of the pineapple juice from draining the can. I used 2 cups of brown sugar and one can of pineapple chunks (I don't like to use rings, because they make it harder to eat!). It was a large cake, so I would probably cut the recipe in half next time, and I would add cinnamon to the brown sugar. If there are any expert pineapple upside-down cake bakers out there, I'd love some tips!