Orange Drizzle Cake

I tend to send anything I bake at the weekend off to Mr CB’s workplace on a Monday morning.  I would like to say this is because I’m a generous soul but it’s mainly to stop me scoffing lots of cake come Monday night. They are also a great bunch at giving honest feedback and now it seems requests!  While having a drink with them all on Friday night it was requested that I make an orange, as opposed to lemon, drizzle cake.  That is fine with me as I quite like being given ideas for things to make.  I have used a recipe I found in BBC Good Food magazine for a ‘Lighter lemon drizzle cake’ but substituted orange for its more bitter sister.  This cake came under the healthy recipes section as it uses rapeseed oil instead of butter.  It is a lovely light cake and the orange flavour has come through nicely.


The Recipe


75ml rapeseed oil
175g self raising flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
50g ground almonds
50g polenta
zest of 2 oranges
140g caster sugar
2 eggs
225g natural yoghurt


For the orange syrup
85g caster sugar
juice of 2 oranges


1. Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm springform tin and line the base.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, almonds, polenta, zest and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together and make a well in the centre.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and natural yoghurt and add to the well in the dry ingredients. Add the rapeseed oil and mix together lightly until just combined.  
4. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for around 40 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and after the cake has cooled a little allow to cool on a wire rack. 
5. While the cake is baking make the syrup by putting the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan with a little water. Heat  until the sugar is dissolved and then bring to the boil to thicken up the syrup.
6. Before the cake fully cools make several holes in it with a skewer and pour over the orange syrup.

Read more at What I Baked This Weekend