Best moist orange cake with orange glaze

I really like the thought of oranges in my bakes.. but yet, I've hardly done any, ever.

Well, I've been thinking a lot about baking an orange cake lately, as sweet, delicious oranges are in season again (^^). So I'm finally committing to baking one today.. an orange butter cake. You must be thinking, another butter cake??? Sorry, I have butter cake cravings.. again! (^^||) Please bear with me..

Moist orange butter cake

250g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
zest of 1 orange
230g self raising flour
125ml orange juice
4 egg whites
70g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Beat butter and 100g sugar till light and fluffy (don't overbeat!) Add egg yolks one at a time and beat till well combined. Mix in orange zest.

3. Sift flour, and fold into butter mixture in 3 batches. Mix in orange juice. Batter should be nice and smooth now.

4. Beat egg whites till frothy, and slowly add in 70g sugar. Beat till thick and glossy.

5. Fold in egg whites gently into cake mixture in 2 batches.

6. Bake as cupcakes for 25 minutes, or in a 7 or 8" round/square tin for 40-55 minutes, or till the skewer comes out clean.

I was dreaming and left the cake baking in the oven for 55 minutes. No harm done, just a darker crust/top ^^||, that's all.

Anyways, I decided to add a sugar glaze to make this simple cake a little more interesting.. ermm, actually more to get baby pig's attention.. Kids! They just like it better when it comes with sweet frosting! Okay, some adults too ^^.. Well, I like mine plain, always..

Orange glaze

Juice of 1/2 orange (left over from cake)  
Icing sugar, sifted (I used about 4tbsp, but feel free to add more)

Just whisk sifted icing sugar to orange juice till you get the consistency and sweetness you want. No right or wrong here. Pour over cake.

Oh, did I mention I used Ballantyne unsalted butter today. It's my first time baking a cake with Balllantyne (it was cheap at the supermart ^^). It has an unusually heavy "butter" smell (not in a good way! like "fishy" in fish), which I will not recommend used as a spread on bread. They are however, the owners of Golden Churn, my all time favorite butter for butter cakes (^^).

Anyways, the cake with orange glaze turned out to be truly sublime.. despite my initial reservations with the "butter-y" smell (^^). Beautiful texture, and nicely moist with a wonderful orange aroma and taste!

This is so, so, very, very GOOD!!! With or without glaze (^^)

p.s fatty hubby almost finished a quarter of the cake by himself.. and piggies love this cake glazed. I bet it will taste better tomorrow.. if there's any left!