Baking In The New Year / Mega Moist Orange Drizzle Cake

3 Jan

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Today was the last day of the kids holidays and I have only just managed to sit down .. is it terrible that I'm looking forward to them going back tomorrow? Actually, I don't care if it is.. I am! I tried to pack in as much as I could in our last day - partly to tire them out so they'd get a good nights sleep, they're always knackered after the first day of school - and baking is always a hit. I thought I'd try something other than the usual sponge cake so we pulled out an old favourite my Grandma used to make, Orange Drizzle Cake. I kind of guessed at the recipe, adding to my usual 4,4,4,2 method and it turned out to be the MOST moist (shudder) cake i've ever made.. not IDEAL to sandwich together and would possibly be better in cupcakes but crumbly and delicious all the same.For those of you still without a staple cake recipe in their arsenal 4,4,4,2 is easy to remember and adapt. 4oz of sugar, butter and self raising flour and 2 eggs. I doubled that for this cake and added the zest and juice of one orange to the cake itself and more juice to the buttercream filling and to make the icing. For a little drier cake (one that is easier to get out of the pan in one piece) I may skip an egg or use less in the mixture but this is manageable.. just not the prettiest, perfectly formed cake I've ever made, hence no picture.I baked the two tins at 160C for around 20mins and they were good.. this is the first time I've used our new oven for this kind of thing so I was nervous but the transparent door is an absolute godsend, I don't know how I ever lived without one!The 'drizzle' comes in with the icing once you've sandwiched your cakes together, you need a decent amount of (not too thick) icing sugar mixed with orange juice to pour over the cake so that it 'drizzles' down the sides, the perfect amount of icing if you ask me. I don't like too sweet a cake and a thin layer of sugary icing is just right.And finally at half past 8 Milo has stopped jumping back out of bed, Ella is getting her school stuff ready and I am sitting down with a cup of tea and my first slice and I can confirm, it is delicious!