Recipe adapted from my recipe for Pineapple Upside down cake in my book, Always Add Lemon published by Hardie Grant

Equipment needed: 22-25cm cake tin, sides greased and a round of baking paper on the bottom

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

Topping:

25g butter

80g brown sugar

3-4 oranges or mandarins, peeled and sliced into rounds

Cake batter:

225g room temperature butter

200g sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 tsp. vanilla extract

100ml milk

2 Tbls. cointreau or other orange liquer (optional)

220g plain flour

1/2 tsp. fine salt

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. bi-carb soda

Method:

Firstly, make the topping.  Melt butter, brown sugar and salt in a small saucepan until sugar crystals have melted and the mix is bubbling.  Simmer that for 1 minute to ensure everything melts together.  Pour this molten mix into your prepared cake tin.  Arrange orange slices on top of this caramel in any pattern which you like.  Try to cover as much surface area as possible so you can have a lot of fruit in each cake slice.

Set oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  

Next, cream together soft butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  This part takes longer than you might think, about 5-10 minutes in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.   Next, add egg yolks and vanilla until well incorporated.  Separately, whip the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form, set aside.  Mix the milk with the cointreau if using and set aside.

Next, combine the dry ingredients and whisk them together.  Add half the dry ingredients to the butter in the mixer and then gently mix, then add all the milk with the machine running and then carefully add the remaining dry ingredients and finish mixing with a spatula.  It will be very thick.  Add about ½ of the egg whites into this mixture and mix to combine and loosen the batter, then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites.  Pour this out onto the oranges, spread it out and gently tap the pan on the counter top to ensure the cake batter has dropped into place.  

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool slightly before flipping it over.  To flip it over place a flat plate or cake tray inverted onto the top of the tin and while holding this plate in place with your right hand, use your left hand to hold the tin up against the platter.  When flipped, simply pull the tin off and peel off the baking paper and serve warm or when completely cooled with a dollop of whipped cream, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream. This cake is even better the next day.