Spiced Orange Cake with Rum Raisin Ice Cream

This is the kind of cake you bake when your hens are laying like the clappers and your orange trees are sighing with relief every time you pluck a golden orb from its branches... which would be right about now in my world.

Spiced Orange Cake with Rum Raisin Ice Cream

adapted from here

For the Ice Cream:

1 cup sultanas

1 cup dark rum

150g caster sugar

6 egg yolks

500ml full cream milk

500ml cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Cake:

3 whole oranges

300g ground almonds

300g caster sugar

2 teaspoons baking poweder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

7 eggs

Make the Ice Cream:

Put the rum and sultanas into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to soak overnight. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the rum. Blitz half of the sultanas in a small food processor to make a paste. Set aside.

Place the sugar and yolks into a medium saucepan.  Whisk until pale and thick, about 2 minutes, add milk and stir until smooth.  Place over medium heat, and stir until the mixture thickens and can coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl.  Add sultanas, sultana paste, reserved rum, cream and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard, and refrigerate until completely cold.  

Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturers instructions.  Eat straight away, or spoon into a freezer-safe container and chill in the freezer to firm up.

Make the Cake:

Put whole oranges (unpeeled) in a saucepan.  Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hours, then drain.  When cool, cut in half and remove the pips, then put them (skin and all) into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Grease and line a 24cm round cake tin.  Set aside.

Weigh the orange pulp.  You'll need 450g (discard the rest). Place it back in the food processor, along with all the dry ingredients and the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 60 - 80 minutes, or until the sides start to come away from the tin.  If the cake is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before turning it out.