Orange Marmalade Cake

By Melissa Clark

Orange Marmalade Cake
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1½ hours
Rating
5(1,527)
Comments
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This beautiful, tender, citrus-scented loaf cake filled with bits of candied orange peel is everything you want with your afternoon tea. The key is finding the right marmalade; it needs to be the thick-cut (also known as coarse-cut) marmalade made with bitter oranges, which will be laden with big pieces of peel. Look for the British brands in the international section of your supermarket if the jam aisle lets you down. (And not give up and use the neon orange marmalade that's more like jelly.) Your reward is a fine-grained, not-too-sweet cake that will last for days well-wrapped and stored at room temperature (if you can manage not to eat it up all at once).

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 215grams coarse-cut orange marmalade (⅔ cup), divided
  • 12tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus ½ tablespoon for glaze, and more for greasing pan
  • 150grams granulated sugar (¾ cup)
  • 2teaspoons grated lime zest
  • ½teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 3large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2tablespoons fresh orange juice
  • 190grams all-purpose flour (1½ cups)
  • 7grams baking powder (1½ teaspoons)
  • 3grams fine sea salt (¾ teaspoon)
  • 30grams confectioners’ sugar (4 tablespoons)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

427 calories; 20 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 39 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 277 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely chop any extra-large chunks of peel in the marmalade. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

  2. Step 2

    In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together softened butter, sugar, lime zest and orange zest until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in ⅓ cup marmalade and the orange juice.

  3. Step 3

    In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Fold dry ingredients into wet until just combined.

  4. Step 4

    Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until surface of cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer pan to a wire rack. Cool 10 minutes; turn cake out of pan and place on rack right-side up. Place a rimmed baking sheet under rack to catch the glaze.

  5. Step 5

    Heat remaining ⅓ cup marmalade in a small pot over low heat until melted; whisk in confectioners’ sugar and ½ tablespoon butter until smooth. Slather warm glaze over top of cake, allowing some to drizzle down the sides. Cool completely before slicing.

Tip
  • Measurements for dry ingredients are given by weight for greater accuracy. The equivalent measurements by volume are approximate.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,527 user ratings
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Comments

Pat O

Made this last week for a dinner party -- warm with vanilla ice cream on top -- frankly did not need the ice cream -- made it 2 days ahead. Before serving I heated up a sauce of 1/2 c. OJ, 1 T gran marnier and a small pat of butter. With a chopstick, punched about 8 holes in the top of the cake and let the sauce fill the holes while I heated the cake in the oven. Divine.

joan

this is delicious- i've made it many times, but i've learned it's impossible to wrap without losing the sticky topping, so i now use the entire quantity of marmalade called for in the batter, and i sprinkle a little coarse sugar on top. it might take a few extra minutes to bake... even when i tried freezing it, unwrapped, and then wrapped it, it was too sticky and the glaze came off. it freezes well, though

Jan

To Constance Theodore, I use Trappist Seville Orange Marmalade regularly. It tastes much like Dundee for less money. America's Test Kitchen recommends it highly. This cake recipe looks wonderful and I will use the Trappist marmalade in it.

JB

made as instructed except that i tripled the recipe for a 9x13 glass pyrex! it was delicious—the bitterness of the peels helped to cut the sweetness so it wasn’t overpowering, and the cake was pleasantly moist. i did weigh all of the ingredients, and i ended up baking for about 55 minutes. edges got a wee bit dark by the time the center was cooked but the cake had a great texture, crumb, and flavor. oh, and the best jam i could find was the bonne maman orange marmalade, and it was so tasty. will make again!

Rick

l made this with GF Flour, Cara Cara orange juice/zest and some blood orange/meyer lemon marmalade that I had made the previous week.This is going into the permanent rotation.

Jane N

The recipe says to bake for 50 to 55 minutes. At 50 minutes it was burnt. I cut off the bottom and sides, but the cake had no flavor despite having the marmalade, zest, and orange juice. I would not make it again.

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