This recipe comes from my great grandma on my fathers side or as I called her, “grape gramma”.
After grape gramma passed away my grandmother gave me some of her belongings including a few old recipe books. Most were name brand cookbooks like Pillsbury or books from the grocery stores. However there were a couple gems that I will cherish forever. This is one of them. They are hand written and some typed recipes from her and some of her neighbors. Glued into a homemade cover with a sewn on string border. I can picture the house wives of that era sitting around the kitchen table putting their hard work into these recipe books and I feel so honored to have them!
I love the idea of community and the sense of pride they must have felt choosing which recipe was worthy to be put on paper. It is something I would love to do with some of my girlfriends to pass down to our children!
How cute right? Ok, lets get talking about this recipe. I chose to cook in a Bundt pan as it felt right for the era. Bundt pans were popularized in the 50’s and 60’s in the U.S. so I felt it was only appropriate I used a vintage recipe.
While flipping through the book, the Orange Cake recipe caught my eye. I was looking for something fresh and summery and this was it. It has fresh orange juice, lemon juice, and zest from both. As you can imagine it is full of flavor! The cake is moist, fresh and SOOO delicious.
Look how gorgeous this is!
Filled with fresh citrus zest and juice. And topped with a lemon icing.
Okay, Let’s get started!
Great Grandma's Citrus Cake
Equipment
- Bundt pan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup butter, softened
- 5 tbsp. orange juice Freshly squeezed will yield the best flavor
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed will yield the best flavor
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 lemon zested
- 1 orange zested
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
Lemon Icing
- 2 cups powder sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp salted butter, melted
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°Brush the pan with a few tablespoons of butter and then coat with flour. Dump out excess flour.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
- In a kitchen aid mixer bowl or mixing bowl with hand mixer, combine the butter, orange and lemon zest. Mix. Then add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl when needed.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
- Now add the flour alternately with combined lemon juice, orange juice, and water a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth
- Fill the Bundt pan and even out the batter. Should be about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- After finished, let the cake rest for 10 minutes, then flip over onto a cooling rack.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine all of the icing ingredients and whisk until smooth. If you feel it is too thick add a little water to desired consistency.
- Plate the cake and pour the icing all over to cover. I like to dust with extra powdered sugar.
- Keep covered or refrigerated for a few days, if it lasts that long.
- ENJOY!
