whole orange cake.

one of the things i love most about living in san diego is the constant access to lemons, limes and oranges.  i'm not kidding when i say, they're everywhere.  once we have a place that's ours, i can't wait to plant a few citrus trees of our own, but for now we're happily accepting fruit from family & friends.

a few weeks ago i found myself with a ridiculous amount of oranges and too lazy to try my hand at orange marmalade, decided to try this whole orange cake recipe in the most recent sunset magazine.  i have an awesome recipe for a to-die-for lemon cake (eventually, i'll be sure to share that one as well) that sounded similar to this (minus the whole fruit), so i figured this cake was worth a shot.

honestly, if i'm going to bake any kind of cake, let it be a bundt cake.  in general, i love the way they look & how moist they tend to be.  i don't think i've ever had a dry bundt cake, have you?  this cake was no exception.  the cake was simple enough to mix together and since the oranges were added whole, there was no fussing with juicing, peeling, or zesting.  score.

we served this cake on the night of my birthday & everyone loved it.  the bitterness of the peels gave the cake a marmalade-like flavor and unlike most cakes, this one wasn't too sweet.  if i had to make any changes, i'd probably omit the frosting.  the cake can totally stand alone and would be a perfect addition to any party, potluck, or night in.  enjoy!