Frosted orange sponge cakes

Tam West

I needed a sugar hit about 11am one day in Seville so stopped in at the Confiteria Los Angeles for a coffee and the cake that the following recipe is based on. If you want a 101 on how to make the sponge, watch my video here.

Ingredients

4	Eggs
115 g	Caster sugar
2	Oranges, finely grated zest from 1 orange, zest in long strips from the other
115 g	Flour, sifted
¼ cup	Candied peel, or crystallised orange, finely diced
300 ml	Cream, whipped
2 cups	Icing sugar
3 Tbsp	Orange juice
1 Tbsp	Orange flower water

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line a large shallow ovenproof tray (about 25cm by 36cm) with baking paper
2. Beat the eggs, sugar and finely grated zest until the creamy and pale. Add the flour and gently fold in.
3. Pour on to the tray and gently smooth the top.
4. Place in the oven for 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and cool. Turn out onto a board and cut 12 x 7cm diameter rounds with a cookie cutter (or cut into 7cm squares).
6. Stir the crystallised orange or peel into the whipped cream. Spread 6 of the rounds with the cream and place the other 6 rounds on top. Smooth the edges of the cream filling so it is flush with the sponge rounds.
7. Mix the icing sugar, juice and orange flower water so you have a thick but runny frosting.
8. Ice each sponge cake generously with the frosting and sprinkle a little of the strips of orange zest. Refrigerate for 1 hour then serve.

More from Ray's Christmas Eve tapas dinner

• Cos lettuce with garlic prawns
• Chickpeas, silverbeet and spinach
• Chicken with raisins, pinenuts and radicchio
• Escalivada (Catalan roasted eggplant and pepper salad)