Orange Gingerbread Bundt Cake

The Art.
    After I made the syrup for the Traditional Greek Baklava the other day, I had some delicious honey-soaked orange peels left over. They have such a wonderful aromatic flavor that I didn't want to waste them, so I chopped them up and put them in a gingerbread cake. If you haven't made baklava recently, you can make your own candied orange peel by following this recipe. (I actually just watch this video for fun sometimes, Jacques is great). To top the cake off, I made a tart orange glaze and garnished it with orange peel curls. I have decided these curls are my new favorite garnish. I had no idea it would be so easy to make something so elegant!

The Science.
    We all know that unripe oranges are very tart, and ripe oranges taste sweet. This is because the fruit stores sugars in its flesh as it matures, to provide nutrients for the baby orange trees that will grow out of its seeds. One indicator that an orange is mature is the color of its peel, which changes from green, to yellow, to dark orange. With this color change, there are also chemical changes in the composition of the essential oils within the peel. The most abundant oil in both lemon and orange peels is limonene, and this compound's levels increase as the fruit ripens [1]. This is most likely because limonene, along with other flavonoid compounds produced in citrus peels, have antimicrobial properties which will protect the fruit from infection, allowing it to provide a healthy environment for the orange seeds to grow [1, 2]. Luckily for us, flavonoid compounds also have wonderful flavor, and we can gain energy from the sweet orange flesh just as the seeds do. Today, we will use the juice of the orange flesh for our glaze and bake the flavor provided by the orange peel into our rich cake.

The Recipe.

Gingerbread Bundt:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons grated ginger root
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 teaspoons candied orange peel, chopped

    Preheat oven to 350^oF and adjust rack to middle position. Coat bundt pan with baking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in medium bowl. In large bowl, whisk together sugar, ginger root, oil, eggs, molasses, and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in orange peel. Pour patter into pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert on wire rack for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

Orange Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons ginger ale
1 teaspoon orange zest
juice from one orange
3 1/4-inch orange slices

    Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer warm cake to cake stand and spoon glaze over the top. Gently remove the peel from the orange slices and twist them around a skewer or spoon handle to make orange curls. Garnish top of cake with orange curls.

1. Bourgou, S. et al. "Changes of peel essential oil composition of four Tunisian citrus during maturation." Scientific World Journal 2012, Volume 2012, Article ID 528593, 10 pages.

2. Shahwar, D. et al. "Identification of flavonoids with trypsin inhibitory activity extracted from orange peel and green tea leaves." J Sci. Food Agric. 2012, doi: 10.1002/jsfa.5910.