This orange muffin came about because I saw a recipe for Orange Bundt Cake on Campari & Sofa, and thought it would be nice to make this as muffins for a pretty dessert. Claudia’s source for the recipe was Marcella Hazan, an Italian cookery write of whom I had never heard before. The orange cake is created by adding orange zest to a pretty straightforward cake recipe, and then soaking everything with fresh orange juice. This turns the cake into something moist, sticky and lots of orange taste. Cakes often turn out dry, but this recipe is forgiving because the cake is soaked in juice anyway.
As the cake is supposed to have its roots in the city of Ancona in the Marche, I substituted the Ouzo with Sambuca. Both are anise liqueurs, but Sambuca is Italian and Ouzo is Greek. The anise liqueur from Marche called Anisetta may be even more appropriate, but probably difficult to find outside of Marche.
I served these muffins for dessert, but they are also great for breakfast or any other time of the day. You could also make them as a bundt cake instead, but I liked the cute individual servings. It was a success and I will definitely make this again. Thanks for sharing, Claudia!
Ingredients
For 12 muffins or 1 bundt cake
325 grams (2 cups + 2 Tbsp) cake flour
3 eggs
zest of 3 oranges
60 grams (4 Tbsp) butter
225 grams (1 cup + 3 Tbsp) sugar
2 Tbsp Sambuca liqueur
1 Tbsp milk
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
500 ml (2 cups) freshly squeezed orange juice, sweetened with 2 Tbsp sugar if needed
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (forced air). Generously butter a muffin tin and sprinkle with flour.
Zest three of the oranges before juicing them. (Make sure to use untreated oranges and wash them well before zesting.)
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine flour, eggs, orange zest, butter, sugar, and sambuca.
…and mix some more to incorporate.
Transfer the batter to the prepared muffin tin.
The batter should fill up about 3/4 of the tin.
Bake for about 18 minutes at 180ºC/350ºF (forced air) until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
A bundt cake will need 40-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, make freshly squeezed orange juice.
Sweeten the orange juice if needed. I added 2 Tbsp of sugar and mixed well.
The muffins should rise nicely.
Allow the muffins to cool briefly until you can handle them.
Arrange them close together on a flat plate and poke many holes into them with a chopstick or another pointy object.
Pour all of the juice on top of the muffins while they are still warm.
A lot of the juice will end up on the plate. Allow the muffins to soak up that juice.
After some hours, all of the juice will have disappeared into the muffins. They are now ready to eat. Store in the refrigerator if you are not eating them the same day.
Baked goods always look prettier if you sprinkle some icing sugar on them.
Wine pairing
We enjoyed a passito di pantelleria with this, which has notes of orange and a good balance between sweetness and acidity to go with these muffins.
These muffins looks so authentic and Italian, Stefan. I bet you could use almost any liqueur to change up the flavor profiles. I agree – the little ones are cute – and I could also eat them anytime of day. 😉
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Thanks, Shanna. Can’t say there was a noticeable anise flavor in them — perhaps I should do a side by side to compare. Not a big surprise though with 2 Tbsp of sambuca in such a lot of batter plus 2 cups of orange juice as well.
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Just a thought. When I make a Jewish rum cake, I always put a bit of booze in the glaze. Could you add a bit of sambuca to your delicious, fresh OJ? I hope you have a great day, Stefan.
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That’s an excellent idea! I’ll try that next time as it will definitely help to bring out the anise flavor.
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Booze is always an excellent idea.
Well, almost always. 😉
Thanks, Stefan – enjoy your Friday – and more importantly, the weekend!
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Thank you Stefan. Small payback for all the inspiration you provide!
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These look so good. If I were to make these what would you recommend I substitute for the liqueur?
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You could substitute the liqueur with the same amount of milk or water, and a bit of powdered aniseed.
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Very nice indeed. This is a very un-Stefan recipe, if you will pardon me saying so. So different to the bison I was reading about a few minutes ago.
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That’s alright, although I’m curious what makes it un-Stefan to you. It is true that is the first time I’ve poured orange juice on a cake, but it is quite similar to other baking I’ve done before. You are right though that it is different from the bison.
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It’s more that it is not put in a plastic bag and warmed for a couple of weeks….
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