Orange Cardamom Cake to Melt the Ice

In case you didn't know, last week we were held prisoner by ice for five days. Five days of no school, no work, no driving. What did we do? Go sledding. What else? Go crazy. And what else? Make cake. Oh yes, and eat cake. It's safe to say I won't need a piece of cake for at least three months. OK, maybe one little slice more.

The cake binge started with an argument between my children over the possession of three small white marbles. It was day four of the ice prison and apparently when you've been stuck at home for four days straight three small white marbles become very important and one must have all three of them and one can not share them at any cost, because then one would not have all three marbles, would one?

I knew at that point actual logic was useless, so I used the logic of sweet baked goods. "Who wants to help me make a cake?" Argument over. Thank God.

Over the next few days we made a total of three cakes, one of which we used for my husband's birthday cake. For his birthday dinner, we made his favorite: masala dosai with coconut chutney. (The masala is potato curry filling folded inside the dosa. A dosa is a rice and lentil crepe.) I wanted a cake that would work well with Indian food, and I had the cardamom from the previous week's banana recipe fresh in my mind. So I came up with this: caramel cardamom mandarin orange upside down cake. I used the caramel version of the Hurry-Up Cake from my trusty 1964 "Joy of Cooking" as a reference point, but the cardamom and the mandarin orange "topping" were all me. (You know how upside down cake works, right? You put the topping in the bottom of the cake pan, then the cake batter, and bake. When the cake is done you flip the cake upside down onto the plate, and what was on the bottom is now on top. All the butter and sugar and fruit has caramelized and become sticky with all sorts of goodness.)

So let me just talk for a moment about what sends this cake over the top: the use of orange blossom water in the topping. Without it, the sticky goodness is still really good. But with just a half teaspoon of this magic elixir, it becomes ambrosial. Like the balmy air of an orange grove in winter, like the bees are buzzing around you. I am one of those people who happens to have a bottle of orange blossom water lying around, because I'm just like that. I know most people aren't like me, but I urge you to go to your nearest Middle Eastern market (or DeKalb Farmer's Market, if you are lucky like me and live close to that place) and pick up a bottle. You'll start thinking of other uses for it, I promise. Like adding it to honey, or smoothies, or homemade sorbet, or whatever. Or else you can just make this cake hundreds of times. It was the sun in cake form for us.

Caramel Mandarin Orange Upside Down Cake

Based on a recipe from Irma Rombauer's 1964 edition of "The Joy of Cooking"

For the topping:

½ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup brown sugar, packed

½ teaspoon orange blossom water

2 11-ounce cans of mandarin oranges in light syrup

Grease a ten-inch cake pan. (Don't use a pan with removable sides: It will leak hot sugary butter all over your oven, and smoke you out of your home. Yes, I learned this the hard way.) Melt the butter in a small saucepan on medium heat, then add the brown sugar and stir for a few minutes until the brown sugar is completely combined and melted. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the orange blossom water. Set aside.

Drain the mandarin oranges of their liquid and, starting in the center, arrange the orange slices in a circular pattern on the bottom of the cake pan. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture over the orange slices and gently spread it evenly over the bottom of the pan, taking care not to disturb the orange slices.

For the cake batter:

1¾ cups all-purpose unbleached white flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

½ cup soft butter

2 eggs

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

1¾ teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, and cardamom. Then add the butter, eggs, milk, salt, baking powder, and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter over the orange slices, and gently spread it evenly over the entire cake pan. Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until the cake is done in the center. Let the cake cool for a few minutes, then with a table knife loosen the sides from the pan if necessary. Then place a plate under the bottom of the cake pan. Place another plate on top of the cake pan. Carefully flip the cake upside down while holding it between the two plates. Lift the plate that is now on top off the cake. Then lift up the upside down cake pan. The pan should slide off easily, and the oranges should now be on top of the cake. Serve with vanilla ice cream.