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Indian River Sweet Orange Bread


Indian River Sweet Orange Bread
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 134.

This is a delicately flavored orange bread that can be eaten as is or it can be toasted and served with butter, cream cheese or honey butter. My oranges didn't make quite enough juice that the recipe called for so the flavor was not as intense as I like it. You have the option of adding raisins or nuts (or both). I added raisins to one of the loaves and left the other one plain. 

I have always loved the combination of chocolate and orange and wondered afterward if adding chocolate chips might be good. I may try that the next time.

I froze one of the loaves for later. When I do serve it, I'm going to whip up a orange glaze to go over it.

If you like this, you might also be interested in the Texan Orange Cake and the Spanish Orange Cake.

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 TBS. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 large oranges (to yield 1 1/3 cups juice)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3 TBS. butter
3 eggs, slightly beaten
Optional: Walnuts or pecans and/or currants or raisins

Adjust oven rack to 1/3 from the bottom. Preheat oven to 350. Butter (or spray) 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches and coat with fine, dry bread crumbs.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Zest the oranges and squeeze the juice (you need 1 1/3 cups of juice). Set aside.

Place the orange zest, sugar and water into a large saucepan. Stir over high heat until the sugar is dissolved and it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes.
 
Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter. Stir until the butter has melted.
Add the orange juice and the eggs and stir.
Pour the orange juice mixture over the dry ingredients.
Stir until the dry ingredients are moistened.*
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (until
cake tester comes out dry).
Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then remove the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.

* 1/2 cup of nuts or raisins may be added to the batter if desired. You can always have one cake with raisin and the other with nuts or whatever you prefer.
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Comments

Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
September 30, 2016 at 10:42 AM
angel said…
this loaf was fabulous, actually "amazeballs" is what my friend called it.

thank you :)
July 13, 2017 at 2:52 PM
Flossie_666 said…
I just love Maida's Orange bread. I think of it as more of a tea loaf to serve with a cup of tea or coffee. My family has made orange bread for many years with orange juice & zest from our own orange trees in Central Florida. This is my go to tea bread that I serve at my club meetings. It seems to be a big hit.I recommend that you make a little glaze out of orange zest and juice with powdered sugar, and drizzle it over the tea bread.
PS. I also urge everyone to try Maida's coffee loaf or tea bread on a cold day. You add espresso powder to it. I add some shaved chocolate and dust it with a mix of sugar and cocoa powder for Mocha tea bread.
If you like banana bread, I urge you to try Maida's orange bread as a tropical treat.
December 5, 2023 at 10:41 AM
Phillip Oliver said…
Thank you for these tips. And how lucky to have your own orange trees!
December 5, 2023 at 11:02 AM
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