Lady Golden Glow Cake - Recipe

After posting the recipe for my quick and easy cocoa cupcakes,  I decided to venture into something more complicated (but not to much! By now, my readers must have noticed that my recipes tend to be very "user friendly"). But first, please, allow me to explain why I wanted to share this specific recipe with you.

I remember being little and my grandmother making this cake that completely fascinated me. I wouldn't exactly eat it, the combination of orange and dark chocolate is something that I enjoy a lot now, but back then it sounded just weird. Instead, I would sit  in front of the cake, staring at it for minutes unending, while often poking it gently to make sure it was real. It's a memory I wasn't even absolutely sure it had really happened. So, even after my mother's confirmation that the cake existed and gave me the recipe, I had to google it to make sure other people knew about it, and that the image I had of it wasn't just a product of my imagination. The Lady Golden Glow cake... really, who names cakes like that any more?... is now referred to as a Retro Cake! Isn't that just adorable? 

The original recipe is English so my grandmother had to convert it to grams, which made for really strange measures. To make it easier, I tried to convert it all back to cups.

for the cake:

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1 and 2/3 cups white sugar

1/2 orange zest

2 egg yolks

1 egg white

3 cups plain flour

3 tea spoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/3 of a cooking chocolate tablet (melted)

Pre-heat the oven.

Cream butter and sugar. Add the orange zest and the 2 egg yolks. 

On the side, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the batter, alternating with the milk. 

Fold in the stiffened egg white. 

Divide batter into two parts in separate bowls. To one part add the melted chocolate. 

Alternate big table spoons of dark and light batter into the greased and floured cake pan. (I think a cake pan with a hole in the middle might work better but I had to use the plain one I have at home). 

Bakes at 180.C ( 350F.) for about 50 min. or until tester comes out clean.

for the glazing:

3 table spoons butter (melted) 

3 cups powdered sugar 

1/2 orange zest

1/2 orange juice + the pulp of that orange

1 egg white

the rest of the cooking chocolate (grate a bit for the top of the cake and melt the rest)

Mix and beat well the butter, sugar and the orange, zest, juice and pulp (no need to worry to much about these measures, I added the zest and then just squished out the juice and pulp with my hands).

Add the stiffened egg white.

Cover the top part of the cake with this mixture. While it's still soft add the grated chocolate. 

To the rest of the batter, add the melted chocolate, and spread it on the sides of the cake.

Having tasted it now, after so many years, I have to say I really like it. And for my big surprise, Emil absolutely loved it! ...and he can be really picky at times.

My parents scanned this page, with the Lady Golden Glow recipe, from my grandmother's old cooking book and I wanted to share it with you because I think it is a wonderful relic.

If you know this cake, or decide to try it, I would love to hear about it!