Sticky Orange and Vanilla Upside-down Cake

The sweet, tangy, vanilla, citrusy, caramelized oranges is the star of this cake. The orange peel makes this cake really tangy. I also love the sweet fragrance and taste of the vanilla bean in this cake.  Oranges are my usual “Go to“,  when in doubt add orange zest or juice and it makes everything sing. Since developing my Orange Marmalade, I have become obsessed with finding ways of making Orange Marmalade pies, tarts and cakes with it,  this is just another inception of that.  I really don’t know who to credit with this recipe, I adapted it from so many sources and made so many modifications,  so I guess you can say it is My version, now it can be yours, too.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Sticky orange topping:
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup water
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 oranges, very thinly sliced

For the cake:

4 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350° F.

To make the topping;

1.  Place the sugar, water and vanilla bean in a 9 inch non-stick ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the orange and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes or until the orange is soft. Remove from the heat and set aside. 
While it’s simmering, make your cake batter.

Make the cake:

1.  Place eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 8 – 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick, pale and tripled in volume. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and fold through. Fold through the butter and almond meal.

2. To bake, either arrange the orange slices (with their syrup) in the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan then pour the batter over them, or, if your frying pan is oven-proof you can pour the batter right in and pop it in the oven. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Turn out onto a platter to serve.