I was trying to figure out a recipe to make from the Mystery Chef but none was really standing out more than any other. Dione Lucas was easy as almost every source mentioned that omelets was her specialty. Aunt Sammy I just flipped the book open and saw I had everything to make the raisin bread recipe and that was that. I was not having the same luck with Mr. Mystery.
Then because life wants to complicate things even further I got sick with the worse cold I have had in a while. Therefore trying to figure out a Mystery Chef recipe to try was put on the back burner. It wasn’t until, I kid you not, my copy of the Famous Mystery Chef Cook Book slipped off my desk. I leaned over to pick it up and it was open to his recipe for an orange eggless cake. Who am I to argue with this serendipitous moment? The recipe was easy enough and I had every ingredient already in the house. So I decided the this was the fates aligning and I had to give the recipe a try!
Now if you are expecting a moist and a beyond fluffy cake this is not for you. This creates a delicious and dense cake that you can imagine being served in the 1930s with tea or coffee. It is also slightly on the sweet side as the thirties as a decade had quite a sweet tooth. The only addition I added was the mandarin orange slices on top as I had a can already in the pantry but they are completely optional.
I talked about this in my blog post about the Mystery Chef but I wanted to cover it real quick again. The Mystery Chef cookbooks contain much of the same recipe in all volumes or or just clever reprints under different names to make you think that it is a different book. This particular recipe is included in at least three of his books. If you want to add The Mystery Chef to your collection, I would suggest just picking out one of his cookbooks with the cover that speaks to your tastes.
The Mystery Chef's Eggless Orange Cake
A dense orange cake from the 1930s. The Mystery Chef's cake is prefect with coffee and tea or served at a brunch. He has a vanilla varation of the cake as well. All you need to do is swap the orange juice for 1 cup of milk and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons softened (not melted) butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1 can mandarin orange segments drained really well (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 and grease 9 inch round cake pan.
- Cream together the softened butter with the sugar.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- To the butter and sugar mixture, add the flour and orange juice alternating between the two until you have a thick batter.
- Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and smooth to create a flat and even surface.
- If using the mandarin orange segments, place in a circular fashion. Slightly press the oranges in the batter.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out dry.
- Sprinkle with confectioners sugar on top if you so desire.
Quaint Cooking 