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Serves 16For the fruit:
Ingredients
- 6 plums, sliced
- 3 oranges, sliced and cut into quarters (or use clementines, kumquats, or blood oranges)
- 5 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup water
- 1 4-ounce box fresh currants (or substitute raspberries, but don't add them to the syrup. Just put them on the cake when you spoon the other candied fruits on.)
- Heat the sugar, honey, and water in a 10-to-16-inch-wide saucepan on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the plums to the syrup and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until the plums become slightly translucent.
- Remove the plums with a slotted spoon and move on to the next fruit. Currants should take about 1 to 2 minutes, oranges 4 to 5 minutes.
- Let the syrup cool to room temperature, then add all the fruit. The fruit and syrup will last 1 to 2 weeks in the fridge. Just bring it back to room temperature before serving.
For the cream:
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla together until soft peaks form. The cream will be fine throughout the day, just don't make it more than 12 hours ahead of time.
For the cake:
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 6 eggs, separated
- Juice of 2 oranges
- Zest of 2 oranges
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Then mix in the orange juice, and orange and lemon zests, and vanilla.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the mixture.
- In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and fold into the cake batter.
- Pour the batter into a greased nine-inch cake pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool, then slice it in half, trimming the top if a dome has formed.
- Brush the bottom layer of the cake with some of the candied-fruit syrup.
- With a slotted spoon, arrange half of the fruit on the bottom layer, and top with half of the whipped cream.
- Place the other half of the cake on top of the fruit and cream. Brush the top of the cake with more syrup, layer more fruit, and top the whole thing with cream.
