Orange-Yogurt Coffee Cake

Things I am not motivated for: doing real work. Things I am motivated for: eating cake. Actually I am having a bit of a motivation problem lately, and "next monday" seems always to be the day of reckoning for when I'll begin taking my life seriously again. The great thing about next monday is that it can always be put off for a week. So I do. I try to feel guilty about it, something I'm normally good at, but not this time. So anyway, next monday.

But that doesn't mean I've turned my brain all the way off until then. In fact, there's something I'd like to talk about a little because it regularly Pisses. Me. Off. (you heard me.) And that, my friends, is advertising. Specifically, advertising that always hinges on the photoshopped woman-as-object. It gets to me. It's why I haven't read a fashion magazine in years. It angers lots of other people, turns out, including Newsweek. And this article on 2009's worst photoshopping offenses proves it. Why do we women put up with this crap?

So you know what I think we should do this New Year? I think we should shelve all of that damn body shame heaped on us by corporate America and eat cake instead. Can we do that, please? It would make me feel a lot better.

Orange-Yogurt Coffee Cake

From Cooking with Shelburne Farms

Cake:

2 large oranges, washed well (I used 2 navel oranges that were Huge)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (come on, stick with the spirit here and don't use fat free)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, from those oranges up above

1/2 cup apricot-orange marmalade (There are several brands of apricot-orange, but if you can't find it, just use orange)

confectioner's sugar (optional)

For the cake:

Oven preheated to 350F. Zest one of the large oranges, and that should be just about the perfect amount. If it's not, use some of the second orange as well. Juice both oranges, then measure out 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of juice and set aside, separated.

Grease your bundt pan and put it in the refrigerator. (I have to admit I'm not totally sure why this step is here, but I did it, and the cake turned out, so...) whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

With a standing or hand-held mixer (standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), cream the butter and sugar together. I like to add the zest at this point, because the sugar acts as sand paper and releases the oils from the zest, making it even more fragrant. So add the zest. Cream for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating between each until they're fully incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the orange juice, the yogurt and the vanilla. Keep your mixer on low speed and add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients, alternating, to the creamed butter and sugar. Do this in three parts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until it passes the toothpick test.

While the cake is baking, it's time for the glaze:

Melt the butter, the remaining 2 tablespoons orang juice and the marmalade together in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Remove the cake from the oven and immediately turn it from the pan onto a serving plate. Pour the glaze over the hot cake. Cool the cake and dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.