Torta de Naranja

Since I have been here in Otavalo, my host mom is determined to teach me how to cook. Personally, I think her expectations of my cooking abilities were a little high when I arrived and she thinks she needs to make up for some lost time. And by lost time I mean the last 22 years of my life when I was supposed to be learning how to be a good wife. She was highly disappointed in the fact that it takes me a significant amount of time to peel a peach and that I was never taught how to quickly pick each individual corn kernel off of an ear of corn.

Now many of my weekends are filled with my host mom running around the kitchen while I sit at the counter and practice my peeling skills. Normally I wouldn’t like to detected an hour a week to peeling fruit, but the look on her face when I finish a whole bowl and ask for further directs is worth the effort. It is obvious to tell she is a natural born teacher.

This past weekend she decided to teach me how to make Torta de Naranja. In other words, Orange Cake. She was determined not to touch a single item in the kitchen during the process so I could say “I made it completely by myself” or in her words “Hecho de Emily”.

So here you all go. It was very easy and I didn’t even screw it up.

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup almonds
• ½ cup dried cherries
• ¼ chopped apples

1. In a blender, add sugar, orange juice, oil, baking soda, and eggs. Blend until smooth.
2. In a large bowl combine the liquid mixture from blender with flour, almonds, dried cherries, and apples.
3. Butter a baking dish. Tap flour on the inside of baking dish over the butter; dump out extra. Pour in batter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.