Blood Orange Crust Cake
Today marks the final week for crutching our sheep and to say I’m stoked is a bit of an understatement. I’m sure I can’t be the only one to say that there are some parts of working with sheep that I can’t be any less enthusiastic about. Crutching being one of them. The repetitive nature of picking through arguably the worst part of a sheep's fleece is a mind numbing job. Or at least it is for me.
For those who don’t know. Crutching is the process of shearing the breech area of a sheep or in other words - it’s bum. We generally do this no more than 3 months out from shearing the entire sheep. It not only ensures the safety of the sheep against fly strike but it also creates a clean woodshed for the wool handlers and classer. It minimises the amount of stain entering the premium wool lines from mishandling of fleeces as they are picked up from the shearing board - easy enough to do in the fast paced environment of a shearing shed.
I understand the importance, of course. But sometimes I wish I could transport myself to a far off place when I’ve been standing at a crutching trailer staring at both the crutchers’ and crutchees’ bottoms for a third day in a row.
We are a family run property which means crutching is organised and done almost solely by us. The crutching trailer that is borrowed around our district has two stands. One is normally occupied by my husband and the other usually by another workman. This year dad has taken up the slack by working the second stand, mum works on pushing up the sheep so they feed up into the trailer and me - on trailer floor picking through the dags in the wool, sorting it into clean and really not-so-clean.
Aside from dad passing me an occasional newborn lamb to cuddle, it’s a relatively isolated job to do. The shearing plants and music makes it near impossible to communicate with each other and I find that when the crutchers’ begin, they become transfixed in their motions. So focused on both the well-being of themselves and the sheep that benign conversation becomes redundant. This leaves me to ponder my thoughts as I too repeat my motions. Some runs it can be therapeutic but for me, most are frustrating and I find myself itching for silence.
Needless to say, I’m glad crutching for this year is almost over. The rest of the month spreads out before us in preparation for shearing - a job that I can be truly enthusiastic about!
Blood Orange Crust Cake
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp - blood orange zest (2 blood oranges)
- 320g (1½ cups) caster sugar
- 300g (2 cups) plain flour
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- Generous pinch of salt
- 120g unsalted butter - room temperature
- 2 eggs - room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 70ml (⅓ cup) vegetable oil
- 125ml (½ cup) whole milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 150g (¾ cup) caster sugar
- 50ml (¼ cup) blood orange juice - 1 blood orange
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180℃. Grease and line a 9inch spring form pan with butter or cooking spray. Ensure the sides are well coated. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, rub together the sugar and blood orange zest for 3-4 minutes.
- In a small jug, combine 125g whole milk and 2tbsp lemon juice. Set aside to thicken. This is your homemade buttermilk.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium for 30 seconds before adding the sugar and zest mixture. Continue to beat for 1 minute or until a paste forms. With the mixer running on low, add eggs one at a time, and vanilla. Mix on medium until thick and pale. Pour in the oil and homemade buttermilk. Mix until combined.
- Add flour mixture and gently stir on low until just mixed and no floury spots remain. Pour batter into prepared pan, tap the base a few times on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester can be removed cleanly from the middle of the cake.
- While the cake is baking, measure out the crust topping ingredients into two separate dishes and set aside.
- Remove cake from the oven. Immediately pour three quarters of the sugar into the blood orange juice and gently stir - careful not to dissolve the sugar. Pour this over the cake. Sprinkle remaining dry sugar across the top of the cake to even the crust.
- Allow cake to cool completely in the tin which will set the crust before removing and slicing into.
Notes
- Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- This recipe can be used with any type of your favourite citrus. I especially love using lemons for a refreshing pop to any morning teas.