Almost Too-Orange Cake

A cake with lots of orange zest as well as being soaked in an orange juice based syrup.  Use fresh oranges if you have access to them.

For the cake:

3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
zest from 2 large oranges (or 3-4 small ones)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable or other neutral-tasting oil
1 3/4 cups cake flour (if using all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the syrup:

1 cup orange juice (as fresh as possible)
1 cup sugar

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter an 8- or 9-inch cake pan with tall sides or a spring-form pan, then dust well with flour.  You will also need a 9-inch pie-pan (preferably glass instead of non-stick) for serving.

Beat the eggs and sugar until very pale.  The result should form long thick ribbons for a few seconds when you lift the beaters.  Add the orange zest and milk.  Drizzle in the oil with the beaters on to help make sure that the batter doesn't "break" or separate.

Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and soda together and add to the liquid ingredients in 3 batches, mixing thoroughly each time.  Quickly pour the batter into the prepared pan and put in the oven for 45-55 minutes.

To make the syrup, simply mix the sugar and orange juice into a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to cook for up to 30 minutes, or until it reduces by about half, then remove from the heat.  You don't want to form a caramel, just a thick syrup.  Remember that the syrup will continue to thicken a bit as it cools.  The consistency you want should be no thicker than pancake syrup.  After it cools, if it is too thick, you can add a little water, turn the heat back on, and stir with a whisk to incorporate.

When the cake is done, cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack until cool.  Transfer the cake into the pie pan.  You'll want it to sit on the bottom of the pie pan, so trim a little off the bottom edges if necessary.

Using a toothpick or a fork, poke some holes into the top of the cake.  Then pour the syrup over the cake to let it soak in.  Serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.