You could think of this cake as being no more difficult than performing a single somersault off the 1m springboard, compared to the Middle Eastern orange cake requiring you to make a giddying dive, with all the bells and whistles, off the 10m platform.

After all, it’s just an orange cake, with a couple of flourishes for colour and texture. We only make it when navel type of oranges are in season and we have access to sweet berries at a reasonable price. The pieces of strawberry in this cake came from sub-tropical southern Queensland; the oranges from a good friend’s garden.

Take note of item 7 in the method. This is the kind of cake that is ready to come out of the oven when you think that is almost ready. I usually ignore that advice and the end result is just that little bit drier than ideal. Hardly a surprise – I never could master even a basic dive?!

Ingredients

50g shredded or desiccated coconut
1 large orange
125g butter, softened
100g caster sugar (use about 10g more if the orange is a bit tart)
¼ tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
60ml milk
225g self-raising flour
12 ripe raspberries, or equivalent in pieces of ripe strawberry

Method

1. Toast coconut in a non-stick pan until it begins to change colour. Remove from pan immediately.
2. Zest and juice orange (you will need about 125ml of juice).
3. Preheat oven to 170C and prepare a 20cm cake tin (line base with baking paper).
4. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
5. Add vanilla, eggs and milk and beat well. Add orange juice and beat briefly then fold in flour, orange zest and coconut.
6. Spoon into prepared tin and distribute berries evenly on top of the cake batter.
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until batter only just tests clean. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.