DIVINE Orange Creamsicle White Chocolate Slice!

Oranges, tangelos, mandarins and even lemons work beautifully in this orange white chocolate creamsicle slice! A moist, orange Madeira-like slice is topped with a white chocolate ganache that has the tang of sour cream instead of cream. This is one of the most addictive slices I've made and is a definite pushy recipe Dear Reader!

The wonderful thing about this is orange white chocolate slice is that you only need bowls, a whisk and a spatula to make this delicious slice. It's literally 15 minutes prep and you've got one of the most delicious ways to bake with oranges (or tangelos as the case is here). It's also a great way to use up the zest of the fruit too, the most fragrantly beautiful part of the fruit. Here you'll use up the zest of 3.5 oranges and the juice of half an orange and you can juice the rest!

I know the question that you're going to ask and yes this is just as much a slice as it is a cake. In fact if you were to bake this in a round tin you could serve it up as wedges rather than squares. I really hope that you'll give this a try as the combination of zesty citrus and creamy white chocolate is heavenly. On their own I find citrus can sometimes be too tart and white chocolate can be too sweet but this citrus slice is really the perfect balance of both worlds.

I am so lucky to have all of this citrus from Valentina. She often drops off bags of her home grown tangelos and eggs from her chickens which I am so grateful for. One day when our garden is done we will hopefully grow some things we can eat. There is a small Meyer lemon tree and that produced one lemon. It wouldn't win any awards for appearance, it was sort of greeny yellow in colour and green inside although it was juicy.

Apart from this, the garden is a bit of a disaster zone. One of the previous owners had had cages full of birds along the back fence and these sat on concrete slabs. When he went to move he simply chucked dirt over it and sold the house. The next owner Lucy who bought the house from him didn't do anything about it for 30 years. We have some really nice neighbours and they told us that she had always struggled with the garden and she must have thrown a lot of money or effort at it just before we bought it because the lawn was green but quickly faded once we moved in.

We found that the grass just wasn't growing and when Mr NQN dug a bit further down he discovered that there were all these disintegrating chunks of concrete a few inches below the surface. So every weekend he has been digging it up and removing the bits of concrete. He doesn't mind doing it, I think he finds it quite therapeutic and every weekend if it isn't raining and we don't have something on, he will sit in the garden digging up bits of concrete.

The one household member that seems to love the new dug up garden is Teddy. He absolutely loves to spend time outside by himself sitting in the sun. He was always a fairly independent dog but he can spend hours outside sniffing and sleeping and guarding our house against cats. Sometimes he will sit outside for hours patrolling the garden and exploring. Perhaps he can help Mr NQN dig up the dirt ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, are you good at gardening? Have you ever come across this situation? And do you like the orange creamsicle combination?

Orange Creamsicle White Chocolate Slice

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 9-12

• 185g/6.5ozs. butter, melted
• Finely grated zest of 2-3 oranges or tangelos (I like it zesty so I used 3)
• 160g/5.6ozs. caster or superfine sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 190g/6.7ozs. cake flour*
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs orange or tangelo juice
• 100ml/3.5ozs milk

For Frosting

• 250g/8.8ozs. white chocolate
• 90ml/3flozs sour cream (full fat)
• Finely grated zest of 1/2 orange or tangelo

Cake flour can be purchased at the supermarket. It can also be made at home-to make 1 cup of cake flour, replace 2 tablespoons of the plain flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk together to distribute

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line the base and sides of a 20x20cm/8x8inch square tin with parchment. In a medium bowl whisk the melted butter, citrus zest, sugar and eggs. In a large bowl sift the cake flour and baking powder and whisk the salt in. In a small jug or cup add the juice with the milk and allow the milk to curdle. Make a well in the flour mixture and slowly add the butter mixture in alternating with the juice mixture making sure that no lumps form. Try not to overmix.

Step 2 - Scoop cake batter into the baking tin and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the centre springs back when lightly touched. Cool the slice in the tin at room temperature.

Step 3 - Make the white chocolate ganache. Place the white chocolate chips in a bowl. Heat up the sour cream until liquid (in the microwave or stovetop) and then pour over the chocolate chips. Place a plate over the bowl and allow to stand for 3 minutes. Stir with a spatula until the mixture becomes smooth. If there are still hard white chocolate bits then heat in the microwave on 50% power in 30 seconds bursts or in a double boiler until all of the chocolate has melted. Spread over cooled cake and add finely grated zest on top. Once the icing has set cut into 9 or 12 pieces.