Orange & Cardamom Cake

Method:

1. Line a small roasting tin or 9in cake tin with Bake-O-Glide.
2. Take the seeds out of the cardamom pods and crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar.  Mix the crushed seeds with the sugar.  (I keep a jar of cardamom flavoured sugar in the cupboard, it is as useful as vanilla sugar or lavender sugar in cakes, custards and meringues).
3. Set the butter beside the Aga range cooker to soften for half an hour, if time allows.
4. Grate the rind from the oranges into a bowl and mix well.  Beat in the softened butter, eggs then the flour and baking powder.
5. Pour the cake mixture into the tin.
6. [2 oven cooker] Set the tin into a large roasting tin and hang this from the 4th, lowest runners in the roasting oven and slide the cold plain shelf onto the 2nd runners above.  
7. [3, 4 and 5 oven cookers] Put the grid shelf onto the floor of the baking oven and set the cake tin onto it. 
8. Bake for roughly 30 minutes (every cooker is a little different!), until well risen and golden brown and when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and put into a small saucepan.  Add the granulated sugar and bring to the boil on the simmering plate.
10. Pour the orange syrup over the cooked cake then leave it in the tin for 10 minutes to cool before turning out and cutting.