Eggless orange almond cookies

My little niece, who is nearly 6 years old, has been allergic to eggs since she was a baby. If she eats anything with even a trace of eggs, within about 15 minutes of ingesting it, she gets very uneasy and then invariably throws up. Once she's evacuated the contents of her little tummy, she's right back to normal, bouncy and happy while people around her deal with the aftermath. 

Obviously an allergy to eggs, while not as terrible as various other food-related allergies that children can have, does mean that she has to be very careful when she eats away from home - especially when it's a kiddie birthday party and there are tempting cakes and cookies on offer. Also because no party-organising parent really wants to have to deal with a kid who's having an allergic reaction that could escalate to life-endangering! However, touch wood, my niece is not fatally allergic to eggs, so her allergy is probably one of the easier types of problems to deal with. After all, it's easy enough to make egg-free food, especially cakes, cookies and ice creams. This holds true especially for home bakers. 

I made these orange almond cookies last week as a trial, to see how they would turn out prior to making them for my sister to take back for my niece when she returns to Seattle next week. The cookies turned out incredibly crisp and orangey and really tasty, and they disappeared really rather quickly. So I'm making a double batch today, because there would be a one-man mutiny if I didn't keep a few cookies back for home consumption. And here's the recipe so YOU can make it too. 

Oh by the way, I've taken to weighing out my ingredients for baking - I have the most basic of Salter kitchen scales that can weigh up to 500gms or 1/2 kilo. What's more, it can be tucked away neatly in its weighing bowl with its own plastic lid. Don't ask what's the big deal here, if you're the kind that weighs things automatically - until now I've not been the sort of person who bothered with all that "fussiness" (as I considered it). I'm not yet 100% on the side of weighing every single time...but I'm far more likely to do it than not. I consider myself to be the new improved version of me. 

Recipe for: Eggless orange almond cookies

Ingredients:

115 gms unsalted butter, softened

100 gms caster or granulated) sugar (I've tried it with both and it doesn't seem to have made any difference to the end result)

155 gms plain flour

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 tsp pure orange oil (optional)

3-4 drops of orange food colouring (optional)

Zest of one orange

1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp cardamom seed powder if you prefer)

1/4 cup slivered or sliced almonds

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. By hand will do - I used a wooden spoon.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the sliced/slivered almonds and mix together until fully incorporated. Place the almonds on a plate. 

3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour for it to firm up. Line a flat baking sheet with a Silpat mat or with nonstick baking paper. 

4. Break off pieces of dough (about the size of a large marble), roll them into a ball and press them into the almonds. 

5. Place the cookie dough balls on the lined tray (almond side up) and flatten each one slightly. (You may need to wash and dry your hands every so often to stop the dough sticking as it starts to warm up). Leave 2 inches space between cookies as they will spread. Put the remaining dough back in the fridge if you can't use it all in one batch. 

6. Bake the cookies in a 180C oven for 9-12 minutes (or until the edges turn golden brown). Leave the cookies on the sheet for a minute, then transfer carefully with a spatula on to wire cooling racks. They will crisp up as they cool. 

Chunky apple and orange cake

They say you can’t compare apples and oranges. I guess I can see why. Apples are hard and have thin skins you can usually eat; oranges and soft and you can’t eat the skin (at least not raw). Apples can be red or green or pink, whereas oranges are usually... well, orange. Apples are famously cooked in pies, and as far as I’m aware, I’ve never come across orange pie. (I might be merely ignorant, of course.)

The good thing here is that they – whoever they are – have never said that apples and oranges can’t be used in a recipe together... and I got proof of this from Google, which came up (only eventually) with a recipe for a cake that seemed easy AND doable AND tasty AND good-looking… AND, as it turned out, a blogger’s mum’s recipe. Evidently other people before me have discovered that apples and oranges go rather nicely – in fact quite deliciously - together in some things, like cake.

Boy, was it good. I reduced the quantity of the ingredients and replaced half the sugar with Splenda, and then halved the quantity of the remaining sugar so that I only used 1/4 cup in all.

Usually baking with just Splenda makes the cake a bit heavier in texture than otherwise – at least that’s been my experience so far. But this cake, although it seemed a tad sticky/moist at first, sort of fluffed itself out when it cooled, so that the cake part was nice and light and spongy. The apple chunks in it kept the cake moist for three days, and it smelt and tasted just as good as fresh, when it was warmed up in the microwave before serving.

It really was a delicious cake and I managed to use up three apples and four small oranges – which had been my intention in the first place.

Recipe for: Chunky apple and orange cake



Ingredients:

3 medium apples
1 tsp cinnamon
2-1/2 tbsp unrefined demerara sugar
2 tsp orange zest

1-3/4 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 cup orange juice (from four small oranges)
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
3 tbsp chopped mixed nuts (I used walnuts and almonds)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a round loose-bottomed (or springform) 7" pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon, sugar and orange zest. Set aside for 10 minutes.



2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.



3. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla.



4. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones,



then add eggs, one at a time.



Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

5. Pour half of batter into prepared pan.



6. Spread half of apples over it.



7. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Sprinkle the nuts around the apple chunks.



8. Bake for about an hour (check after 45 minutes), or until a tester comes out clean and the cake has pulled away slightly from the pan.



9. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.



Serve warm.

Orange-almond cake

Oranges are my favourite fruit and orange my favourite colour, which makes it a happy coincidence that my favourite fruit and favourite colour come together in one juicy little package. However, not all oranges are equal in my eyes – the perfect oranges are those which are a tart-sweet explosion in the mouth when you bite into a segment, seedless, soft and loose in their skin (but not TOO loose and soft, because that means they’re past their best) and easy to peel. Oranges that are hard to peel, or just hard from old age, those that are blah in taste (neither sweet nor sour), those that are too squashy – they can totally mar what should be a blissful experience.

You’d have heard of the aphorism: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. I have another - When life gives you less than perfect oranges… why, make orange cake!

So, following my own advice, I did.

And it was good (both the advice and the cake).

(By rights, I should have ended this post at the previous sentence, which would have been the perfect exit line… unfortunately, the sentence arrived unexpectedly soon, leaving me with no choice but to continue despite the apt ending. All I really wanted to add was that the original recipe from About.com: Southernfood was for a sour cream orange cake with walnuts, but I substituted low-fat Greek yogurt for the sour cream and almonds for the walnuts (because a certain walnut-loving amma, who is back in India now, seems to have finished my stock off) – oh, and I added sultanas because I think oranges and sultanas are a star combination. Also, I halved the original recipe, as I didn't want to make a massive cake.)

Recipe for: Orange-almond cake


Ingredients:

1/4 cup salted butter, softened
1 tablespoon orange rind, grated
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup greek yogurt
6 tbsp fresh orange juice (I used 4 tbsp juice + 2 tbsp Cointreau
1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds
¼ cup sultanas or raisins

Topping:



1 tbsp orange blossom honey (or use any honey)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.

2. Mix butter and 1 tablespoon orange rind together in a bowl.



3. Add sugar and cream the mixture till light and fluffy.



4. Then add the egg and beat well.



5. Mix flour, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture,



6. alternating with orange juice/Cointreau



7. and yogurt, beating until smooth after each addition.



8. Add chopped toasted almonds



9. and sultanas,



then pour into a greased cake pan (6” round pan) - I used a savarin pan.



10. Bake 40 minutes or till done



(check with cake tester – if it comes out dry, the cake is done).

11. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Make evenly spaced holes in the cake with a skewer.

12. Heat topping mixture,



then use pastry brush to spread the warm honey mixture on top of the warm cake.

Eggless cranberry orange cookies

I’m pretty sure I don’t have much to say in this post, so of course I’m going to try and say it in as many words as possible. It’s obligatory to do so, the First Law of Writing (except that it’s always been an unwritten law, ironically) which I am now vocalising via the written word. The self-styled “expert” analysts who contribute to newspapers, especially in the political and economic areas, are the most obvious propagators of this law. The less you have to say, the more verbose you get. You might have noticed that your favourite writer pretty much always leaves you wanting more. On the other hand, the boring ones just as predictably can lay an entire rainforest’s worth of trees to waste with just one article.

Now I’m beginning to feel like A A Gill, the food and restaurant critic of The Times. He’s supposed to review different restaurants but usually writes for more than half the article (every single time, too) about something completely irrelevant and as far off the topic of food and restaurants as... let’s say, as far off as Big Brother is from an intelligent programme. As one of his readers put it: “I think I finally have the hang of an AA Gill "restaurant review". Talk about something that has nothing whatsoever to do with restaurants (hernia operations, personal loves and loathes, politicians, etc.) and then, at the end, write the name, address and a brief, caustic opinion.
Louise, London, UK”

So, now that we have the “nothing much to say” out of the way, let me say a few brief words about this biscuit/cookie: It’s eggless, it’s nice, it was made by my cousin Hema during her visit to Shrewsbury, and she took it home with her so that her lucky parents could have a taste of her first baking efforts.

That’s all I really had to say in the first place.

Recipe for: Cranberry orange cookies



Ingredients:



1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup milk
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tbsp yogurt
1-1/2 cups plain/all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped nuts (we used pistachios and cashewnuts)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.

2. Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.

3. Stir in milk, orange juice and yogurt.

4. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.



Add cranberries and nuts



and stir lightly into the dough.



4. Form dough into balls (approximate will do) with slightly wetted fingers and drop onto cookie sheet.

5. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown around the edges.



Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool.

Fruit juice cake with orange-ginger icing

There was quite a lot of the syrup left when I'd made stewed summer fruit, so Pete suggested I make a cake and use the juices to sweeten it. It seemed like a good idea, but then I wasnt sure how to set about it. Thank goodness for google, because I found a recipe here that was perfect for a starting point.

I didnt use half a cup of butter (as the recipe recommended) and I used wholewheat flour (actually it was chapati flour!) for the cake. Plus, of course, my cup-and-a-half of leftover fruit syrup. (Or you can use 1-1/2 cups of frozen orange juice concentrate in place of the syrup.)

Since I didnt add any extra sugar, I was pretty sure the cake would not have been quite sweet enough. Pete's suggestion was to make orange icing with fresh orange juice and orange zest, so I did - carefully this time, so that it didnt become runny. When he had a taste of the icing, he looked thoughtful for a few moments, then came up with yet another suggestion - to add grated ginger.

Now I like ginger in savoury dishes and use it all the time - but to use it, raw, in icing, didnt seem like the best idea. I was pretty sure it would be a horrible combination, but as it turned out, it worked remarkably well. So well that even I liked the icing despite my misgivings. So did Pete. He was actually quite magnanimous and didnt rub anything in - not the ginger, not the orange juice and not even his success! :)

I suppose that this is really Pete's cake - all I did was follow his suggestions. So here's his recipe for fruit juice cake with orange-ginger icing. Ta-dah!

Recipe for: Fruit juice cake with orange-ginger icing



Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter, melted
1-1/2 cups stewed fruit syrup (or frozen orange juice concentrate)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour (or pastry flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

For the icing:

2 cups superfine or icing sugar
1/2 tsp orange food colouring (optional)
1 tsp orange zest
A few tbsp fresh orange juice (as required)
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

Method:

1. Combine the melted butter and the fruit syrup (or fruit juice concentrate) in a large bowl.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/shyam69/More%20food%20blog%20pix/cake.jpg

2. Beat in the eggs until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and beat briefly.



3. Measure the flour, salt and baking soda into the bowl.

4. Whisk the mixture until the batter is smooth and fluffy. This will only take a few moments.

5. Pour the batter into an 8" round baking pan sprayed with Pam.

6. Bake the cake at 350°F (180C) for 35 minutes or till the cake tests done. It should be golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan.

7. Split the cake in half when cool, and ice with orange-ginger icing.



Store covered in the fridge.



8. To make the icing, beat 1 cup icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp orange juice until fluffy. Alternate the remaining icing sugar with orange juice until the icing is creamy and thick enough to spread.



9. Add the orange zest, orange food colouring and grated ginger and beat well until fluffy and well incorporated.

ARF/5-a-Day #23 - Orange-carrot cake

Discovery over the past week: There isnt enough time in a day to do everything I want to, especially as a large chunk of it is taken up by the working hours to which I'm forced to adhere. I'd like to read, watch my favourite TV shows (usually sitcoms and/or documentaries), write about my recent US trip for my travel blog, sort the (hundreds of) photos from said US trip and put them online, go blog-hopping in the fascinating world of food blogs, do the gardening while the weather's good, do the cooking, work on my embroidery and go cycling. (Less important things like vacuuming or doing/putting away the laundry dont figure on my list.) As you can see, it's a little difficult to cram all that into the 5 or 6 hours I have between getting home from work and going to bed. It might SEEM like a lot of time but believe me, it isnt.

Since I cant do all the above simultaneously, some of them inevitably take a back seat. At the moment, since I'm on an embroidery kick, anything to do with computers (writing, blogging, blog-hopping, photo-sorting) doesnt get done. So, what I've been doing since my last post on this blog is watching TV and working on my embroidery. (It's halfway to finished, to be fair - and I might be tempted to post a photo of it when it's done, if I think it deserves publicity!)

Anyhow, I havent put up any new posts and already it's Tuesday and time for ARF/5-a-Day hosted by Cate. This time, instead of something savoury, I'm going to post the recipe for a carrot-and-orange cake. The original recipe was off the Internet and I do wish I could remember where I got it. (I copied it during pre-blog days, when attribution wasnt necessary. Who knew I'd be writing about those recipes online! Note to self: Remember to copy source at all times.) In any case, I've tweaked it enough for it to be a hybrid now.

It's a very comforting sort of cake - because of some of the desi ingredients, the aroma and taste are tantalisingly reminiscent of Indian mithai (sweets), yet it is very definitely a cake that will appeal to Western palates.



I'm putting this cake forward for the ARF event because it contains carrots, fresh orange juice, nuts and buttermilk - all good ingredients!

The original recipe called for dark brown sugar. What I had was molasses sugar, which is infinitely darker and richer in taste than regular brown sugar. It probably made a huge difference to the aroma and flavour, I dunno. I had a hell of a time getting the lumps out of it (should have done that BEFORE adding it to the eggs and oil) but it was worth the effort, really.

One last thing - I used cream cheese frosting to fill the cake, but it would have been moist and tasty enough (and sweet enough) to hold its own even without any frosting. Next time I wont bother with the frosting - serving it with thick sweetened whipped cream will be more than enough! Also, this makes a BIG cake.

On with the show!

Recipe for: Orange-carrot cake



Ingredients:

1 generous tbsp ghee
1 cup oil
1 cup dark brown sugar (I used molasses sugar)
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
grated rind 2 oranges
4 tbsp orange juice
3 cups grated carrot
3/4 cup sultanas
1/4 cup halved pistachio nuts and chopped pecan nuts
3 cups flour
1 tbsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom seeds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (if you dont have buttermilk, use 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup water)

Frosting:

200g cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 160C. Grease a 10" square or round baking pan with Pam or other spray and line the bottom with non-stick paper.

2. In a large bowl beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and orange rind.

3. Next, add the grated carrot, orange juice, sultanas and nuts.

4. Sift together the flour, mixed spice, cardamom powder, baking powder and soda and stir into the batter along with the buttermilk. Transfer to the prepared baking pan.



5. Bake at 160oC for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.



6. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack. Let it cool completely, then split the cake horizontally in half.

7. For the frosting, beat the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla essence until smooth.

8. Spread the frosting on the bottom layer, then replace the top half of the cake.



9. Dust with vanilla sugar or sifted icing sugar.

ARF/5-a-day Tuesday #11 - Banana-orange bread with nuts

http://sweetnicks.blogspot.com/2006/03/arf5-day-11.html

This is my early entry for this week's ARF/5-a-day Tuesday #11 because I'm going to be in London and didnt want to miss out!

Anyway, I think I've found THE best banana bread recipe. Okay, the "best ever" tag is attached indiscriminately to things in this world, recipes included. But honestly, this bread is gorgeous! I think the original recipe is from Epicurious (maybe) although I'm not sure any more... but it's been slightly tweaked by yours truly.

This bread is super moist - it doesnt dry out easily, not even after two days. And the robust banana flavour is delicately overlaid with orange, with the occasional crunch of pecan nuts - mmm, definitely on the side of delicious! I even toasted slices of this bread - and BOY it's difficult to get it to toast, it's so heavy and moist. But the extra time in the toaster is worth it. Cover the toasted slice with thinly sliced strawberries, kiwi, peaches or even plums for a nice extra-fruity treat.



What I did, though, was butter mine lightly. And because I had citrus fruit marmalade with extra thick-cut peel, I spread that on as well. I kid you not, that was delicious to the last bite! This banana bread is definitely worth making again and again.

Recipe for: Banana-orange bread with nuts



Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 Splenda)
1/4 cup soft butter
2 large eggs
4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
2 tbsp grated orange rind
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecan nuts

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk well.

2. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until blended, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Add the mashed bananas, orange juice and orange rind. Beat in well.

4. Next, add the flour mixture and combine until the flour is moist. Do not over-beat. Stir in the nuts.

5. Grease an 8-1/2 inch by 4-1/2 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour in the batter. Bake the loaf at 180C for 45 minutes or so, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.



6. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out the loaf onto a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Note: I decorated the top of the batter with brazil nuts, but in hindsight this wasnt the best idea. I only used them because I'd run out of pecans!

Orange-scented blueberry pancakes

I've been wanting to make American-style pancakes for a while now, because Pete's never had them. Do I hear gasps of horror? I admit I was quite surprised myself when I discovered that fact, but apparently he's only ever had crepes. Which are nice, but I like the chunky American-style ones too, and I wanted to make a convert of him.

Blueberries were the fruit of the day, as far as I was concerned - so blueberry pancakes were on the breakfast menu for the day.

I like a gentle flavour of orange (lemon, too) with the blueberries, so I added 3-4 tbsp of orange juice and a generous tsp of grated orange and lemon peel to the batter. It worked beautifully, especially with a drizzle of maple syrup over the top. And yes, I have a convert.

Recipe for: Orange-scented blueberry pancakes



Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking powder
3-4 tbsp sugar (I used Splenda)
3 tbsp orange juice
1 htsp grated orange and/or lemon peel
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt (I used mixed berry-flavour yogurt, but plain is fine too)
2 tbsp melted butter (or vegetable oil, which is what I used)
1 large egg
1 cup blueberries

Method:

1. Mix the flour, spices, baking powder and sugar together. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the milk, orange juice, yogurt, butter/oil, grated peel and egg together, until the egg is well incorporated.

3. Add the flour mix to the wet mix, about 2 tbsp at a time, stirring with a large form all the time so that there are no lumps. The batter will be quite thick - it should drip only very slowly off a ladle.

4. Stir in the blueberries.

5. Heat a non-stick, shallow pan on medium heat. Pour a ladleful of the batter in and cook it on medium-low, till holes form on the surface.



6. Turn the pancake over and let the other side cook to a pale golden colour. Keep the cooked pancakes warm in the oven while making the rest.

7. Serve hot or warm with a generous drizzle of maple syrup.

Note: The batter has to be thick. If it is too thin, it will not coat the blueberries, which will burst open quietly when the pancake is cooking, leaking the juices and making a mess of the pancake (and the pan). This is the voice of experience talking.

Chocolate-orange marble sponge cake

Chocolate-orange marble sponge cake. It turned out pretty good - soft and spongy without the kind of choking dryness that defies all attempts at swallowing. It would have been nicer still had I not forgotten about it in the oven (I did say I'm an amateur cook, prone to distractions!)... the extra 10 minutes that it spent in the oven made the top of the cake a bit crispy. It also developed cracks *sigh*. Not unpleasant, really, but also not required. The cake was just sweet enough for me, but my husband doesnt just have a sweet tooth - he has a mouthful of them! So I drizzled some pure Canadian maple syrup (difficult to get in the UK, I kid you not) over the top of the cake. A satisfactory ending for all.

Chocolate-orange marble sponge cake:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose or cake flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tspsalt
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1-1/2 cups sugar (I used 3/4 cup 'light' sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda granular to make 1-1/4 cups, but I like my cake with less sugar)
3 large eggs
1 tsp extract of vanilla
3/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp orange-flavoured liqueur or concentrated orange juice, or failing that, freshly squeezed juice from 1/2 a medium-sized orange
1 tbsp grated orange rind

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

2. Cream the butter or margarine in another bowl, add sugar/Splenda mix gradually and keep creaming till the mixture is soft and fluffy. Note that the addition of Splenda granular means that the mixture may well become a bit stiff.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat thoroughly after each addition. Then add the vanilla.

4. Now add the flour mix and the milk alternately, starting and ending with the flour, and only stirring to mix. DO NOT BEAT.

5. Divide this batter in half. Add the unsweetened cocoa powder to one half and stir until blended.

6. To the other half, add the orange rind and liqueur/concentrate/fresh juice, whichever you are using. Stir until blended.

7. Spoon the batter into an 8" round cake pan that has been greased or lined with silicone paper. Alternate the chocolate and orange batter in the pan. There will be more batter than can be accommodated in one layer, so continue spooning the batter alternately over the first layer, making sure that the orange batter goes over the chocolate batter in the pan.

8. Bake for 45 minutes in a 180⁰C oven (350 Fahrenheit), or until done. Test with a skewer.

9. Let the cake stand in the pan for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool. Sprinkle the top lightly with confectioners sugar when the cake has cooled completely.

10. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup for those who like their cake sweet, or with orange-flavoured cream.