Flaxseed orange cake with hazelnuts

Happy new year 2011, everybody! My first post of the new year is an eggless cake, using flaxseed powder as a substitute for the egg in the original recipe - and goodness knows where I got that from. Anyway, it works! Flaxseed as a substitute for eggs really does work! There's no reason it SHOULDN'T, because this particular substitution has been recommended and tried by plenty of others. It's just that I needed to try it for myself before I could actually believe it. And I'm pretty sure I don't need to feel lonely in this respect, I'm sure I have plenty of company.

I'd dry roasted a lot of flaxseeds earlier, and it was a simple job to grind one tablespoon of the seeds to powder and mix it with water.

It's one thing to be told that 1 tbsp flaxseed powder + 3 tbsp water = one egg. It's quite another thing to realise that the flaxseed powder simply SUCKS up the water,

and when the mixture is added to cake batter, it makes the batter really really gooey. In fact, the batter felt so gooey that I wondered if the cake would turn out a disaster, but hooray for flaxseeds, it didn't!

If you look at the photos of the cake, you'll see that the hazelnuts are practically powdered. That was not the effect I was after. I wanted the nuts chopped, not ground to dust. Sadly, one moment's distraction while running the nuts in the grinder is all it takes to pulverise rather than chop - so take note.

In short, if you DO make this cake, be sure to chop the nuts (whichever nuts you may substitute) a bit chunky; they're best not pulverised.

Recipe for: Flaxseed orange cake with hazelnuts

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil
pinch salt
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flaxseed powder + 3 tbsp water
1-1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cream or yogurt
1/3 cup dried berries
3-4 tbsp milk (if required)
3 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau liqueur (or orange juice)
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°C.

2. Mix oil, salt, orange rind, Grand Marnier and sugar in a large bowl.

3. Beat in the flaxseed mixture along with the cream or yogurt.

4. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add to wet mixture in three or four stages, stirring well in between,

then add the dried berries and mix them in well.

The batter will be quite sticky and gooey. Beat in some milk if the batter feels too thick.

5. Pour the batter into a 7" round or square pan which has been sprayed with Pam.

6. Spread the chopped nuts on the surface, pressing them in gently so that they are partly sunk in the batter.

7. Bake till the cake is done - about 45-50 minutes, although it's best to check from 30 minutes onwards, depending on your oven.

8. Cool the cooked cake for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Cut when cool.


RECIPE: FLAXSEED ORANGE CAKE WITH HAZELNUTS

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil
pinch salt
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flaxseed powder + 3 tbsp water
1-1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cream or yogurt
1/3 cup dried berries
3-4 tbsp milk (if required)
3 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau liqueur (or orange juice)
1/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°C.
2. Mix oil, salt, orange rind, Grand Marnier and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Beat in the flaxseed mixture along with the cream or yogurt.
4. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add to wet mixture, then add the dried berries and mix them in well. The batter will be a bit sticky and gooey. Beat in some milk if the batter feels too thick.
5. Pour the batter into a 7" round or square pan which has been sprayed with Pam.
6. Spread the chopped nuts on the surface, pressing them in gently so that they are partly sunk in the batter.
7. Bake till the cake is done - about 45-50 minutes, although it's best to check from 30 minutes onwards, depending on your oven.
8. Cool the cooked cake for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

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.

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!

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.