Birthday and Fruit cake

I get excited about baking birthday cakes..... because you can be very elaborate with them. I take my time searching, bookmarking recipes, improvising, procuring stuff from the market, finding ways to dress it up....my whipping cream decorations are a far cry from perfection.

So, when I was thinking of making a devil's food cake with layers of creamy richness for my hubby's b'day....he threw a surprise at me....'no creamy stuff, no chocolate'

WHAT!

Did I hear well? no chocolate!!?? OMG . But all my bookmarked recipes have chocolate.

A quick survey of my fav blogs led me to this Orange cake by Soma of Ecurry.
Saved the day...:)

I've used a variety which is termed as "mausmi" in India...not the orange we generally use. I was not very sure of the results, but it came out a winner...yipeee

SERVES 10–12

INGREDIENTS

For cake 

1. 3 Mausmi
2. 2⅓ cups sugar
3. Unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
4. 2½ cups flour, plus more for pan
5. 2 tsp. baking powder
6. 1 tsp. baking soda
7. 1 tsp. orange extract
8. 3 eggs
9. 6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

For glaze

1. ¼ cup fresh orange juice (I used packed juice)
2. ¼ cup confectioners' sugar

For garnish

1. 2 oranges, sliced in thin strips
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 1 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

For cake 

1. Trim about ½" from the tops and bottoms of oranges; quarter oranges lengthwise. Bring 6 cups water to a boil and add oranges. Bring water back to a boil; drain. 

2. Repeat boiling process twice more with fresh water. 

3. Put oranges, 1 cup sugar, and 4 cups water into a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until sugar dissolves and orange rind can be easily pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes. 

4. Remove pan from heat and let cool to room temperature.

 5.Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9' round cake pan with butter and dust with flour; line pan bottom with parchment paper cut to fit. Set pan aside.

6. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

7. Remove orange quarters from syrup, remove and discard any seeds, and put oranges into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until oranges form a chunky purée, 10 to 12 pulses.

8. Add sugar, reserved flour mixture, orange extract, and eggs and process until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
9. Add olive oil; process until combined. 

10. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes. 

For glaze

In a small bowl, whisk orange juice and confectioners' sugar to make a thin glaze. Remove cake from pan and transfer to a cake stand or plate. Using a pastry brush, brush orange glaze over top and sides of cake; let cool completely. 

For garnishing

Bring 3-4 cups water to a boil; add orange slices. Bring water back to a boil; drain. Repeat boiling process twice more with fresh water. Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1 cup water in the pan and add the orange slices to the pan. Simmer at low to medium heat for about 15-20 minutes or until the the slices softens and the solution gets thick, syrupy and sticky. Remove oranges and reserve to garnish.

Garnish cake with confectioners’ sugar and orange slices.

I did not use icing sugar though. Good for me because the cake came out a little too sweet for my liking. I believe a little less sugar in the batter would make the cake taste even better....I've not tried it out though. If you do, please let me know how was it?

 

Eggless Choco-orange cake with Nutella frosting

Happy new year!!

I know I've been absent from the blog space for a while now, but now I'm bacck! And we are starting this new year with this very celebratory choco-orange cake...yummm.


Choco-orange cake with nutella frosting
Adapted from Anushruti's cake 

Ingredients

200 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour (i use whole wheat flour, pre-milled)

50 gm (1/4 cup) cocoa powder( i used Hershey's)

30 gm (4 tbsp) fine sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate

1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk ( Nestle)

150 gm butter melted

1 tsp Orange extract

250 ml  (1 cup) water

For soaking the sponge

Orange juice ( fresh or packed, i used packed)- 5 tbsp approximately, but you can use more if you wish to. I intend to use more next time.

Nutella frosting

 Nutella- 1/3 cup

orange extract - 1 tsp

Filling for layer

Pulp of 2-3 oranges (or mausmi/moshumbi)  - about 1/2 cup

Icing sugar- 25 gm (5-6 spoons approx.)

20 gm butter

Method

1. Grease and line the bases of cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper.

2. Assemble the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a fork and sieve once to make the mixture uniform.

3. Preheat the oven at about 150 c/300F.

4. Add in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla and water. Beat with an electric hand mixer or whisk till the mixture is uniform and smooth and there are no lumps. Do not overbeat.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 50-60 min. or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean.

6. After the cake is, allow to rest in their tins forsome time and then cool them by keeping them on a cooling rack.

7. When the cake is cooled, slice it from the middle and divide into 2 parts. Sprinkle the Orange juice. Keep both parts seperate and leave them overnight.

Filling

Mix all the ingredients together and leave it overnight.

Frosting

Put Nutella in the microwave for 10-15 sec to make it smoother in consistancy, add orange extract and whip it to mix well.

 Assemble the cake

Spread the filling on the bottom portion of the cake and place the upper part on it. Press gently. Now spread the nutella frosting on the top and sides with a flat spoon or butter knife. You can sprinkle a little icing sugar or white chocolate chips on it.

Devour the yummy cake...;)

enjoy

Choco strawberry cake- B'day special

Yesterday was my birthday. It was the first birthday after my marriage. So to make it special I decided to bake a homemade cake (hey! that rhymes). Thanks to Anushruti of divinetaste, my eggless cakes come out very nicely. This recipe is adapted from her recipe.

Ingredients
1. 160 gm strawberries
2. 2 cups maida/ white flour/all purpose flour
3. 1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar
4. 1 Tbsp coco powder (i used Cadbury's)
5. 1tsp cinnamon powder
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 1 tsp baking soda
8. 1/2 cup olive oil
9. 1/2 cup yogurt
10. 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
11. 1 cup milk

Method
1. Sift the white flour, baking powder, baking soda and coco powder together
2. In another deep bowl mix brown sugar, yogurt, oil and milk.
3. Pour half of dry ingredients in the wet ingredients and blend with a hand blender, Combine the rest of the half and again blend it. Alternatively keep sprinkling dry ingredients and mixing it with a long spoon.
4. Now stir in the vanilla extract, the chopped strawberries & the cinnamon powder.
5. Pre heat the oven at 150 degrees centigrade.
6. Pour the cake mix in previously prepared(greased and floured) pan.
7. Keep the pan in the oven and keep for about 50 min. or till a skewer comes out clean.

I also used her chocolate butter frosting recipe to decorate the cake.

Ingredients
1. 1/3 cup cocoa powder
2. 1/3 cup butter, softened
3. 2 cups icing sugar
4. 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
5. 1 to 2 tbsp hot water


Method
With the help of a hand mixer or a wire whisk, mix the cocoa and butter. Stir in the powdered sugar, vanilla and hot water. Beat until you get a smooth frosting which can be spread easily.

My frosting was a bit runny, I might have accidently put more water. I used up only half of the running chocolatey liquid. So, if you dont want to store anything, I suggest halving all the measures for the frosting.

Just to give a more berry-like touch, I decided to put in raspberry jam.
When the cake was cooled then I cut it into half and smeared the jam inside. After placing the top portion and pouring the frosting, the rough edges got covered. Not to mention that it tasted totally delicious!!

Tasty tip- Chill the cake after frosting and enjoy after a few hours.