Merry Christmas to all the readers
Now it is winter season here and Oranges are being sold all over the market. I am tempted to cook some delicacies out of it. Last week when I met my cousin Soumya who is a good baker, she advised me to prepare Eggless Orange Cake using fresh Oranges. She bakes variety of cakes and continental dishes. One of her specialties is Garlic Knots which everyone in our family likes. She always uses Whole Wheat Flour for her preparation of Cakes or other Baking recipes. She suggested me to use the same for this Eggless Orange Cake also. My inexperience and predicament made me think twice. So I did half and half, i.e., half Maida and half Whole Wheat Flour. I used 24 Mantra Brand. It came out really well.
You can replace the flours with complete Maida or with Whole Wheat Flour for this Eggless Orange Cake recipe. I usually love to bake Muffins than the Cakes, as it looks yummy and serving is very easy. But this time I tried cake in my new Silicon Bread Loaf mould and it raised out really good. We all enjoyed at home by eating it warm. My daughter Dhanya was very keen to taste and she was not allowing me to snap pictures of the Cake. By the time my hubby was back from office it was cold, so I had to warm in microwave for 5 seconds and serve. Still the taste was good and I got all praises.
Recipe may be little difficult when you read first; but if you are a good baker, it will not be a problem to bake this cake. Try to follow the instructions carefully. I have used bread mould here. You can replace it with normal cake tins, but make sure to grease the tin properly. You can also use the butter sheets. I have used fresh Orange Juice. One more important thing: when you are preparing cake out of fresh Orange Juice, extract the juice just before adding it to wet ingredients. It will become bitter, if kept for long. To bake, in my convection oven it took 50 minutes. It may vary depending on the type of oven you are using. Everything is explained clearly in the steps below. So try baking this Eggless Orange Cake at home and enjoy your Christmas.
Eggless Orange Cake Ingredients:Dry Ingredients:
- All Purpose Flour or Maida – 1/2 Cup
- Whole Wheat Flour – 1/2 Cup (One can use either Maida or Whole Wheat Flour 1 Cup)
- Baking Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
- Corn Flour or Vanilla Custard Powder – 1 Tbsp
- Sugar or Jaggery – 1/2 Cup (Can be pulsed or powdered)
Wet Ingredients:
- Olive Oil – 1/4 Cup (Or any other Oil or Butter)
- Orange Juice – 3/4 Cup Fresh or canned ones (If you are using half and half or Maida)
- Orange Juice – 1 Cup Fresh or canned ones (If you are using Whole Wheat Flour)
- Orange Zest – 1 tsp
Time to Prepare: 15 Minutes
Baking Time in OTG: 30 to 35 Minutes
Baking in Convection: 45 to 50 Minutes
How to Make Eggless Orange Cake:
1. Sieve all the dry ingredients like, Maida, Whole Wheat Flour, Salt, Baking Powder and Corn Flour or Vanilla flavoured Custard Powder once or twice so that these ingredients mix well properly.
2. In a bowl, add Olive Oil and Powdered Sugar.
3. Mix well using a Whisk or in an electric beater till the Sugar dissolves properly.
4. Wash and grate the Orange outer covering for Orange Zest. Do not grate the white part as it becomes too bitter; keep aside.
5. Now prepare Orange Juice just when you want to add it to the above flour mixture and the Sugar has completely dissolved in Oil or Butter. Do not prepare very early as the orange Juice becomes bitter and give you a bitter orange cake.
To prepare Orange Juice: you need at least 3 Oranges. Peel the outer covering and take only the Orange segments and discard the seeds. Ensure that the white part is discarded before grinding. Just add all the Orange segments in a mixer jar and grind it to smooth paste. Extract the Orange Juice by filtering it.
6. Meanwhile preheat the Oven for 10 minutes at 180 degree C. As I use Convection Oven, so I usually preheat at 200 degree C by keeping the low rack inside.
7. Once the Juice is ready, add this to Oil-Sugar mixture from the Step 2 and mix well with whisk. Do not over mix for any of the eggless Cakes or Muffins. Hence it is better to use whisk if you do not own an electric beater. Even if you are using the electric beater, pulse at a very low speed.
8. Now slowly add one Tbsp of sieved ingredients to the wet ingredients as in the image and mix well. Finally add the Orange Zest to the batter and mix everything well. Make sure that there are no lumps in the Cake batter.
9. Grease the Cake tin with Oil or Butter before you pour the batter. If using Silicon mould, grease it lightly before pouring the batter. The batter is little watery in the photo here as I have used little more Orange Juice. If you are using half and half flours use 3/4 Cup of Orange Juice.
10. Pour the Cake batter to the tin and bake it in OTG for 30 to 35 minutes. After that baking time is complete, check once by dipping and removing a tooth pick in it. It should come out clean; else bake for few more minutes.
In Convection Oven:
Pre-heat the Oven at 200 degree C with low rack inside for 10 minutes. Then change the temperature to 180 degree C. Keep the tin on low rack and bake it for 45 to 50 minutes. Check it once after 40 minutes by inserting the tooth pick till end of the tin and if it comes out clean without sticking the batter, then remove from the oven, else continue baking for 10 or 15 minutes.
11. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. Cut when it is warm or after complete cooling. If you try to cut it when hot, it may stick to the knife. You can store this Eggless Orange Cake in refrigerator for a week. But before serving warm it.
Serve warm with Coffee, Tea or Milk. If it is cold, just microwave for 5 seconds and serve warm. It tastes good when it is warm.
