I baked this cake during Christmas time, as an alternative for the traditional fruit cake. Though I bake fruit cake religiously every year, it’s not much in demand here because of the raisins. I’ve seen that many people enjoy the taste of fruit cake but don’t like the raisins in it. I think, year before last, I baked this Rum cake, it doesn’t have fruits in it, but it was too boozy. Surprisingly, I enjoyed that cake but Jose and most of our other friends were saying it’s a bit too much “rum” for them. Since, it wasn’t very popular (except for me), I didnt post it here.
I kept on looking for some sort of fruit and nut cake, to bake during Xmas season and landed up on this. Though I love citrus flavours, I tend to lean towards lemon all the time. I was a bit skeptical whether I’ll love Orange scent and flavour. It was a good change from the usual and I loved the rich buttery and nutty dense texture of this cake. Not to forget that slight golden hue of the cake. It’s ideal, if you are having people over for tea. I mostly had it for breakfast, I love to have cakes for breakfast ;)
Well, if you are wondering why I didn’t post it during Xmas time… I had already posted some Xmas recipes and I didnt want to over do it. Somehow, I feel like, I’m spamming your mailbox, if I post too many recipes ;) Looks like, now is the time for this cake. I loved everything about this cake, colour, texture, flavour and I’m sure you will not be disappointed with this. Btw, you dont have to wait till next Christmas to bake this one, it’s good anytime. Make sure you’ve a huge slice while it’s still warm, that taste is kinda special!
Here is the recipe:
Using a handheld electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, orange zest and sugar until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition…
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Tip the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in two batches and whisk together on a low speed until just incorporated…
then mix in the yoghurt and vanilla essence…
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top. Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 mins or until the sponge is firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean…
Recipe adapted from “Cake Days, The Hummingbird Bakery”
- Unsalted Butter - 190 gms, softened
- Plain flour - 190 gms
- Finely grated orange zest - 1 tbsp
- Caster sugar - 190 gms (refer notes for substitute)
- Large eggs - 3
- Ground almonds - 60 gms (refer notes)
- Baking powder - 1 tsp
- Salt - ¼ tsp
- Plain yogurt - 25 gms
- Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
- Flaked almonds - 10 gms
- Preheat the oven to 175 C, 10 mins before baking. Grease a 9 inch loaf tin, with butter and dust with flour.
- Using a handheld electric whisk or a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, orange zest and sugar until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, every now and then to ensure the eggs and butter are properly mixed in.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Tip the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in two batches and whisk together on a low speed until just incorporated, then mix in the yoghurt and vanilla essence.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds on top. Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 mins (refer notes) or until the sponge is firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool, a little before turning it out of the tin on to a wire rack to cool completely for serving.
You can store the cake at room temp for 2-3 days. This cake tends to dry out easily, so make sure you wrap it nicely in a cling film and store it.
I used 2 oranges to get the reqd quantity of the zest. My cake was ready in 40-45 mins.
caster sugar substitute - Just pulse normal sugar in a grinder for a few seconds, make sure you dont powder it.
I used store bought almond meal, to make ground almonds at home, please check out this link.
Make sure you sprinkle extra flakes on top of the cake (especially center portion), since it spreads out during baking.