Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Orange Yogurt Cake - Oh-so-delicious!!!


A spate of unsatisfactory bakes- that's what happened to me in the past couple of weeks. Like a row of flop movies- Aaw, poor joke here, excuse me:-). A souffle which rose - but not high enough, a genoise which did not seem tall enough to make a birthday cake out of, a chocolate cake which got the perfect ganache drape, but I messed up with the decoration- too big an 'Oops' to make it to the blog. My dessert did not set well enough to slice it, Agar-agar - u let me down:-(. Add the extremely temperamental electricity supply in Namma Bengaluru - would put off the most passionate of bakers I guess. Power supply seems to be so much more consistent in the past few days- Touch-wood!!

Yesterday after a long time, my oven smiled on me again. Whew!! I had seen this Orange Yogurt Cake on Pavani's blog here and had instantly bookmarked it (among scores of many many recipes, don't know when I will ever try them all!!). I love oranges in a BIG way, I don't know how many dozens of them I ate when I was carrying my first one - so much that hubby started worrying about it:-). Oranges in bakes is something I absolutely adore. I had oranges in my fridge and this seemed the perfect recipe to try - low fat, quick and super easy.

It was easily one of the tastiest tea cakes I have baked- super spongy, moist, refreshing and deliciously zesty. Thanks Pavani for sharing this recipe and reminding me of the forgotten Martha Stewart website. This cake is something which is going to be on my favorites list for a long time to come..


You can find the original recipe here.

Makes one 8-inch round cake
  • Unsalted butter, softened, for pan
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar( only 2 tablespoons go into the batter)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon orange juice
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large oranges (1 zested into thin strips, both segmented)
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius(350 F). Butter an 8-inch round cake pan. Sift flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, salt. Whisk together yogurt, oil, orange zest and juice, egg, and vanilla in a bowl. Fold in the wet mixture into the flour mixture. Pour into pan. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.  Dust one table spoon sugar on top of the cake(optional)
This cake tastes delightful by itself and needs no frosting . yeah, the glaze I have used here was purely for the kids. No- it was for the kids and the blog pictures;-). 

My verdict: The perfect tea cake, will surely make this again, taking care to add only 2 tablespoons sugar (I overlooked this small detail in the original recipe, one tablespoon was for dusting on top) into the batter. Too late I figured out why the cake tasted a wee bit sweeter... nevertheless it was a wonderful cake.

The only shortcoming in the cake: the smallish size...sigh..!!

This cake goes to Champa's Weekly Bake Off 

















40 comments:

veena said...

sooo soft, tempting, bookmarked

chef and her kitchen said...

Looks really moist....very tempting color..I have a eggless version in my blog

Sushma Mallya said...

Really very delicious, beautiful click suma

Anonymous said...

Oh wow! Sounds like a delightful accompaniment with the customary evening cup of chai. I love oranges too, and Im definitely sold by the idea. Will surely try this sometime soon.
Just some food for thought - Do you think omitting the egg might work since there is already yogurt in there?

Nachiketa said...

what a delightfully refreshing cake....

would urge you to try this with lemons. Try this Lemon Cake and you wouldn't regret it...

n ure brave enough to admit the disasters... it's ok they happen but the important thing is you've bounced out of them :)

Cheers,
The Variable, Crazy Over Desserts - Nachiketa
Catch me on facebook @ Crazy Over Desserts

Padhu Sankar said...

Wow Looks awesome!!

Umm Mymoonah said...

This is awesome, I love this cake so much.

Champa said...

Cake looks good. I loved the glaze that you have put in stripes.
I was laughing when I read about electricity. Many a times when I say it is time for us to move back, my friends and my husband ask me "How will you bake in B're so much?" I smile and say that I will develop another hobby. I already have one which needs nourishing that's all - singing.

Sum said...

Mouthwatering!

Suma Rowjee said...

@Veena, Sushma,Suma,Padhu,Mymoonah - Thank you!!
@Pratibha- Your eggless version looks fabulous! Will try it sometime.
@Madhuri- You bet its delightful. Will wait for your eggless version and try again:-)
@Champa- Hey!Please do not ever stop baking! We can keep pressure pans with sand etc as standby for power failure:-)) Hope u come back to Bangalore and be my neighbor:-))

Suman Singh said...

Cake looks so delectable..I love to have a slice from it now..mm...delish!

Vrinda said...

Very moist n flavorful cake...

Indian Khana said...

Yummm....looks drool worthy dear...nice clicks

Priya Suresh said...

Beautiful spongy cake looks scrumptious..

Unknown said...

wow dear, that looks delicious, soft and oh so yummy !!!

Hey, I got your comment and I will soon post simple dal and rice recipe :)

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

gorgeous tea time cake....so spongy n moist......love this cake...

Divya Kudua said...

I love Oranges in bakes too and I would add this to my list of bookmarked recipes!!I had a bake-fail period too,sometime back-anything and everything was met with failure,I am even thinking of putting it up on the blog..what say??

Santosh Bangar said...

looking si gorgeous and tempting that i eat it .good the use of orange i will try it

Kiran said...

Love the soft spongy orange tea time cake.

suma said...

@Nachiketa- Haha, some hits and some misses. Am fine with admitting my 'Ooops' all in the learning process!
@Suman,Vrinda,Priti,Priya,Kiran,Santosh,Sanyukta- Thanks!! Do try this out..
@Priya- Thanks Priya! Will look forward to your dal recipe.
Divya- Oh,did you too have a phase like that?? Maybe you should put it up on the blog, as a lesson for others:-) Helps to learn from others misses. Wt say?

Joyti said...

Perhaps the orange-yogurt is simpler than the souffle or the genoise-birthday cake, or the other swelling dessert you mentioned, but it looks gorgeous and I bet it was more delicious.

Anonymous said...

orange yogurt cake ! looks nice...

A Silent Silence : Sochte hain kya maangein..(सोचते है क्या मांगें..)

Banned Area News : Microsoft co-founder sues 11 companies

sweet Artichoke said...

Yogurt cakes are among my favourite, I think the yogurt really adds extra moisture and "sponginess" to the cake. Orange flavour is delicious and your cake is beautiful!

Reshmi Ahmed said...

wow this looks gorgeous ! first time here...love ur recipes and especially ur cakes section :)

Prema said...

perfect and healthy bake! luks yum...

Shubha said...

this looks so moist and spongy, perfct colour too, when r u baking this one again?

Content Cookie said...

I'm a little confused. You have mentioned :
1 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon orange juice and
2 large oranges (1 zested into thin strips, both segmented)

How much OJ is used in the recipe and what do you use the strips for. Can you please clarify. Thanks.

Me said...

Hello Suma,

Your cakes are very inviting. You have mentioned :
1 teaspoon grated orange zest, plus 1 tablespoon orange juice and
2 large oranges (1 zested into thin strips, both segmented)

I do not see any step for (1 zested into thin strips, both segmented). what do you use the strips for. Can you please clarify.

Suma Rowjee said...

@Me - Thank u! The orange strips are for the garnish, does not go into the batter.

amrita gill said...

baked the cake today and it came out beautifully spongy and very yummy. thank you for the amazing recipes.

amrita gill said...

the cake came out beautifully spongy and very very yummy .thanks for the great recipes

Anu said...

I tried this recipe this weekend and it tasted great. so soft, moist and melt in the mouth. But the top of the cake didn't brown at all.So the looks of the cake was not so appealing. Do you have any tips or tricks to get the top browned for this cake

Abi's Kitchen!! said...

Hi suma.. How much orange juice goes into the batter??

Suma Rowjee said...

Hi! 1 tablespoon juice as mentioned in the recipe..

Sum said...

Hi Suma! Will be baking this today... and i too got the doubt - how much of juice goes into the cake, and what is the use of the other 2 oranges. Read through the comments and the original recipe and got the answers :D Will let you know how it turned out...

Neha Shah said...

Hi Suma, I baked this cake today, but it did not rise much. The pan size seemed big for the batter. Any help?

Anita said...

Hi Suma, Thanks for the recipe. Tried this today - though the taste is awesome, the cake didn't rise as much as I thought, and so seemed a little dense. Any tips? Where could the issue be? Thanks much again! Love your blog...

Suma Rowjee said...

@Neha and Anita - The cake doesn't rise a great deal, but its surely light. Its a smallish cake. Please do check the freshness of your baking power and soda, also bake in an 8'' round tin.

b.gomathy said...

Is it must to add egg? WE dont take egg.

Unknown said...

What can be used as a substitute for eggs when making a cake?