Orange Marmalade Cake

I love orange flavour. Anything made with it is always YES to me :)

I had made marbled orange chocolate cake many times but making an orange marmalade cake was always in my to do list.  So one fine day I decided to make this wonderful cake.  
I bought a nice orange marmalade specially for making this and started making this cake.  I wanted to make it eggless but as I was not following any recipe,as usual, I did'nt want to take any risk with the texture and taste of this cake so made it with egg.  This time I was not bothered about the eggy smell at all as there was more and more orange flavour I was gonna use in this cake.  Eggy smell can easily be suppressed with orangy flavour. 

So tried with egg that too only one.. and the final result was just amazing.  I loved the cake to the core. Orange flavour came out very well in it.  You don't need any frosting or icing .. just make it slice it n dig in. Its gonna be hit among the kids.
Here is the recipe for this wonderful cake.  Do try.

Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/Maida	1 cup
Milk powder	1 tbsp
Corn flour	1 tbsp
Castor sugar/powdered sugar	½ cup + 1tbsp
Egg	1
Oil	¼ cup + 1tbsp
Baking powder	1 tsp
Baking soda	1/8 tsp
Orange marmalade	¼ cup
Vanilla essence	¼ tsp
Orange essence	¼ tsp
Curd	1 tbsp
Milk	3 tbsp
Tutty fruity (I used my homemade tutty fruity)	¼ cup + 1 tbsp

Method:

• Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and dust with flour.  Keep aside.
• Sift together all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, corn flour and milk powder.  Set aside.
• Preheat the oven at 180 degree.
• Take a mixing bowl, add oil and castor sugar/powdered sugar.  Mix well.  Add egg and beat well till the mixture become frothy.
• Add curd, Vanilla and orange essence and beat well.
• Add one tbsp milk and 1/3 of flour mix.  Mix well to avoid formation of lumps.  Again add one tbsp of milk and some flour.  Mix well again.  Finally add, remaining one tbsp milk and remaining flour.  Mix it well.
• Add orange marmalade and mix everything well.  Add tutty fruity and give a nice stir.
• Pour the batter in the greased pan and sprinkle tutty fruitty on the top.

ready to go in the oven

• Bake for 50 minutes.
• After 50 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool down for 5 minutes.
• Shift it to a wire rack and let it completely cool.
• Slice and serve.

Notes:

1. After 20 minutes, cover the cake with aluminium foil to avoid burning of the top.
2. Round baking pan can also be used.

Easy Christmas fruit cake (Alcohol free)

Hello to all my readers.  This is the last day of this year and I have already started making it special.  As I had promised you to post an easy peasy Christmas fruit cake recipe, here it is for you all.

Its a very easy n no fuss cake.  Everything you would find in your very own kitchen.  No fancy ingredients but the taste is simply divine. Unlike other Christmas fruit cakes this one is completely alcohol free. 

My cake came out so soft and yummy and the aroma had just filled my entire home.  I had again experimented here but this time I was so sure about the success as the ingredients were sure shot :)  Unlike my other bakes, this cake is made with egg but I used only one (as usual) and I can bet you are not gonna smell it due to the aromatic Indian spices.  Its a must try.  I had soaked my fruit mix in orange juice, instead of Rum, for three days but if you dont have much time you can soak for 24 hrs.  Even if you dont have 24 hrs. then also you can make this cake :) Yes you are reading correct YOU CAN MAKE THIS CAKE :)  Now no excuse please :D  If you dont have time for soaking you can add your dried fruits with boiled sugar butter mix that I have used in the recipe.  This cake is gonna rock your parties or you can simply make it to treat yourself.  This is a no fail recipe trust me. So I am leaving you here with the recipe of this awesome fruit cake.  Do try. Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour	1 cup
Brown sugar	½ cup
Salted Butter	Little less than ¼ cup
Oil	1 tbsp
Baking soda	Little less than ¾ tsp
Egg	1
Cinnamon powder	Little less than ½ tsp
Nutmeg powder	Little less than ¼ tsp
Clove (powdered)	3 or ¼ tsp
Ginger grated or powdered	¼ tsp
Vanilla essence	¼ tsp
Cashews (chopped)	15
Glazed cherries (optional)	3 (chopped)
Dried fruit mix (raisins, black currant, golden raisins,orange peels)	1 cup
Orange juice (I used store bought orange juice)	1 ½ cups (To soak the dried fruit mix )
water	1/2 cup + 1/8 cup

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, sieve together all purpose flour and baking soda.  Keep aside.
• If you have time, soak dried fruit mix in orange juice atleast for 24 hrs. 
• Take a sauce pan, add sugar, butter, water, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, powdered clove and ginger powder and mix well.  Put on the stove and let it boil till sugar dissolves.  Once its boiled and sugar is dissolved, remove from stove and let it lukewarm.  Beat the egg lightly and add into the prepared sugar butter mix. Also add vanilla essence and mix.  At this stage, separate the soaked dried fruit mix from orange juice and add it to the lukewarm sugar butter mix and give a quick stir.  Discard the orange juice.  ( If you dont get the time to soak the dried fruits you can directly add them to the sugar water mix before boiling).
• Set the oven at 180 degree.  Grease your cake pan with oil or non stick spray and dust the same with flour. Keep it aside.
• In the sugar butter mix, add all purpose flour little by little to avoid the formation of lumps.  Mix well to make it a smooth batter.  Add oil, cashews and chopped glazed cherries.  Mix well.
• Pour the cake batter to the greased cake pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. 
• Keep checking the cake after 40 minutes by inserting a knife in the center of the cake.  If the knife comes out clean, cake is baked, if not keep increasing the baking time by another 10 minutes.
• Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool down at least for 10 minutes.
• Carefully shift the cake to the serving plate and enjoy.

Notes:

1. You can use white sugar in place of brown sugar.  Brown sugar gives the deep brown color to the cake.
2. I have used 1 cup of dried fruit mix, you can use more.  You can use tutty fruitty as well. You can add almonds instead of cashews or both.  You can use your choice of dried fruits in this cake but do not overload the cake with them.
3. Spice level can be increased or decreased as per your choice.
4. If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp of salt in the batter.
5. My cake took exact 60 minutes to bake but baking time differs according to the oven so keep checking your cake after 40 minutes. Do not over bake the cake.
6. You can soak your dried fruits in rum also.
7. Do not skip egg as it would help in raising the cake and making it fluffy.  You would not get the eggy smell due to the use of spices.
8. You can make the icing for the cake or have it with simple chocolate sauce or vanilla icecream.