Flourless Almond Orange Cake

On a recent weekend holiday to Pondicherry, the foodie group of us cousins headed out to Villa Shanthi, this beautifully done-up restaurant with high ceilings, wide verandahs, vintage lanterns and white walls reminiscent of uber chic Sri Lankan décor. After a sumptuous (and tad expensive) lunch, it was time for my favorite part of any meal, the dessert. The options: bla, sthing, bla bla, blablabla, Flourless Almond Orange cake with chocolate mousse, bla, something... beeep beeep beep, rewind to Flourless Almond Orange cake with chocolate mousse. Intrigued, i decided to try it, and it did not disappoint. It was a little dry, but the doors to flourless/butter less baking opened. Doors to pairing cake with other classic elements opened. I was hooked on how well Orange and almond can pair up. The crowning glory that is the ultra smooth chocolate mousse amplifies the flavors. I had to try it at home, and true to the season at hand, the cake is Christmassy enough with the refreshing orange flavor. I tried it with the Chocolate Chantilly, and greedy me was so impatient to taste, i did not even allow it to whip up to full volume!
 

So if you want an exceptionally moist and healthy cake that is so different, yet so wholesome, you should try it. and you know what the best part of the cake is? Leave it refrigerated for the flavors to mature overnight, and the taste just gets better! Do not be put off by the duration of boiling the oranges. That requires hardly any bother (except when you have to occasionally top  up the water content).

I based this cake on a recipe i found online but i had not bookmarked it, and i can't find it now! So this is the closest i could come to finding the actual recipe i used, but please note i made quite a few changes:

-2 medium sized oranges

-250g almond meal

-1/2 light brown sugar

-1/2 cup sugar

-3 eggs

-1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

- Wash the oranges thoroughly and put them in a saucepan filled with water. Let the water come to a boil, and boil for 15 minutes. Take off the flame, drain the hot water and rinse the oranges under regular tap water. Return it back to the saucepan, top it off with water, let it boil for 15 minutes, again, drain the hot water, and run the tap over the oranges. This process will help get rid of the bitterness of the orange peel. Do this process one more time, and then after that, return the oranges to the saucepan, top with water and let the water boil and then simmer for an hour or so. By the end of it, the oranges will have become soft. Rinse the oranges under regular water and cut them into segments, along with the peel. I did not take the thicker skin found over the top and bottom ends. 

Purée the orange into a fine pulpy consistency. i added a couple of tablespoons of water and passed it through a sieve to make sure it had no bits of skin or pulp.

 

-Butter and line a 9 inch pan and pre-heat oven to 185 C. I used a bundt cake mould that i just buttered.

-Whisk together the eggs and sugar till the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is light. Add the vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. Add the orange pulp and blend. Fold in the almond meal and pour into the prepared tin.

-Bake till golden brown on top and the skewer comes relatively clean (There still will be crumbs as this is a super moist cake).

-Cool on rack and once cool, slice. I served my slices with dollops of this 5 minute Chocolate Chantilly which could have been quenelled out, but  i was too greedy by then :)

Here's wishing the Season's cheer and baking bugs bite your homes as well! Cheers!
 

 

'Welcome back'! Marbled fun size cupcakes - what a joy it is to be whole again!!

 

Aye, nonstick's back home after his assignment and we are thrilled to bits. It has indeed been a blessed half a year in more ways than one. As is customary, we got by with oodles of love from family (particularly those weeks when the neelathumuckil mafiosi were over), friends (oh, the numerous food nights and sleepovers!) and food. Chances are, you will fall under one of those categories, so from our heart to yours, a thank you and a wet nosed lick from sous chef. :)

To celebrate the comeback, we baked a batch of fun sized marbled cupcakes. You know, those bite sized ones. Like those overpriced kinds that you get from the popular Ann's, Kottayam. But marbled. and yum.

Apart from having the secret ingredient of love as one of my friends rightly pointed out when asked if they could guess the secret ingredient in this cupcake, this cupckake does have a secret oomph factor. These cupcakes are moist by not being dense and textural by not being dry or coarse. What can i say, i may have hit the pot of gold here. :D

This recipe makes twenty 1.5" mini cupcakes

- Preheat oven to 180 C.

You will need:

145 g flour

1/2 heaped teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup finely ground almond

1/2 cup milk

1/4 coffee

2 eggs

105 butter

50 g chopped dark chocolate

150 g finely powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and ground almond.

-Melt one tablespoon of the butter and chocolate in a bain marie. Pour in the coffee. Whisk to a smooth paste and take off the flame and set aside to cool. Add a quarter of the portion of the sugar and make sure it dissolves by stirring.

-Cream remaining sugar and remaining butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat till fluffy.

-Alternate and add the flour mix and milk to the egg-butter mix and mix. Start and end with the flour.

-Keep aside 2/3 cup of the batter in a separate bowl. This will make the white coloured bit of your marbled cakes.

-Add the melted chocolate to the remaining mix and fold in.

-Blend for the tiniest bit to get rid of any lumps.

-Pour two tablespoons of the white coloured mix into cup cake liners. Alternate with the chocolate coloured mix. Top with the white coloured mix. Take a skewer and swirl it through the batter to ensure you get a marbled look. If you like to innovate, go ahead and make pretty patterns. BUT make sure you do them quickly 'cos you will have to pop the mix into the oven as soon as you can or else the cupcakes wont rise as much as you would want them to.

Bake for 20 to 25 min at 170 C till cupcakes are done.

Once the cakes are done (do the skewer test), remove the cupcakes from the cupcake mould and leave on a rack to cool.

Once they have thoroughly cooled, put a dollop of nutella (a teaspoon maybe, but do not overdo it! the cake is yum as is, i just happen to be a nutella freak) on top of the cupcake and garnish with chocolate jimmies/sprinkles/non pareils and you are good to go!