Honey Chilli Orange Cake

This cake has all the flavors in it. Sweet, spicy, sour and slightly bitter. My hubby wanted me to prepare the Orange cake, but for me, I wanted a twist. Now, I am so happy to prepare any eggless cakes, because, it comes out so perfect, moist and soft just by adding a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in to it. It makes all the difference when you do not want to include eggs in your cakes.

I first prepared the eggless orange cake, melted the jam meanwhile and added chilli powder and ginger powder to it, then prepared the honey syrup to pour on top of the cake. Honey, orange and ginger go very well together. It has very less fat, as there is no butter or eggs added to it. It is best had the next day.

Try, and let me know how it came out for you

Ingredients

For the cake

• All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Orange zest - From 1 orange
• Orange pulp / juice - 1/2 cup
• Thick curd(unsour) - 1/3 cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar- 1 tblspn

For the Jam

• Any jam of your choice (I used ginger jam) - 1/2 cup
• Red Food Coloring- a pinch (Optional)
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Ginger powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
• Orange zest - 1/2 tsp

For the Honey syrup

• Honey - 1/4 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/4 cup

For garnish

• Almonds - skin peeled and sliced
• Dessicated Coconut 

Method

For the cake

• Preheat the oven @ 180 deg C
• Grease a 10 cm cake pan with oil/ butter, sprinkle some flour, and tap out the excess if any.
• Sieve all the dry ingredients for about 2 or 3 times; Maida, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• In another vessel, take your wet ingredients; oil, sugar, vanilla essence, orange zest, orange juice, curd and apple cider vinegar and mix well.
• Add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, folding them gently in order to get rid of any lumps.
• Pour this mixture in to your cake pan and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Once done, run your knife through the edges. Do not remove from the cake pan. Keep it aside

For the Jam

• Heat a sauce pan and add jam. Allow it to melt a little and then add chilli powder, ginger powder, orange zest and red food coloring. Mix well and keep it aside

For the Honey Syrup

• Boil water in a vessel. Add honey and sugar. Let it boil until honey is melted and sugar is dissolved completely. Turn off the heat.

How to Proceed?

• Pour the honey syrup over the cake (without removing the cake from cake pan), when it is still hot.
• Now spread the jam on top of the cake. Spread it as evenly as possible.
• Now sprinkle some dessicated coconut and arrange the sliced almonds.
• Cut and Serve.

Notes

• I have used All purpose flour to make this cake. But you can even use the whole wheat flour
• While taking the orange zest, just scrape the orange part of it. Do not scrape the white part, as it will give more bitter taste to the cake.
• In honey syrup, you can also add rose essence if you like the flavor of rose. I did not prefer adding, so skipped that step.