Simple Orange Spice Cake

I don’t have any fun stories today, or baking adventures to relate, although I did make this cake several times before settling on just the right combination of spices and tweaking the recipe a couple times to get the texture perfect.   But it was a rather mundane process; I mean I found it fun, but really, there’s no story there except I added a bit of this and that, let it bake and tasted it.

It’s been a long winter here in New England and I’m tired of the snow and cold and ice. Everyone here is.  I’m sitting here cozied up to my friend’s wood stove while he’s out splitting wood, keeping an eye on his kids so they don’t murder each other playing Xbox. I’m on my third cup of coffee, woohoo, and it’s snowing again, lightly thank goodness, but still, its snow.

I am really pleased how this cake came out though. It looks like sunshine on the plate with the oranges glistening under the glaze; looking at it makes me smile and think of summer, which is just what I need. It is very easy to make and the light spiciness contrasting with the sweet oranges is a beautiful combination. I hope everyone else is having a good month, and if you need a little pick me up, make this cake and let the bright colors and warm flavors comfort you for a bit.

Or you can just laugh at this ridiculous picture of my fat ginger kitty 🙂

Simple Orange Spice Cake

Cake:

• 1 large orange
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup vegan butter or margarine, room temperature
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 6 oz plain soy yogurt (or other non-dairy yogurt)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup soymilk, or other non-dairy alternative

Glaze:

• 1 medium orange
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray an 8×8 baking pan lightly with oil.
3. Zest the orange and set the zest aside.  Cut the rind off the orange, removing as much as the white pith as possible (see pics below for demonstration). Slice the orange thinly and arrange in the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over orange slices and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
5. Add the yogurt and mix in.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon and ginger.
7. In a separate bowl, stir together the soymilk and reserved orange zest.
8. Add the flour mixture to the batter, alternating with the soymilk, in three additions, starting with the flour, then half the soymilk, continuing until they are all fully incorporated.
9. Spread the batter carefully over the oranges to preserve the pattern and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife along the edges to ensures it comes out smoothly and flip it out onto a wire cooling rack, bottom side up. Put a layer of wax or parchment paper under the rack.
11. While the cake is cooling, make the glaze by zesting the orange and the squeezing all the juice out.  Add the vegan butter and sugar to the juice and zest and microwave in 30 second increments until the sugar is completely melted and the glaze is smooth (took one minute total in my microwave).
12. Let the glaze cool for 30 seconds and the spoon over the still warm cake.
13. Let cool completely, slice up and enjoy!