It is a cloudy evening.
Cloudscapes meld into a thick gray cover looming over the sky. A soothing
warmth pervades. At night, we smell the scent of wet Earth. It is raining.
Another cold day in store we assume, clutching our quilts tighter. The next morning, it is cloudy and foggy as expected. A movement in the dry bushes catches
our attention.
It is a Taiga Flycatcher
hopping in the branches and returning to her perch after catching insects from
the ground.
She is all fluffed up, letting out a sonorous light pitched note periodically.
Our kitchen smells heavenly. Marmalade Cake is almost baked.
An Orangee aroma and the flavour of spices is intoxicating. We have added a generous amount of homemade candied orange and lemon peels.
The cake is sliced the next
day. Everyone relishes it and gets over the same evening.
Marmalade Cake - Wholegrain and Eggless
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar or unrefined sugar or powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon each of powdered green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and dried ginger
- ½ cup (100 gms) butter softened
- ½ cup mixed dry fruits (candied orange peels, apricots, cherries, etc.)
- Finely grated zest of an orange
- Finely grated zest of a lemon
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 160 ml milk, plus more if needed
- 1 heaped tablespoon marmalade
- ½ tablespoon fine sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease one 6 ½ inch round cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the first four ingredients in a big bowl.
- Cut butter into small cubes and add to ingredients in the bowl. Mix with hands till the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
- Add dry fruits and zest.
- Mix well. Add milk, a little at a time followed by a little vinegar.
- Stir well till the ingredients mix well. Stir in marmalade. The batter should be of dropping consistency. Add more milk if required.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle sugar evenly on top. Bake for 55-60 minutes till the cake shrinks from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the sides. Invert in the rack. Cool.
- Slice next day. This is important. The cake really tastes beautiful after a day.
That little fly catcher is so pretty Namita. She looks tiny but if she is like our tiny little blue wrens, she is most probably very vocal ;). This is why I adore your blog. It's an incredibly wholesome mix of amazing food and recipes as well as your lovely nature and plants all melded together to form something wonderful. Thank you so much for posting your blog posts Namita. I love every single one of them :)
ReplyDeleteYum! Thinking of making some clementine marmalade this coming week- maybe be some will get made into cake :)
ReplyDeleteThe recipe is a great going with evening snacks and a crunch of nuts and spices. Will soon try it
ReplyDeleteThank you. I hope you'll love it :) Happy Baking!
DeleteThAnk you for the recipe. The cake turned out really well.one doubt thought, my cake ‘s surface cracked. Any idea why?
ReplyDeleteWholegrain eggless cakes tend to have a cracked top generally. Wholegrain makes the batter heavy and dry. Perhaps that could be one reason. If you see my cake, it also has a cracked top. I am happy that you tried my recipe :)
DeleteHi, I am planning to try this recipe coming weekend. Can you suggest subsitute for Dried fruits mentioned in the recipe -"½ cup mixed dry fruits (candied orange peels, apricots, cherries, etc.)". I haven't been able to find candied and dried fruits.
ReplyDeleteHello, candied peels would add a lot of flavour. If you don't have, you may add candied cranberries. Or, just bake without any of these. Happy Baking!
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