Spiced Mandarin Orange Walnut Cake

This eggless cake is super moist with a light spiced flavour that perfectly beckons the Fall season. 

Spiced Mandarine Orange and Walnut Cake

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1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon British mixed spice

1/2 teaspoon cardamom 

1 cup chopped walnuts, divided

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

freshly grated orange zest from 1 orange

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 small cans mandarin oranges, well-drained and roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease and flour and 9-inch spring form pan and line the bottom with baking parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, British mixed spice, cardamom and half of the chopped walnuts. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and oil together. Add the freshly grated orange zest and give a gentle stir. Now add the milk, vanilla extract and vinegar. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped mandarin oranges until just mixed.

Pour the batter into the prepared spring form tin. Spreading the batter evenly. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until cake springs back when you touch it or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 

Cool completely on a wire rack in springform tin.

Once cake has completely cooled; drizzle with an orange drizzle and scatter the remaining walnuts on top.  

Notes: you may replace the caster sugar with coconut sugar.  

Orange Drizzle

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1 cup icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Whisk icing sugar, zest and orange juice together in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Notes: Icing sugar is also called confectioner's sugar and powdered sugar. You may adjust the orange juice according to how thick or how thin you prefer the drizzle. 

Eggless Vanilla Cake

Itching to be creative inside the kitchen without any eggs had me making this gem. Neither too dense nor too fluffy, just sweet with a lovely caramel flavour. The cake slices beautifully with little to no crumbling. Canned peaches were used however if fresh are available I do recommend using those. 

Eggless Vanilla Cake

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2 1/2 cups all purpose flour or cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons sugar, coconut, brown, or casters, your preference

1 can (300-400ml) sweetened condensed coconut milk or regular condensed milk

1 cup orange juice or water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon caramel extract

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

Topping:

1 can of sliced peaches, drained

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Lightly grease and flour a 9x13 baking tin and line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Making a well in the centre of the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients and whisk the ingredients together. No worries as a few lumps are fine. If using sweetened condensed coconut milk, empty contents of tin into a medium bowl and blend until relatively smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and smooth out evenly. Tap the pan to even  the batter out and break the air bubbles if there are any. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. When done transfer to a wire rack to cool. Remove from baking tin and place on a large serving plate and arrange the sliced peaches on top. You may also make a drizzle icing to drizzle over top of the cake, which is what I did. 

Notes: I baked the cake in a round cake tin therefore I had to adjust the baking time... allotting more time. There is a bit of wiggle room in regards to extracts and experimenting with different flavours may be interesting. Adding grated orange rind would reinforce the orange juice. 

If making this cake for Valentines Day you could try adding cocoa powder to the mixed dry ingredients, or chocolate chips, or add rose flavouring, or decorate with chocolate icing and edible rose petals.  

This is the sweetened condensed coconut milk I used. It is under the stated 300ml however it still worked. If anything it probably made the sweetness of the cake less pronounced, which isn't a bad thing.