Eggless Orange Cake With Orange Buttercream Frosting

Recipe

For The Cake

 Ingredients:

210 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour

125 gm (1 cup) milk powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

100 gm (1/2 cup) butter, at room temperature

125 gm icing or confectioners sugar

250 ml (1 cup) milk

60 ml (1/4 cup) cream

juice of 1 orange (I got 3 tbsp out of a small orange)

1 tsp lime juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp pure orange extract, if available

Method:

Butter the base and sides of an 8” round cake pan. Line the base with grease proof paper or dust it with flour.

In a bowl put in the flour, milk powder, baking powder and baking soda. Give it a good mix and stir once to make the mixture uniform and sieve once to remove lumps, if any.

In a bowl, put in the butter and sugar and using an electric beater or wire whisk, beat until smooth and creamy.

Put in half the dry ingredients, half the milk and beat until smooth, after which put in the remaining dry ingredients and the milk and beat until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in the cream, orange juice, lime juice and beat again for a couple of minutes until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 15 minutes at 175C. After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for 30 minutes more or until a skewer comes out clean.

For The Buttercream

Ingredients:

200 gm (1 cup) butter (I used lightly salted butter from the brand amul)

455 gm (3 to 3 1/2 cups) icing, powdered or confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp orange extract (optional)

a few drops of natural food colouring (optional)

2 to 4 tbsp cream, depending on the consistency

Method:

Bring the butter to room temperature. It should not be cold but at the same time, make sure its has not melted or come to a stage where it is about to melt. The consistency and temperature of butter is vital for a good buttercream frosting or icing.

Beat the butter with a whisk or hand blender or with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer for a few minutes.

Put in about 3 cups of the icing or confectioners sugar and beat at the lowest speed until the butter and sugar are mixed well.

Now stir in the vanilla extract, orange extract and the natural food colouring if using and about 2 tablespoon of the cream or milk and beat for about a couple of minutes.

And then it is time for you to adjust the frosting. If your frosting looks good, then you are good to go! If it needs to be thinned, then add the remaining milk or cream, a tablespoon at a time.

For a more stiffer consistency, add more sugar.

After the cake is cooled, spread the icing/frosting over the cake with a palette knife and with the help of a piping nozzle make decorative designs. If you don’t have icing nozzle then simple spread the icing over the cake a palette knife and put sprinklers over it.