Spiced Orange Upside Down Cake…Yummylicious

It’s been almost a year. A year of oblivion.  A year of soul searching.  A year spent in facing my fears head on and feel alive. I just made one blog post last year and took a long sabbatical. Guess not much of a passionate blogger, ehh? Well, something happened... something so powerfully negative that I have to go do something to feel good about myself again. I went to work in print and web magazines with almost no experience. I completely changed my career and survived. Moreover my work was appreciated. I was happy and my life changed again. J got relocated and we came to a new city.

Starting a new life in a new city with a small kid is not easy. Rather it is challenging and deliriously intoxicating. Every experience is novel, everything seems beautiful. I live in a city now where horse-drawn cart and super luxury sedans cruise the city streets side by side. People are friendly and helpful. Neighborhoods are clean, covered with trees and adorned with parks. Every day when we go for our walk the street is covered with flowers. I feel blissfully happy.

There is one more reason that I fell in love with this city. It is a gourmet heaven. You can find any ingredient, however gourmet and rare it is, in a normal market. And the restaurants... almost of any cuisine, any standard can be found here. This city is, I tell you, a foodie’s heaven. I think I have arrived... to my haven. I feel the stirrings of passion, the beckoning of inspiration again... and I found oranges... in mid-April!!! Now I had to do something, something amazing... Voila! Decision is made and spent an afternoon in the kitchen. My prized ‘Spiced Orange Upside Down Cake’ is ready to serve.

 

Ingredients:

For the Cake

Flour – 200 gms

Butter – 200 gms

Caster Sugar – 200 gms

Eggs – 3

Baking Powder – 1tsp

Vanilla Concentrate – 1 tsp

Orange Flavouring – 1 tsp

Orange Zest – I used the zest I got from two oranges

Honey or Caramel – 4 tablespoons

For the Poaching Syrup

Large Oranges - 2

Sticks of Cinnamon – 2

Star Anise – 4

Water – 100 ml

Sugar- 100 gm

 

Procedure:

I do not have a baking oven. Everything is done using a microwave oven and gas stove. I forgot to use a baking parchment, which is a huge mistake I realize now. I recommend covering the base of the cake tin with a baking parchment after you grease the tin well.

First, take a pan, put water, sugar and the spices in it and set it on low heat. Slice the oranges thin and round, keeping the peel on.  After the sugar is dissolved, place the oranges in and cover. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the orange slices soak in the syrup.

Grease a cake tin with butter and cover with baking parchment.

 

Sift together flour and baking powder. Cream the butter and sugar in a different bowl. Add eggs to the butter mixture one at a time and beat well. Add the dry mix spoon by spoon and mix well. Add the vanilla concentrate, orange flavoring and orange zest. Using a spatula, mix the batter well.

 

Put a little honey covering the base of the cake tin. You can use caramel also. Now take the orange slices out of the poaching liquid and arrange in a circle at the base of the cake tin.
 

Pour the cake batter over the orange slices and bake for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees, or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool completely and then turn it over onto a plate or cake stand. Serve with a drizzle of the poaching liquid. Sadly it doesn’t have much of a shelf life and if you are not careful you may miss the chance to taste it also! Living with two boys has its own price... sigh.