Saturday, May 7, 2016

Eggless Honey Cake (Indian Bakery Style)


I love trying new recipes when they lead to delicious and super pretty results.
I was searching for an Indian dessert to make for a birthday at my office and a coworker found this one for me at Rak's Kitchen (HERE). 
It is a dense, yet light, sweet, but not too sweet, wonderful combinations of orange and honey and coconut. It will have you breaking out your jazz hands multiple times. 
In case I haven't convinced you to try it yet, let me just add - it is also perfect for those times you wants something a little different, plus it is super easy to make, and holds in the fridge for a couple of days very well. 


Eggless Honey Cake
(Indian Bakery Style)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp orange zest
2 cans condensed milk
1 cup oil
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla

Syrup
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey

Topping
1/2 cup jam
fine coconut

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 X 13 dish with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside. 
Prepare cake - In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and orange zest. 
In a separate bowl, whisk together condensed milk, oil, orange juice, icing sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla. 
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined. Spread in prepared pan.


Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean - about 30 or so minutes. Top will be golden brown.
Remove from oven and let completely cool. You can place it in the fridge to speed the process. 
When cool, remove the cake from the pan and place on a flat surface. Cut into squares. 


Prepare the syrup - In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together water and sugar. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes, stir very infrequently - maybe only 2 or 3 times. 
After 5 minutes, remove from heat and let sit until syrup is warm. Whisk in honey until smooth. (Don't whisk the honey into hot syrup - do it only when the syrup has cooled to warm.) 
Spoon the syrup over the cake.
Turn each piece of cake to one side and spoon more syrup over it. 
Turn each piece to the other side and, once again, spoon on a little more syrup. Repeat until all pieces have been done. 
Prepare topping - Briefly heat jam in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds, just enough to melt it a bit. (You can also do this in a small saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes)
Using the back of a spoon (or basting brush), spread the jam over the top of the cake pieces until well coated.


Pour the finely shredded coconut into a shallow dish. Take a piece of cake and gently roll it in the coconut to coat each side.


When all pieces are coated you can serve the cake or chill, covered, until ready to serve. (I prefer it chilled)


I used plum jam but you can use whichever flavor is your favorite!


Isn't it sooooo purdy....


It tastes as good as it looks too.


You can visit Rak's Kitchen for the original version of this cake (HERE). I made some very small changes to make it a 9 X 13 and, as I studied a few videos online, I followed some of those instructions to make this version. 


Now that I have made this once I can guarantee that it will be made again and again. 
Definitely destined to become a favorite around here. 


Be sure to visit Carole's Chatter for tons of great links!! 

3 comments:

  1. I appreciate your nice effort thanks for sharing.
    Chinese Dishes

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  2. Hi lovely recipe. Just enquiring about the amount of condensed milk since jam and syrup also being added. Much appreciated. Thanks looks really tempting to try.

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