Laid back evenings - Orange cake

Laid back? not that I come home shrugging and crash on the couch and later do nothing but... This whole week am staying with Somjai, 8 months going to be mama, as her her husband is off for a conference. Having great time with her, I start from office "early" thinking that someone is waiting for me and we have plans to cook together and have dinner, loving it. Then we start to talk, which we did while working together, about work, colleagues in and around department, lots to update....you know :p Giggle, laugh and best is am completely away from laptop and internet, so my dear blog mates, shall get back to all your blog post this weekend :)

Funny thing to be with pregnant ladies is they have increased body temperature and it's around 10 degrees in Finland or even less in the evening but Somjai switches on the fan , ahem ahem. I'm like shivering and dancing sitting inside a cold closet, with sweater and socks on :D we laugh about it. I keep asking baby to kick mama more so I get a chance to sense, but mama bear gets super annoyed :) Sometime baby listens to Aunt Ananda :D

Back to cake, if you are having a less time to make cake or to do during working days this is the cake. Merie's parents visited Finland, myself and Vinoo were invited for home made kerala food. Aunty made Aviyal, chicken kurma, rice, papad, ethnic kerala powder to mix with rice, pickle, now my mouth is watering thinking all those delicious food. It was feast for we hungry beast :)

Best part about this cake is, it can be made previous night and let it cool down the whole night, next day top it up with fresh cream with orange zest, they bring ultimate freshness, flavor, super soft and creamy :) 

 

Ingredients
4 eggs separated
125 gram sugar
150 gram margarine (you can use butter)
1 teaspoons  of vanilla  essence
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
125 gram  all purpose flour
2 large orange’s  zest about 2 tbsp ( save ½ tsp of zest for cream topping)

Whip butter and sugar until they are soft and fluffy, next add egg yolk and vanilla essence beat till they form a smooth mixture. Mix dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) together in a bowl. Add them into the butter sugar mixture in small amounts and fold them gently. Add orange zest and mix evenly. Beat white egg till they form single peaks and fold it to cake batter.
Pour mixture into cake pan (I used 18cm). Bake in the middle of the preheated oven at 180 degree degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. Let cool down before you make the topping.

For topping

300 ml fresh cream
200 gram sugar (less or more according to your taste)
1 1/2tsp of vanilla extra
1/2 tsp of orange zest
1/2 tsp of Cointreau

Whip sugar, cream, vanilla extract together until single peak is formed. Add saved 1/2 tsp of orange zest to the cream and fold in gently.

Assembly

Slice the cake into half. Now place the top layer of the cake as bottom and drop in half the amount of fresh whipped cream in the middle of the cake. Spread uniformly make sure that it doesn't reach the corners because when we place the another layer of cake, cream will squeeze out!
Now place the another layer of the cake carefully and gently give a weak press. Evenly spread rest of the cream on top and in the side and make them look the way you want it to look :) I used Kumquats and orange peal flower to bring the whole orange effect.