Going on the weekend to the countryside is for us an opportunity to spend quality time with the family. These little moments are the ones we anticipate so much during the week at work and the ones that make us happy.
Whenever we stay at my husband’s parents’ home, we always try to enjoy the weekend to the fullest! Now that we are 100% dedicated to the blog, the idea of going to harvest the fresh ingredients we need for our recipes, it gives us even more pleasure and it is super fun.
The last weekend we ended up picking oranges – a winter protagonist and with a lot of health benefits - straight from the tree to the recipe I had in my mind. And not only! I love to prepare my orange juice to go along with toasts, it's a ritual that we created in Lisbon on Sunday night.
Now, the recipe I present to you today is a delicious moist orange cake (with fresh and tasty ingredients) with a coconut and orange topping (orange all the way down the road!).
In this recipe I used quinoa flour - a gluten-free flour obtained by grinding organic quinoa - which I found in “Celeiro” (see here) and it can be used as an alternative to other types of flour, but you can choose the flour you use the most.
To replace the butter I used some coconut oil and because lately I found the pleasure to use coconut sugar I also used it in the recipe.
The more orange juice you add to the preparation, the moister and the more orange’s flavor will taste.
The coconut and orange topping will fool a lot of people since it seems to be made of chocolate, but no! The use of powdered coconut sugar, gives it a chocolate brownish-like shade. I promise that the flavor of this topping tastes even better than chocolate!
Ready for this?
Ready, set, eat!
Ingredients
For the orange cake
- 2 cups of quinoa flour - 1 cup of coconut sugar - 1/2 cup. coconut oil - 4 eggs - 4 large oranges + orange zest - 1 tea spoon of baking powder tea - 1 coffee spoon cinnamon coffee - 1 coffee spoon coffee nutmeg - 1 pinch of salt
For topping
- 1/2 cup of coconut sugar (powder) - 3 table spoons of coconut oil soup - 2 table spoons orange juice soup - 1 table spoon vanilla extract tea - orange zest (at your taste)
Preparation
Preheat the oven at 180ºC and grease and sprinkle a round shape.
In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil and sugar and beat very well until you achieve a creamy texture. Separate the yolks from the egg whites and keep the egg whites aside for later and add egg yolks to the previous mixture. Add the orange juice and the zest (we used zest of 2 oranges).
In a smaller bowl mix well the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt) and gradually add it to the previous mixture.
Beat the egg whites in the castle, and gradually add it to the previous mixture and incorporate it well.
Pour the mixture into the shape and bake for about 30 minutes or use a toothpick and try it out.
While the cake is in the oven, start preparing the topping.
Coconut oil needs to be liquid, if it is solid (below room temperature - 26ºC) take it to the microwave for a few seconds.
For a powder consistency you need to powder the coconut sugar, use a potent crusher bag (if you have a Bimby or a Yammi this process takes 10 seconds).
Add it to the coconut oil and beat very well until you get a creamy mixture, add the zests and mix once again.
Once the cake is ready, take it out of oven and let it cool. Put the topping over the cake and spread it with the help of a spatula. Put some zest on top and enjoy it!
