Coffee and Orange Swirl Cake is a must make! Yeah, I love words that rhyme 🙂 Well, this cake was made to curb my daughter’s cake cravings. I don’t bake cakes as much as I used to because I simply cannot resist them. I end up stuffing my face so much that I ditch whatever diet I am on. Well, I don’t ‘diet’ the traditional way anymore but since I try to avoid sweets and especially white flour life becomes a challenge when I am offered cake. The older I get the more I realise that I am a cake lover. I don’t fancy chocolates or ice cream that much but I do go weak in my knees when I see cake. So I have decided to treat myself this year and do what makes me happy. I am looking for healthier alternatives and recipe ideas and I hope to make my baking more healthy and eat a treat whenever I feel upbeat. Ok, that was lame 🙂
So while I baked this cake for my daughter, my son ended up taking it to school as a lunchtime treat. He has lately overcome his dislike for flavoured cakes and is willing to experiment. In the past, if I told him that the cake had an additional ingredient, he would avoid it like the plague. Perhaps this nature comes from my husband who loves simple sponge cakes. The less fancy the better. He is not a chocolate lover and so I have a tough time pleasing everyone in my household.
Since today is Valentine’s Day I decided that it was the apt occasion to post this recipe. So this should be my way of apologising for being away from the blog for too long. I do hope you have a lovely day today and if you haven’t planned to bake anything yet, you should totally try this recipe!
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A simple, moist & flavourful marble cake with the aromas of coffee & orange are sure to delight anyone!
- 40 grams walnuts or pecans
- 40 grams soft brown sugar * see notes
- 3 teaspoons instant coffee powder
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice * see notes
- 225 grams all purpose flour * see notes
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 175 grams butter at room temperature
- 175 grams caster sugar
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- juice a little less than 1/2 cup and zest of 1 large orange
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Grease & line an 8 inch round pan with baking parchment. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. (160 degrees for fan forced ovens)
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Remove lumps if any from the soft brown sugar and add it along with the walnuts, coffee powder & mixed spice into a mixer jar and pulse the mixture for 2-3 second intervals till the walnuts break down and resemble fine bread crumbs. Do not use the 'grind' option of your mixie as the walnuts will begin to leave their natural oils and turn the mixture into a paste. Simply use the 'pulse' option of your mixie/food processor. Keep this mixture aside.
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In a large bowl beat the butter & caster sugar till the mixture looks pale. Add the eggs, orange juice & zest and beat again.
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Sift in the flour, baking powder & salt and beat till incorporated. Do not over beat the mixture. If you wish you can fold in the batter using a spatula, but the electric beater is fine too. This recipe is very forgiving.
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Now using a spatula, spread out one third of the batter into the prepared tin. Sprinkle half of the coffee-walnut mixture over it. Spread another portion of the batter over it, followed by the remaining coffee-walnut mixture. Add the final portion of batter and even it out the surface.
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Run a clean knife through in the shape of the number eight to achieve a marbled effect.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or till the skewer inserted comes out clean.
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Remove and leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then invert it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely. Cut and serve. This cake keeps well in an airtight container kept in a cool place for upto 3 days.
Note:
If you don't have soft brown sugar you may use caster sugar and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder to achieve the dark brown colour that gives this cake a marble effect. However, the cocoa flavour may stand out (I haven't tried it, just a suggestion)
Please check the recipe for the mixed spice from my website. Mixed spice is generally used in Christmas cakes and is a blend of many warm spices. If you don't have mixed spice handy, you can use a mix of coriander, dry ginger powder, cloves, mace, cinnamon, all spice, cardamom & nutmeg. For this recipe I used whatever was handy and just added 1/8th teaspoon each of coriander powder, dry ginger powder, all spice, cardamom, cinnamon & nutmeg powders and about 5 whole cloves & a blade of mace directly to the coffee & walnuts and pulsed them together.
Instead of all purpose flour you may also use readymade self raising flour in which case you can use only 1 teaspoon of baking powder instead of 2 as the self raising flour will already have baking powder in it.
That’s one lovely looking cake! I’m always drawn to cakes that incorporate orange, and this one has a coffee swirl to top. Also, the crumb looks impeccable.
Thanks so much Anindita!!