Thursday 11 December 2014

Orange and peach yoghurt cake


Here's sharing with you an easy to prepare, moist and delicious orange flavoured yoghurt cake which I made using my Bosch Maxomixx hand blender set. This simple cake is made with basic baking ingredients that are readily available and it takes no time to whip up.





I topped the cake with peach slices which makes the cake a delightful and refreshing treat that pairs well with a hot cup of tea especially on a cold, gloomy afternoon.



Its sunny disposition brightens up my morning and it is pleasing to the eyes as it is to the palate...



the golden crumbs tastes tangy and sweet while the scent of the orange makes one feels joyful...what a great way to kick start the day.



The batter is prepared using the creaming method, that is, beating butter with sugar to incorporate air into the batter. The batter will turn pale, increase in volume and become light and fluffy. I usually leave the butter to soften in room temperature (which is around 28-30 degC) for 15 to 20mins. During this time, I will gather and prepare the rest of the ingredients. The butter should be firm and easily leaves an imprint when you press a finger into it. It is important not to leave the butter out for too long especially if the weather is hot, if the butter appears greasy or becomes too soft, it will not be able to hold too much air or give as much volume when creamed with sugar. As a result, the cake may not rise that well during baking.



The next step is whisking in the eggs. Patience is key. Add the eggs in several portions and whisk well each time it is added. Adding eggs too much at a time will cause the batter to curdle. Using room temperature eggs will also help to prevent curdling. If the batter starts to curdle, add some flour to the mixture to stop it from curdling. Do not try to continue to whisk a curdled batter as it will make worst.

Due to the 'runny' consistency of beaten eggs, I tend to pour too much eggs into the batter. However, with a hand held whisk, I can prevent curdling as I could easily manoeuvre the whisk over the batter so as to incorporate the eggs a little at a time. The balloon whisk attachment of the Bosch hand blender works like a charm. If the butter is still too cold or too firm, I could use the turbo button or pulse function to beat the mixture as it provides more power. The balloon whisk is also much easier to clean as compared to the paddles of my handheld electric mixer.



The final steps involved whisking in some orange juice and zest, followed by flour and yoghurt. I added the flour alternate with the yoghurt to prevent curdling and also for easier mixing.



The finished batter could fill up slightly more than half the height of my 7 inch round pan.



The cake rose beautifully and the crust baked to a nice golden hue.



The texture of this zesty cake is tender and moist, smells good and is full of orange flavour. Everyone in my family loves it. It is going to be another great add-on to my baking repertoire, something which I will turn to whenever I feel like baking on a whim :)



Orange and Peach Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients:
(makes one 7" cake)

150g unsalted butter, cut into cubes (leave to soften at room temperature for about 15~20mins)
120g caster sugar
2 medium sized eggs, lightly beaten (about 100g without shell)
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
200g cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
120g plain yoghurt
some canned peach slices

Method:
  • Grease the sides of a 7" round pan with some butter, dust with flour. Line the base with parchment paper, set aside.
  • Cut canned peaches into 8 slices. Rinse, drain and pat dry with paper towel, set aside.
  • Sift cake flour and baking powder together, set aside.
  • Place butter in a mixing bowl. Using the Bosch MaxoMixx hand blender with the whisk attachment, whisk the butter using speed 8 for about 1 minute. Add in the caster sugar, whisk until the batter becomes pale, creamy and fluffy (takes about 2 mins). Stop in between to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula.
  • Add in the beaten eggs in a few separate additions, whisk well each time the eggs is added.
  • Add in the orange juice and orange zest, whisk to combine.
  • Sift in half of the cake flour/baking powder mixture. With a spatula, stir until the flour mixture is incorporated into the batter.
  • Add in the yoghurt, stir with spatula until just incorporated.
  • Sift in the rest of the flour mixture, stir until flour mixture is just incorporated into the batter. Do not over mix. Scrape down the sides and the base of the mixing bowl to make sure there is no residual flour mixture.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pan. Spread and smoothen the top with the spatula. Arrange peach slices on top. 
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180deg for 50-55 mins till the top turns golden brown or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  • Remove cake from oven, let cool slightly for about 10mins. Run a knife along the sides of the pan (use oven mitten as the pan will still be hot). Invert the pan onto a plate or baking tray. Remove the pan and the parchment paper on the base of the cake. Place cake right side up on a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving, optional. The cake can be stored in room temperature for a day, any leftovers can be stored in the fridge, let the cake returns to room temperature before serving.

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Happy Home Baking

Please advise whether I can use Hong Kong Flour in place of cake flour for this cake.
Thank you.
Regards
Florence

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Florence, I am not sure about Hong Kong flour, but you can use plain flour instead of cake flour.

PH said...

It is such a pretty cake! I love the color and the peaches on top.

Anonymous said...

wow, that is a tasty looking cake. Orange is my favorite flavour. I would love a slice with cup of hot coffee. I think I have a weekend baking project. Our winter days are very short here, this cake would definitely brighten things up! The peach slices are a nice touch.

Cheers from Canada!
Jake

Anonymous said...

If I decide to make this into cupcakes, do you think I can cut the baking time by half?

Happy Homebaker said...

Baking time for upcakes would probably be 20 to 30mins.

VB said...

yummy yummy yummy!

Anonymous said...

Hi I baked this , it's very moist n cheese cake like in texture. love it.

Anonymous said...

Hello, the cake looks amazing :) quick question - is the texture similar to your infamous fruit pastry cake? Which cake tastes better in your opinion?

Love,
Tammy

Happy Homebaker said...

The texture is more tender and crumbs more fine than the fruit pastry cake.

Thomson said...

the cake looks so yummy,..especially the orange color

Unknown said...

Hello, I am just impressed how you could combine the peach and orange in one cake. It looks so yummy for me :))

Unknown said...

Hi, may I know the brand & model of your oven? I am looking for one as the old set has spoilt.
Thanks.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi esther, my oven is Bosch HBN331E2J

Unknown said...

Is built - in oven? How much did it cost?

Happy Homebaker said...

It's a built in oven, bought it for less than $700.

mui mui said...

Hi HHB,
This cake looks so tempting!
I am going to bake this cake soon.
Happy New Year to you and your love ones!
mui

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Mui, hope you like this cake :)
here's wishing you and your family a fruitful year ahead!

Unknown said...

The cakes look so yummy. I am very fond of cakes and I love Orange cakes most. I want to ask you can you upload your cooking class video also because it will be easy for me to see the cake preparation through video.

Unknown said...

Happy new year Happy Homebaker,
Its looking awesome, the images itself say how delicious it would be, I will definitely try this cake at this weekend. Thank you for sharing

Regards
Shyam
online cakes delivery

Yzenith Chinese food said...

it looks amazing, you can open your own bakery

christyjames said...

I really like your blogs which looks like best cakes ever. I like to prepare this to improve my bakery online midnight cake delivery in Chennai. Thank you very much and I hope you paste some more of these! Thanks for sharing. Surely I will try it.

Nezumi said...

Pretty and very yummy looking!

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy home baking,
I really love your blog, the recipes and instruction are very clear and details.
I have tried your almond cake and this orange cake & my family loves them.
Thank you & thank you very much for your generous sharing.

HTing

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi HTing, thank you for your kind and encouraging words :) I am glad to hear that the recipes turn out well. Hope you have more fun baking for your family!

tin tuc said...

Verry good

Unknown said...

Hi HHB

did you use fresh oranges for the juice? Can I use mandarin oranges for the juice and zest since there are many left over from this CNY? :D

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I used freshly squeezed orange juice. I have not tried it but I don't think there will be any problem if you were to use mandarin oranges. Just make sure you avoid the white pith when zesting as the skin is thinner. Hope this helps.

esther said...

Hi HHB, can I use large eggs (each 60g) if I only have large ones at home? Thanks!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Esther, you can use 1.5 large eggs...about 100g of eggs.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB, can i substitute 200g of cake flour with 170g of plain flour and 30g of cornflour?

Zoe said...

Hi HHB can i substitute 200g of cake flour with 170g of plain flour + 30g cornflour?

Zoe said...

If i use plain flour instead, do i have to add cornflour to it? If so, may i know the proportion pls? Tq

Zoe said...

Hi HHB, i want to bake this for my friends to celebrate Mothers' Day.
My oven is the small table top type.
Usually i wld from the given recipe, minus 10deg and add another 5 minutes to my baking time. Is this
the right thing to do for a small cake baking in a small oven?? Tq

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you may do so. I usually follow the substitutions from joyofbaking.com, which is 100g plain flour + 20g corn flour to make 1 cup of cake flour which is about there...

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Zoe, sorry for the late reply as I was busy taking care of my mum who was hospitalised for the past week.

You may do so. I usually follow the substitutions from joyofbaking.com, which is 100g plain flour + 20g corn flour to make 1 cup of cake flour which is about there...

Happy Homebaker said...

You can use plain flour only, I dont think the texture will affect too much...but if u have corn flour on hand, u may use it.

Happy Homebaker said...

Not sure what brand or size of your tabletop oven...in the past, I used a 20 litre tefal tabletop oven, I follow the same recommended oven temperature in the recipes, but I do use an oven thermometer to check that I have preheat it to the right temp. Every oven works differently as such I am not able to comment on how to adjust your oven's temp and baking time...as long as your cake is cooked through, evenly browned, no dense layer at the bottom, you should be on the right track. hope this helps.

Zoe said...

Hi HHB, Sorry to hear your mum is in hospital. How is she now? Hope she is recovering well. I will pray for your mum to have a speedy recovery. Thanks for replying to me despite
your busy schedule. Please take care too :)

Zoe said...

Thank you very much. Now i know i need to buy an oven thermometer. Do i put it on the same rack as my cake pan?

Anonymous said...

Does the adding of cornflour help to make the texture softer? Is that the purpose?

Happy Homebaker said...

Adding cornflour to plain flour is a substitution for cake flour, you can read about it here:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html

Happy Homebaker said...

I hang my thermometer on the rack, you need not place it right beside the cake pan.

Zoe said...

Hi you mentioned the dense layer at the bottom - does that mean my oven temp is uneven or does it mean i have to bake it longer? And as for adjusting the oven heat with oven temp - if it shows differently then i have to adjust it from outside till it reflects the given temp in given recipe? Pardon for ignorance on this :p

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, the dense layer could be due to:
1) oven temperature, your oven may not be preheated to the right temperature, or due to uneven heat in the oven, the bottom of the cake is not cooked but the top is already browned;
2) uneven mixing of the batter, especially those that requires folding of yolk to white batter, or folding melted butter to the batter, or folding of flour to the batter. If the batter is not well mixed, denser mixture could be left at the bottom of the mixing bowl, when poured into the baking pan, the denser layer sank to the bottom of the pan...resulting in the dense layer at the bottom.

if your oven thermometer shows a lower temperature than what you have set, then you would need to increase the setting. try not to open the oven door during baking to prevent the temperature from dropping.

You may want to read up on baking sites such as craftybaking.com, joyofbaking.com or learn from baking books to understand more about baking. Hope this helps and happy baking!

Unknown said...

Love the color and texture of the cake.....

Anonymous said...

Love it! I made this today and it's so delicious/fluffy/moist. Definately making this again sometime. Surprisingly it only took me about 35-40 min to cook in the oven. Is it possible to add somekind of sauce/topping to this cake or do you think it'll ruin the flavors/texture of the cake?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can add glaze or sauce over the cake it won't affect the texture, as for flavour it depends on the type of glaze you make.

Unknown said...

Looks unique and yummy.... Thanks for sharing...