Glazed Orange Tea Cake

I guess you'll be happy to know that no, I haven't gone away forever, and yes, I am back to fill in the space between your hips and your jeans. ;)
I went out of town for two weeks and had a wonderful time in Louisiana and, although I did not have any beignets this time around, I can assure you that I made up for the loss in double stuffed oreos, fudge striped cookies and a marathon of star wars. Yeah. Killer combo.

Even though I didn't want to come back home, I did miss dusting flour off my clothes and the way the house smells right before you're ready to take a batch of homemade brownies out of the oven; and I am entirely inspired to try more new recipes than ever before. Actually, I'm inspired to try a lot of new things lately.

Like my newest fascination with peanut butter and jelly. Whoa. Why I never liked this combo when I was a kid is beyond me. I feel robbed.



Anywho, we'll save my peanut butter and jelly laments for another day. For now, let's talk cake. This glazed orange tea cake, for example.
When I first read over the recipe from Cooking Light, I thought to myself. "Ah, okay. Not too bad nutrition wise, I guess..." and then I thought to myself I could seriously reduce the amount of sugar and fat in the recipe while still keeping the great orange flavor simply by swapping out 3 tablespoons of butter with low-fat, plain yogurt and cutting the sugar in half. The results? A very dense, yet light tasting tea cake that is perfectly sweet enough to enjoy with tea or coffee or heck, a tall glass of milk works just fine, too. The best part has to be the glaze ontop which definitely completes the entire dessert. The only thing I'd watch out for is that this cake is not meant to be left on the counter at room temperature over night, or it will dry out. If you don't eat it all in a day (which, I can promise you, will be difficult not to), wrap it up in plastic wrap and keep it in your fridge. I find that it tastes five times better the next day when it's nice and chilled and still completely moist.

Glad to be back in the baking saddle. Look out for more recipes to come this week as I am definitely in the mood to shell out some interesting recipes.
That, and I really, really need an excuse to make some pancakes. Stat.



Glazed Orange Tea Cake
(Adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

CAKE

1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
3 tablespoons low-fat, plain yogurt
1 2/3 cup cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (can substitute with low-fat, skim or whole milk)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 large egg whites
cooking spray

GLAZE
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange liqueur (can substitute with orange juice)
1 teaspoon orange juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare the cake, place the granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed until well-blended. Add the egg and yogurt, beating well.

3. Combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

4. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in zest and extract.

5. Beat the egg whites with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters (do not overbeat).

6. Fold egg whites into batter; pour batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

7. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack, and remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

8. To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, liqueur, and juice in a small bowl. Poke holes in top of cake using a skewer; drizzle glaze over cake.