Vegan Sticky Orange Cake

Vegan Sticky Orange Cake w/ Orange Drizzle!

So, first of all, I'm not vegan.I have to get this off my chest, because I hate the stigma associated with vegan food. You tell someone that you've made something vegan and they automatically frown and think “Ew gross you're feeding us wheatgrass and chia seeds!” I don't understand this stigma. In fact I don't understand why there's such a dependence on meat and animal products in general. If I really think about eating animal biproducts I can really make myself sick. This is why I don't. I tend to eat higher welfare meat when I do eat it, and I am generally careful about where I source ingredients. It's in your best interests to keep watch over things that go into your body instead of becoming completely complacent about things!!

Ok rant over, now that we're past my little rant, I want to talk about my orange cake. I have had in my mind for a while now that I wanted an orange cake of some kind. I know the fundamentals of a plain sponge and I can make one quite easy, but I really wanted to use some ground almonds and...I wanted to keep it healthy, and maybe vegan. So I did a little research on how to lighten things up and how to substitute eggs in a cake. Apparently it's really easy to do as I've found out. While the cake isn't exactly what I was going for in my mind, it definitely turned out to be a great treat and I will definitely try to use the base of the recipe as a blank canvas to try many other confections. The best part about this cake is there's nothing weird and wonky in it to get it moving or to get it the right texture or whatever.

*Disclaimer: Ok, so here's the thing, baking is somewhat of an experimental thing for me, and this cake was no different. I originally took the cake out of the oven too soon even though the toothpick came out clean. It had risen really high so I took it out and shot lots of photos. I came back a few minutes later and it completely fell in the centre bc it wasn't done! OOPS. I put it back in the oven and cooked it but I couldn't save the soggy middle...so I decided to cut it out with a ring mould and make it a bundt cake ut I'm sure it will be fine next time. I just was careless!!

Enjoy!

Ingredient List

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. plain flour
½ c. ground almonds
1/3 c. oil (I used sunflower)
¾ c. white granulated sugar
½ c. brown sugar (I used dark muscovado)
1 ½ tbsp. Cider vinegar
1 ½ tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp. Salt
Zest of two oranges
250ml orange juice





For the Glaze: (I winged this, you can try whatever you want)
1c. icing sugar
½ c. orange juice
50g sliced almonds

To Start:
Very important to pre-heat the oven to 175C or 350F
Next measure out all of the ingredients so you're ready to mix.
Prepare the pans for baking

To Mix:
First mix together flour, ground almonds baking soda, salt.
In a larger bowl, mix together oil, orange juice, orange zest, sugars, vanilla, and cider vinegar.
Mix thoroughly and quickly add in the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

To Bake:
Pour into your prepared pans as soon as possible and get it into the oven.
Bake for 45-1hr.
Depending on your oven, check at 45 minutes and remember my disclaimer – it will look risen enough. Be absolutely sure before you pull it out.

For the Glaze:
Sift icing sugar into a small pan.
Add the orange juice and wisk heavily to remove any lumps.
Bring to a boil and boil down to a thick syrup.
Add almonds and optional orange zest and drizzle on your cake.

Dollop Greek Yogurt :)