Turmeric Orange Blossom Pudding Cake

Sitting with students in the shade and talking, debating and laughing is a delightful way to spend a long sunny afternoon in Southern Oregon. So enjoyable in fact it can easily continue until the evening dove calls. We talked that way for hours as we watched the bees zoom into their boxes, the solar lights twinkled on and the stars follow suit.

One of the young ladies that has been visiting this week was celebrating her 21st birthday so I decided to make a tea cake and found a beautiful recipe that seemed to reflect the wonderful conversations with it's bright orange color.

Fresh squeezed orange juice and orange zest gives the cake a sunny refreshing flavor which was wonderfully enhanced by orange blossom honey. Genius! It was wonderful to layer the fruit and the fruit's own bee-loved nectars and when blended with the turmeric, gave the pudding cake a flavor profile that sang orange in joyful operatic poetry. A half dozen eggs gives this tea cake a big yummy dose of protein which is extra special when you get to use eggs from chickens you love! (Thanks peedie birdies Gwen & Melissae!)

I found the recipe super easy and it whipped together swift as a quick bread. I made a small cake for the ladies to enjoy on their birthday meanderings through parks and riverbanks and turned the extra batter into cupcakes to sustain me through a hard day of working like a bee to boot.

I found the original recipe on growwellnc.com and you can find a gluten-free version there. I adapted it since I did not have coconut flour on hand, but I am going to go get some and remake the recipe in the GF way because YUM. It turns out coconut flour is more absorbent than wheat flour, so it may make the recipe more cake-like. I really enjoyed the pudding cake style myself, and if you like that sorta thing try it!

Here's the low-down:

Mix together

6 eggs, (yum! pick the best and most orangy and freshest eggs from chickens you love!)

6 TBS ORANGE BLOSSOM honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ c coconut milk

2+ tsp zestily grated fresh organic orange zest

Tip: squeeze the juice into a small pouring cup and set aside.

Then add

¼ c melted coconut oil; mix it all up buttercup! Set aside...

In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients

3/4c flour

½ tsp baking powder

2-4 tsp turmeric (use grated fresh and/or powdered)

½ tsp salt

Now mix them together (dry into wet) til blended and pour into prepared little loaf pan or muffin cups.

I poured the batter into a small greased loaf pan and eight muffin cups, baked at 360* for 25-30 minutes until the wood skewer came out clean.

The cake will be a little bit browned.

Let the cake cool for 5 or ten minutes, poke some holes with a skewer and then drizzle the fresh squeezed juice from the orange you zestily zested over the cake.

I would like to make this a creamsicle cake with a whipped cream cheese frosting, maybe even sweetened with more orange blossom honey and fresh vanilla bean or a big pinch of orange zest. Or stir a few tsp of the honey into the orange juice. This will add yet another layer of the orange flavor and really wake up the tastebuds, trust me!

You're Welcome. wink

And Happy Bee=Day to the Birthday Girl!