Orange-Almond Cake

Every bite of pound cake would take me back to the times when our shopping cart was incomplete without a Sara Lee pound cake and a pack of Swiss Rolls......a long time ago. When I started baking, I'd begun with the basic idea that equal parts of flour, sugar, butter and eggs would give a cake (literal pound cake definition).

I've been modifying my basic pound cake to, well.... you know, spare myself those additional pounds. The cake remains dense, soft, moist and lip-smacking (without leaving a layer of grease on those lips!!). Its all about substitutions.

 Orange Almond not-so-Pound Cake Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 200 gms
Almond meal - 50 grams (ground almonds)
Butter - 50 gms
Sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Yogurt - 150 gms
Orange rind - 1 Tbsp
Orange juice - 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Slivered Almonds - 1/4 cup (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease, flour and line an 8" x 4" loaf pan or a 8" x 8" brownie pan. Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one-by-one and beat till incorporated. Add orange zest and juice. Add yogurt. The batter will seem curdled, but that's okay. Stir the flour and almond meal and add in batches to the batter. The batter will look smooth, except for the bits of almonds that escaped getting finely ground.

Pour into prepared container and tap well to remove trapped air bubbles. Sprinkle the top with slivered almonds and bake covered for 15 minutes and uncovered till the cake passes the toothpick test. Remove and transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely and store in airtight containers at room temperature. Serve warm as is or with ice cream.