Orange Blossoms for My Mum

This year for Mother's Day I got a photoshoot done of Marley, my Brother and myself and had them professionally printed to frame for her wall. They were really gorgeous.  But I thought I would bake something special for her to enjoy through the week.

I made her some special Mothers Day Cookie Flowers in Hot Pink and Red, detailed in sanding sugar. Her is a pic of what I made.

Mum has always loved little cupcakes, the ones you bake in the scalloped cake pan without any wrappers, do you remember the kind I'm talking about? Mum especially used to bake Date Loaf or Sultana Cake mix in them and have butter on top.  So I searched for a scrummy recipe and I fell right over one... from a cute little blog called Pease Pudding at http://peasepudding.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/vanilla-bean-orange-blossom-cake/#comment-5336.

Vanilla Bean and Orange Blossom Cake with Pistachios

Cake

200g Self Raising Flour
100g Ground Almond Meal
150g Castor Sugar (granulated sugar)
1 tsp Bi-carb Soda
250g Plain or Greek Yogurt
150ml Canola or Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
2 Vanilla Beans - halved and scraped

Orange Blossom Syrup

1 cup Castor Sugar
1 cup Water
1 Tbsp Orange Blossom Water

Icing

1 cup Icing Sugar Mixture
2 Tbsp Milk
1 tsp Orange Blossom Water
1/2 cup Pistachios - slightly crushed

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (moderate oven). Grease and flour the cake pan.

In a large bowl sift in all dry ingredients together (flour, almond meal, sugar).  Then in the electric mixer whisk the wet ingredients together (yogurt, oil, eggs, scraped vanilla bean seeds).

Take the bowl off the electric mixer and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just mixed in without over stirring or the raising agents will be bruised and wont work properly.

Using soup spoon (preferably), spoon the mixture into each cupcake hole. Tap pan on bench to knock out air bubbles, and place into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Longer for deeper cupcakes, to test the cooked cake should be soft but bounce back at touch.

Alternative is you can bake an 8 - 10 inch round cake.

Once removed from oven you can start the syrup, so you can pour over cakes whilst still warm, the syrup will soak in best if done when cakes are warm, however if you miss this, you can heat cakes in microwave for 15-20 seconds to reheat.

For the beautiful syrup, place the sugar, water and orange blossom water into a small saucepan on medium heat.  Simmer until the sugar is fully dissolved, and reduce the liquid by a third, it will have thickened.





Pour the hot syrup over the cake/s and allow it to soak in, I find making a few holes with a skewer helps the syrup soak through.

To make the glaze/icing mix the icing sugar with milk and orange blossom water together, the icing sugar needs to be mixed in fully, and the consistency should resemble the thickness of honey. Pour over the cakes, you can use a butter knife or small cake spatula to smooth or make even. Whilst the glaze is wet, sprinkle with the pistachios and leave to allow to dry/set.