Orange Raspberry Bread

Days before on the birthday of one of my hubby's colleagues, his wife "P' requested me to bake one cake emphasizing that she too wanted to lend a hand with the making, wishing to surprise her husband. Now the birthday boy has sugar problem that has turned him little fussy about eating sweets. So we planned to bake low calorie sugarless cake by supplementing sugar with artificial sweeteners, especially customized for him.

 

 

Though I would have loved to bake an orange flavoured cake topped with creamy layers of icing for the b'day boy, but at the last minute considering the amount of sugar in citrus cakes is in excess of normal non citrus cakes, I abandoned the idea and stuck to our original plan of baking a simple vanilla cake.

 

 

Respectful of the request that "P" wanted to chip in for the bake, I let her do whipping of the batter and other nitty-gritty required in the making of a presentable eatable cake. The turnout, though won havoc appreciation from the b'day boy more because of his wife's active involvement in the entire process, was a tad chewy in texture which I guess is common with anyone attempting at baking for the first time, but I was very touched by "P"'s effort to make the day special for her husband. When was the last time I made such an endeavour at learning something new just to make my hubby happy? Hmmmmm....sometimes silence is golden.

 

Ingredients:                                              Cooking time: 1 hr 20 minutes ü  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ü  2 eggs ü  1 1/2 cup orange juice ü  1 1/2 cup sugar ü  1 1/2 tsp baking powder ü  1 tsp baking soda ü  A pinch of salt ü  1/2 cup unsalted butter ü  1/2 cup fresh raspberries (chopped) ü  1/3 cup pecan chips ü  1 tbsp orange zest Method: 1) Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. 2) Beat eggs, butter, orange juice, orange zest and sugar to a smooth mixture. 3) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in another bowl. Gently pour the wet mixture into the flour and combine until no speck of flour is visible. 4) Fold in the pecan chips and fresh raspberries. Grease a bread loaf pan with butter and a sprinkling of flour. 5) Spread the cake batter across the greased pan and bake for about 50 minutes till a toothpick inserted at the centre comes out clean. 6) Serve at room temperature.