Saturday, November 6, 2010

Tasty Tangerine Cake



















I am unsure if I should call this a 'cake' recipe. For most people, that means it's an indulgence of sugar. This cake is a little more on the healthy side with not too much sweetness but enough to get your sugar fix if your sweet tooth is hollering!
It's really more like a coffee cake and if you do not have tangerines, feel free to exchange a large orange for them. By using the entire fruit, skin and all, it gives this cake a really unique taste. I think it is perfect with a good rich, dark coffee or a hot cup of green tea. I hope you will agree!


Tasty Tangerine Cake

2 Tangerines
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9-inch pan or tube pan.

1. Squeeze tangerines and reserve the juice, place tangerines in a blender.
2. Blend entire tangerines with milk and eggs on high until smooth.
3. Pour tangerine mixture into a bowl. Add the flour and baking soda.
4. Mix together gently
5. Melt butter. Add the honey and butter to the tangerine mixture.
6. Add raisins and walnuts, mix well.
6. Pour into a well greased pan or tube pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top springs back. Pour reserved juice over hot cake and leave in the pan until almost completely cooled. Remove from pan and let finish cooling!

If you like, you can sprinkle powder sugar over the top to make the presentation prettier.

(Recipe modified from The Horn of the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan)


Nutritional Tip:

Tangerines are an excellent source of vitamin B and C Vitamins. During the winter months, in order to help fight off colds, it is helpful to increase your vitamin C consumption. Not to mention that Vitamin C makes your skin look fantastic throughout the year!

If you are going to eat cake you might as well eat one made with healthy fruit and less refined sugar. We all need to watch the amount of sugar coursing through our veins these days! We do not want to contribute to the diabetes epidemic spreading to our friends and family.
This recipe retains all the fiber of the fruit and includes more with the addition of whole wheat flour. Fiber helps slow down the absorption rate of food and helps us to feel full. I have heard people say they could eat an entire sheet cake without thinking about it. That's because it is basically flour, sugar and water with ZERO nutritional benefits. That combination seems to disappear like air in our mouths and in our stomachs, leaving us hungry a short time later. It is too bad it does not disappear like air on our hips! Haha! This recipe gives you more nutrients than most cakes. Let me know if you enjoyed it!


Living Out Loud,
DandelionHeart


5 comments:

i cant decide said...

This looks and sounds good. I might have to try it out on my family. I don't eat any grains or honey but I wouldn't mind feeding it to them occasionally. I think it would make a yummy Christmas dessert!

Thanks for visiting my blog. I think with parenting we are always on a learning curve. My oldest just turned 18 so I'm on the curve to learning how to have an adult son.

Enjoy those sweet baby days!

i cant decide said...

I just shared this on facebook!

Dandelionheart said...

Briana,
18, what a great age- can be scary but exciting! I hope people like this cake. I really liked pouring the juice over the top. I think for the holidays I would mix a little whipped cream and orange juice together for a topping and then put very fine shavings of orange peel or dark, chocolate dipped oranges around the edges just to make it extra festive!
Thanks for sharing this!

Alea Milham said...

I thought I commented yesterday, but something must of happened. Anyway I tweeted the post and it made the realfood daily (its an online paper that comes from tweets). You should be able to read it here: http://paper.li/tag/realfood/~list?topic=Travel

Dandelion Heart said...

Alea, thanks so much. I am excited to hear about the online paper. I appreciate your support and encouragement of my blog!