I’ve been doing a lot more collaborative cooking lately, like the cauliflower couscous from last week and the inspired Lebanese Rice flour Pudding from a few weeks ago. Todays recipe for Orange Fennel Cakes comes from a blog I’ve admired for a long time, Roost. My friend Anne picked it out for us to bake together one afternoon and I was instantly hooked by it’s unusual flavor and nutty texture, plus it was a fun excuse to use my grandma’s old mini bundt pan.
I made a second batch this weekend with Annalise using regular flour instead of almond flour but we agreed that the almond flour proved best for this recipe. With the second batch I changed up the glaze and created a simple orange glaze with zest and juice from one orange, powdered sugar, and a splash of milk. This sweetened up the cakes a bit and I think added to the overall flavor of the little jewels.
We served these at our Cocktails SLCmixer on Sunday afternoon.
Folks who joined us sipped on newly created cocktails from some of the best bartenders in town. Alongside their cocktails, were these aromatic orange fennel cakes and a kale artichoke dip that I’ll also be sharing soon. The cakes were a perfect match to the inventive cocktails, like one with blood orange and juniper flavors or another that we tried with a strawberry thyme simple syrup. I find that mixing herbs with fruit makes for delicious and intriguing baked goods as well as cocktails.
Have you experimented with herbs and fruits in baked goods? What
fun flavor combos have you come up with?! I would love to hear your thoughts!
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- juice from one large orange
- zest from one orange
- zest from one orange
- juice from one orange
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- small splash of milk (probably a teaspoon)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray or butter/flour a mini bundt pan.
- Toast the fennel seeds in the oven until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Crush with a mortar and pestle or leave whole.
- Combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda and toasted fennel seeds in a bowl. Mix the eggs, yogurt, honey, vanilla, orange juice and zest in a different bowl. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until incorporated but don't over-mix.
- Pour cake mixture into greased bundt molds filling them about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then let cakes cool on a wire rack before glazing.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze and spoon on top of the cakes, letting the glaze run down the edges of the cakes.
- Serve with herbal tea, black coffee, or your favorite herbal cocktail.
Notes
*You may use a muffin pan instead of a mini bundt pan but note that the baking time may vary.
I love the sound and look of these cakes! I so wish I lived in SLC so I could come to your mixers. Roost is one of my faves too. I made her almond flour waffles a while back and loved them. Adding this to the to-try list!
I’ve made her almond flour gingerbread waffles and loved them!!! I wish almond flour was cheaper so I could use it more often!
These look wonderful, Becky! I’m new to Roost but so many great recipes to sort through. I love the orange and fennel together. I love putting either thyme or rosemary into baked goods!
I just had a pear thyme tart last night that you would have loved Kelley!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Roost blog! Anyway, love how you used almond flour for these cakes! I’ve been experimenting with different flours and almond almost tops my list.
Have you ever tried brunch pie? My friend turned an olive-hater like me into a fan of savory baked good when she made this Cheesy, Garlic and Peppered Brunch Pie for me: http://www.foodisourfriend.com/2011/10/rosemary-garlic-bell-pepper-olive.html
These look divine. I love herbs in baked good!
And I’ll second how amazing that pear-thyme tart was… 🙂