However, in the end, he sure did...as did everyone at my husband's office (www.lakshyadigital.com).
Here is the recipe with tweaks and changes so it could adapt to life in India.
PS When I come back, I'll be wielding a box of baking soda and some boxes of cake flour!
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
9 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons orange-flower water*
2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
NOTES:
- Since I used cake tins, I found I had to modify my bake time to about 45 minutes.
- Originally this recipe was meant to be for cupcakes. If you have cupcake tins, use them - it's well worth it.
- Since I couldn't find any cake flour, the closest I could find was Maida. I pushed the maida through a fine grade sieve to get the flour even finer, so the cake would be lighter.
- The recipe calls for ground cardamom and I used the seeds of 18 cardamom pods
- Eggs: I whipped them until they were light and fluffy which is important so you can get more air into your batter so the cake is lighter and fluffier
- Orange-flour water: since I couldn't find flower water/rose water here that was meant to be eaten, I used orange water I found in Spencer's and it worked out just fine
- Orange peel: I found the gratings from 1.5 oranges was more than enough.
- Buttermilk: As I said before, I had a hard time finding buttermilk that wasn't spiced, so I made my own - 1 cup whole milk and 1 Tablespoon of distilled white vinegar (if you don't have distilled white vinegar, you can use 1 Tablespoon of lemon instead). Let sit for at least 1 hour.
Directions
Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 325°F. Lightly spray insides of a cake tin (or cupcake tray) with nonstick spray; arrange tray on 2 large rimmed baking sheets (if you use cupcake tins).
Sift flour, ground cardamom, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Whisk eggs, orange peel, vanilla, and orange-flower water in bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in egg mixture in 3 additions. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk, scraping bowl occasionally.
For cake:
Gently pour the batter into the cake tin, a little more than half full, but not past 3/4 of the side of the tin - you don't want this to puff up and bake off the sides.
For cupcakes:
Spoon 1/3 cup batter (or less) into each cupcake tin.
Bake cake (cupcakes) until puffed and tester inserted into center comes out clean, reversing sheets after 12 minutes, about 25 minutes total (cupcakes may not brown on top). Transfer cupcakes to racks; cool completely.
Frost orange cupcakes with vanilla frosting. (Can be made ahead. Arrange cupcakes in deep disposable roasting pans. Cover pans with foil. Refrigerate up to 2 days, or store at room temperature 1 day. Bring chilled cupcakes to room temperature before serving.)
FROSTING
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream (I just used whole milk)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, then cream and vanilla.
5 1/4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream (I just used whole milk)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, then cream and vanilla.
