Orange Cardamom Cake (Vegan)

One of the challenges for me in our current situation is not being able to go to the grocery as often as I want to get specific ingredients. So I set out to make a cake with ingredients I already had in the house. The result was a vegan orange cardamom cake that had such a nice balance of citrus and spice. I don't usually frost these cakes, but I wanted to make this one look special for my parents' anniversary. Instead of baking it in my usual 8-inch square glass baking dish, I used mini bundt pans. I also made a quick orange glaze (see below the cake recipe for directions), and sprinkled chopped pistachios on top before the glaze set.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup cold water (discard 2 tbsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract (or substitute with 1 additional tsp vanilla extract)

3 tsp white vinegar

1 tbsp orange zest

Optional: Orange glaze

2 tbsp of orange juice

1 tbsp orange zest

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 cup of confectioner's sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F with a rack set up in the middle.

2. In a small bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients together except the vinegar.

4. Using a spatula, gently mix the dry and wet ingredients together until there are no lumps or dry pockets of flour.

5. Right before baking, use the spatula to fold in the vinegar until the batter is a uniform color. Immediately pour the batter into an ungreased, unfloured 8-inch glass baking dish and put it in the oven.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes until top of cake cracks and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Optional: Orange glaze

Mix orange juice, orange zest, kosher salt, and confectioner's sugar together in a bowl until there are no lumps. Using a spoon, gently pour the glaze over a completely cooled cake and let it drip down the sides for effect.