Upside-down Orange Cake

I have to say that I love the orange flavor in holiday treats and desserts. That’s why this year for Thanksgiving I made an Upside-down Orange Cake.
Recipe:
1. Zest from 2 navel oranges
2. Orange juice 1/2 cup, 1 orange
3. All-purpose flour – 2 cups
4. Sugar – 160gr.
5. Unsalted butter – 1/3 cup, room temperature
7. Plain yogurt – 1/3 cup (or sour cream)
8. 3 eggs

For the oranges:
1. Navel oranges – 2
2. Water – 1 cup
3. Sugar – 3/4

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1. Cream cheese – 8oz, soft
2. Heavy cream – 1 cup
3. Powdered sugar – 1 cup
4. Lemon Extract – 1,5 tsp

Cut the oranges in thin slices and set aside. In a medium sauce pan, over medium heat add 1 cup water and 3/4 cup sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Put the orange slices in and bring to a simmer, cook for about 20 min. Save the liquid for spreading on top of the cake.

Butter a 9 inch cake pan, or two 8 inch( you’ll have to divide the oranges and the batter after ). Sift the flour and the baking powder in a bowl, set aside. Cream together the butter, the yogurt and the orange zest. Slowly add the sugar and scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients and the orange juice and beat well on low speed.
Arrange the orange slices at the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter over the oranges. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 35 minutes for an 8 inch cake and 40 min for a 9 inch cake, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool 10-15 minutes before inverting onto a dish. After cooling invert the cake onto a dish and spread some of the water/sugar mix.
In a stand mixer whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until we’ll combined. Add lemon extract and then heavy cream slowly. Make sure it’s well combined. Turn the mixer on high and whip for about a minute.
You can decorate the cake or just drop a spoonful of frosting on top. If decorating make sure the cake is cold and you work fast because it doesn’t hold for long very well in warm temperature. You can also place the frosting in the fridge for an hour or more before decorating.

Parmesan Breadsticks

These snacks are sooo yummy, they will disappear in minutes. This recipe doesn’t have milk or water in it, just melted butter and egg. We all love them so much, I always have to make a double batch. You should really try making them.

Recipe:

1. All purpose flour – about 3 1/2 cups

2. Salt – 1 tsp

3. Yeast – 2 tsp

4. Baking powder – 1/2 tsp

5. Eggs – 1 egg

6. Plain yogurt – 150 gr

7. Butter – 1 stick( 113 gr), melted

8. Feta – 150 gr

9. Parmesan cheese – to your liking

Egg wash -1 egg + tbsp milk for spreading on top

Mix all ingredients and make a soft dough, oil the bowl and the dough lightly and cover, let it rise for about an hour. Then on a floured surface roll the dough to 1/4″. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut strips with a pizza cutter. Whisk the egg with the milk and set aside. Twist the strips as much as you can, when done spread the egg wash and sprinkle Parmesan cheese. When the oven is ready bake for 20-25min.

*The dough won’t rise a lot.

* I’ve made these also without leaving the dough to rise and they’ve turned out just as good.

Feta Stuffed Dough

These savoury feta stuffed buns are so soft and good. You will want to eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In our house they disappear pretty quick. And the good thing is that you can add other ingredients too and they will taste just as delicious. Add anything from meat and cheese or herbs, and you will be amazed how different and tasty they are.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour- 500gr., if you need more add a little at a time
Salt -1tsp
Sugar -1tsp.
Active dry yeast – 2tsp.
Milk – 200ml.
Olive oil- 60ml.
Eggs -2
Feta cheese -200gr.
For the top:
1 egg + tbsp of milk

Add all ingredients and make a soft dough, coat with oil and let it rest until it has doubled. On a surface roll into a thick circle, cut into 8 pizza slices. Roll the slices in a ball,then flat and stretch each ball a little with your fingers. Next, using a rolling pin roll them out thin, cover a good area with feta and roll into a log, then roll the log itself. Put them in a pan and cover with plastic wrap to rise again for 30min. In the meantime beat 1 egg +tbsp of milk , set aside. After 30min preheat the oven to 375° and after the oven has preheated spread the egg and milk mixture over them. Bake for about 28min.
You can spread butter over the buns, let them rest for about 10min.before you do that.