I have to admit one thing, I am non-vegetarian so I usually make no special attempt to make vegetarian food unless it is a challenge, the need of the hour or a request. And in this case the attempt at eggless orange cake was a request from a very dear friend whose husband is allergic to eggs. And I am so glad she asked me to because this chance to try eggless stuff gave me a whole new way of looking at vegetarian recipes.

I love the orange cake I make regularly and my kids (and lots of other people I know) absolutely love it! And I never thought I would find a recipe that could come a close second. But this recipe did come close. And it was very easy to make! This cake has a very good crumb and unlike a lot of other eggless cakes, it does not crumble easily and can be cut into beautiful slices for serving.

The original recipe is (no surprise!) inspired from this recipe on allrecipes.com. I did make some changes to the recipe to give it a more orange-y flavor. The cake turned out good but it wasn't sweet enough for me so for all you folks who like your desserts to be sweet, do add in the recommended amount of sugar as option in the recipe. Enjoy it even during Navratras!!!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons orange extract

1 cup melted butter

zest of one orange

(optional - 1/4 to 1/8 cup fine grain sugar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the sweetened condensed milk, orange juice, orange extract, orange zest and melted butter. Mix well and pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.