Recipes that can be thrown together in 20 minutes or less with no more than five ingredients--that's the quick and the easy of Jane Butel's Quick and Easy Southwestern Cookbook. "The two pillars of the cuisine," she writes, "are chiles, which provide the personality, and corn, which provides a great deal of the structure." Jane Butel provides the know-how. That includes how to reduce fat, plan a week's worth of cooking for a family,
This delicious cake is a fun dessert for an impromptu dinner party. And it is low in claries. You can vary the liquors; rum or bourbon would give it an entirely different flavor. This is a "Sunday Best" recipe.
Baking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
1 large orange
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons tequila, silver or gold
2 large eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
Confectioner's sugar and orange twists, for garnish (optional; see *Note)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a springform pan, or line an 8-inch round pan with wax paper. Use a zester to remove as much zest as possible from the orange, then halve the orange and juice it. Measure the juice, adding water to make 1/2 cup. Combine the orange juice, zest, and sugar in a small pan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat and set askide. When cool, add the tequila. Reserve this syrup to use over the cake when done. Do not add to the batter.
In a food processor or blender, combine the eggs, milk, flours, baking powder, and butter. Process until the ingredients are combined, scraping down the sides of the container.
Place the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from teh sides of the pan and springs back when touched with a finger.
If using a springform pan, place the cake, still in the pan, on a plate to catch the drips. Otherwise, transfer the cake from the pan to a plate 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. Pierce the top of the cake with a fork in several places, then slowly drizzle the tequila syrup over the cake. Remove the springform pan sides, but not the bottom. Sprinkle the cake with the confectioner's sugar and decorate with orange twists, if desired.
NOTE: To make orange twists, cut an orange in half, then slice each half to rind and twist very thinly. Twist the ends of each slice in opposite directions.
