Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Orange Bundt Cake

As Easter was approaching I began to daydream of a light and airy orange vanilla Bundt cake. (What you don’t daydream of cake? I do. Just ask my facebook friends about my recent status updates.) I wanted a cake that was free of super sweet frosting; something that screamed spring. I finally settled on this recipe from Taste of Home.

This was a pretty simple cake to make. I was most nervous about pouring the batter into the pan! I have a somewhat weak arm from breaking it three seperate times, plus my batter bowl is kind of heavy. I was afraid I’d slip up and pour it in the hole in the middle! But, I did a fine job. After pouring it into the pan I did my best to spread it around evenly, but next time, as I’ve learned, I’ll do a better job of pushing the batter up the sides of the pan. I’ve read that helps it bake evenly. Mine rose up the sides, but then did a lot of expanding in between the outer edge and the inner circle. So I ended up trimming the bottom so it would sit a little flatter. Now, mind you, this wasn’t a problem, because it allowed me to sample the cake!

I still need to get a hang of the whole glaze thing. I might of had it too thin as a lot ran off. What made me really happy about this cake was you can really enjoy the flavors of the cake itself, and the glaze was a light compliment. Sort of like the icing on the cake… (Now I see where that analogy came from.) I loved that this cake gave me the chance to use my Bundt pan, and microplane grater for the first time. They were purchases from a recent trip to a Williams Sonoma outlet.

I went ahead and juiced the orange I had zested so I could use the fresh juice in the glaze. I waited to glaze the cake until just before serving. I also added some extra orange zest to the glaze, because I couldn’t resist the lovely orange citrus aroma. Yum. This was a great cake, and I hope to make it again; maybe the next time I have that orange vanilla craving hit. It was the perfect spring cake.

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Orange Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

CAKE:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk

GLAZE:
2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons orange juice (I used freshly squeezed)

Directions:

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in the eggs, orange peel and extracts. Combine flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Pour into a greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool. For glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and juice until smooth. Spoon over cake. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Nutritional Info: (1 slice) Calories: 373 Fat: 13 g Saturated Fat: 8 g Cholesterol: 86 mg Sodium: 215 mg Carbohydrate: 59 g Fiber: 1 g Protein: 5 g

Nutritional Info: (1 slice) Calories: 373 Fat: 13 g Saturated Fat: 8 g Cholesterol: 86 mg Sodium: 215 mg Carbohydrate: 59 g Fiber: 1 g Protein: 5 g

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