This past weekend was my 40th birthday, and by Sunday I was in no shape to be baking bread.

Instead, this week I made a cake in honor of my friend Matthew’s birthday, and thought I’d share the recipe and photos in case you were despondent over the fact I didn’t post a bread recipe on Monday. Wipe your tears.

I was in search of a recipe that contained ingredients I had on hand; shouldn’t be too difficult, since my pantry is usually well-stocked. I was also looking for a recipe that wouldn’t take more than a few hours, since I don’t get home until six, and still have to cook dinner and do some other important stuff as part of my evening (screw around on Twitter and watch “Big Bang Theory”).

A quick Google search unearthed a recipe for an Orange Bundt Cake. Simple enough. Bundt cakes don’t require a lot of dressing up, since its shape is really its decoration. All it needs is a beautiful glaze, and you’re good to go.  And this particular recipe was intriguing to me: it calls for two whole oranges, pureed. Skin, pith, and all. I’ve never done that before, so I was naturally drawn to it. I made the Orange Glaze variation, since Matthew is not a “chocolate guy” (whatever *that* means).

After the jump, you’ll find the recipe and photos:

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Whole Orange Bundt Cake (you can find a printable version here)

Ingredients

  • 2 whole oranges (preferably seedless navel), scrubbed and washed well
  • 3 sticks of butter, softened
  • 2 cups granulated white sugar
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour a Bundt pan and set aside.

Quarter the oranges, remove any seeds if not using navel, and put in food processor to puree. Set aside.

This is what the puree of two whole oranges looks like.

While the oranges are pureeing, cream the butter and sugar together in the base of an electric mixer for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until each is fully combined. Add the orange puree and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix into the wet ingredients gently, just until fully combined.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan, spreading so that it is evenly distributed. Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool. When completely cool, pour on your choice of glaze (below) and let set for at least 1 hour before serving. Will keep for 3-5 days under a cake dome or plastic wrap.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Heat the heavy cream over medium heat just until small bubbles begin to form. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and whisk gently until fully melted and combined. Let cool for 10 minutes before glazing cake. May be prepared in advance and gently reheated in a moderate microwave.

Orange Glaze

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 4 teaspoons orange juice

Mix together and drizzle over cake.

This smells even better than it looks...

Results:

  • My kitchen smelled absolutely divine while this was baking.
  • It popped very easily out of my Bundt pan; I highly recommend getting yourself a stoneware Bundt pan. Never fails.
  • The taste was outstanding – the little bits of orange skin gave the cake a slightly bitter-orange taste, which was extremely pleasant and a nice counterbalance to the sugar. It made the cake seem less sweet than the actual sugar content would lead you to expect.  It was a pound cake texture, creamy and dense. This recipe is a keeper.
  • Birthday Boy had a great suggestion – possibly replacing some of the butter with sour cream, to lighten it up a bit. I do think that could be a  worthwhile experiment, because this cake is calorie-laden (though I did not calculate calories or fat because I was frightened at the prospect). Sour cream bundt cakes are a known quantity, and it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to construct a lightened-up version.

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