ORANGE CREAMSICLE BUNDT CAKE

Mother’s Day is right around the corner. Brunch seems to be the standard Mother’s Day celebration — letting mothers everywhere sit back, put up their feet, and enjoy a beautiful meal as a way to thank them for all their tireless, hard work.

We all want our Mother’s Day brunches to be picture perfect, with delicious food, pretty glasses full of juice, a bouquet of fresh flowers on the table, and of course, a show-stopping dessert, right?

Welllll.. we can all aim high, but sometimes things fall a little flat.

Like, oh, say, Mother’s Day three years ago: my first as a mother.

That time when my mother and my mother-in-law arrived at our house for brunch, to find our house full of smoke (from some spilled bacon grease), a hysterical wailing 3 week old (because… 3 weeks old and life is hard), and me still in my pajamas (from literally putting out fires).

Happy Mother’s Day!

I actually served this cake this past weekend at the baby naming ceremony for our new baby girl.

I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some other things (like some delicious smoked salmon for this amazing smoked salmon pasta salad – another Mother’s Day favorite around here, and the double batch I made disappeared at the baby naming lunch!) and picked up containers of Simply Orange Juice and Simply Peach Juice.

Things I really love about city life: living in walking distance to Whole Foods. It’s so nice to be able to find top quality ingredients (like the smoked salmon, or a downright beautiful lamb shoulder we served for our Hanukkah dinner) right in the neighborhood.

Plus, they carry Simply Peach, which is my favorite juice! Find a Whole Foods near you HERE… and you can save $0.50 on Simply Orange Juice for your Mother’s Day celebration! (Valid 05/02/18 through 05/15/18.)

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE CAKE:
4 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
3/4 cup Simply Orange Juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
FOR THE SYRUP:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup Simply Orange Juice
FOR THE GLAZE:
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup Simply Orange Juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
Using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, oil, milk, orange juice, and vanilla. Slowly add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Continue to beat until ingredients are fully incorporated and smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back gently when pressed with a finger.
While cake bakes, whisk together the confectioners sugar and orange juice for the syrup. After removing cake from the oven, leave cake in pan and poke holes all over the cake with a long skewer. Pour the syrup over the cake and allow the cake to sit in the pan for 1 hour so the syrup absorbs. After an hour, invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
To make the glaze, whisk together the confectioners sugar, orange juice, and vanilla until smooth. Pour 1/2 of the glaze over the cooled cake. Pour the remainder of the glaze over individual slices after cutting and serving.