My adapted Orange Cake With Pimm’s
Every so often a person just needs a piece of cake. Or needs to test a new oven. My cravings for cake are rare but severe. When it hits, it hits big. My fingers separate and lift as I walk to the pantry. I’m readying myself to riffle through foodstuff until I know what I have the ingredients to produce. The problem is a whole cake is half a cake too much for this household of two, and cake fever is satisfied with half. Still, the fever is strong enough that there is no time to go to the store for ingredients. I must use what is on hand.
Because I’m a minor league cake junky, I have to look at recipes and figure out what half to maybe two-thirds would be. I don’t want two full layers, loaves, or ten-inch tube pan of cake that will get hard and be thrown away. And wouldn’t you know it. I’m out of Curacao and bourbon. What I’m trying to say is, I’m a guesser and make-doer when it comes to baking, but a sure-footed one who operates decently while feeling moderate junky withdrawal. It is also a curiosity to me that the Pennsylvania Dutch would routinely add Curacao and bourbon to their orange cake, but it sounds good to me.
The original recipe
The quantities on the left were in the Benny Cooker Crock Book. The quantities on the right are my fever-laden decision.
1 1/4 cups butter, .83 = smidge over 3/4 cup; 2 2/3 cups sugar, 2 cups; 2
It held it’s own in the cake
T grated orange rind, 2T no reason to cut, in fact 3 might be better; 2 T Curacao Liqueur, 2T Pimm’s because I had it and it smelled good; 5 eggs, 3 eggs; 3 cups sifted cake flour, 2 cups + as needed to proper consistency; 3 tsp baking power, 2 slightly heaping tsp; 1/4 tsp salt, a bit of a shake; 3/4 cup orange juice, = smidgen under 1/2 cup plus drop or two of flavoring if have it; 1/2 cup bourbon, Pimm’s as needed
Directions as in book.
Cream 1 cup butter with 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add orange rind (I think this is way too soon considering all the beating to come so I wait until end of process) and Curacao and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking power, and salt together. Add alternately small portions of flour mixture then orange juice to the butter mixture, beating well after each
Good, thick consistency ready for the oven
addition. Turn into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan (I used 9×9-inch square). Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour (I did 35-40 minutes) or until cake tests done.
Make a bourbon glaze by combining 1/4 cup butter, 2/3 cup sugar, and bourbon. Heat until sugar has melted. Pour over the baked hot cake. (I let it cool about half an hour because I think it leaves a better glaze).
Remove cake from pan when thoroughly cooled. I left in pan. Ah, craving satisfied. I won’t need cake again for months, though that does not eliminate cupcakes. The oven is wonderful.
Somebody likes bourbon!
You outed me!
That’s a new one… Outed?
It’s a sloppy slang I’ve heard, but never used before. The times I have heard it, it refers to someone meaning, “He caught me in an embarrassing situation and made it evident to others.” Like “they” say, slang is risky.
It’s cute… just like scrapple.
This sounds heavenly… no pimms in the house, but I expect cointreau could help….
It is good and I think any flavorful, preferred liqueur would would work just fine.
This cake looks absolutely delicious!!!
It was, and it wasn’t difficult to make. It can work nicely for a “Murphy’s Day” like you had.
No! Say it isn’t so… “out of Curacao and bourbon”
I’m afraid it was. But I’ll make up for my shirking of duty. Thanks for coming by, Victoria.
Born and raised in PA but hadn’t heard of this cake – looks delcious!
That doesn’t make sense, but that’s the name it had. I wondered while reading through it how it came to be. How many oranges would they have had? How much Curacao? Perhaps it was the author’s fantasy.
Oh yes, a slice of cake now and then never did anyone harm. Specially one as nice as this.
Yes, every now and then. I get more pleasure out of the baking than the eating. I need to cultivate a few neighbor friends who would like to receive. Thanks for coming by and commenting.