I love bundt cakes.
It seems that I tend to celebrate the arrival of each season with them.
Somehow, it always works.
To welcome this year’s spring and Easter, I decided to go for a wonderful, fresh and invigorating citrus flavor.
And here it is.
In fact, the big clever books of baking would call this cake a chiffon cake.
Chiffon cakes are light and moist cakes that use vegetable oil instead of butter. That is the main reason why these cakes do not tend to harden or dry out as traditional butter cakes might.
That is positive, I think.
Frankly, this cake tastes just lovely.
Plus, there’s this delicious citrus glaze that increases the whole fresh experience immensely.
Here’s how you can make it too…
These are the ingredients that will come in handy.
1. First, preheat the oven to 325 °F (165 °C).
2. Wash one tangerine under running water thoroughly.
Pat it dry with a kitchen towel.
Then grate one tablespoon plus one teaspoon peel. We are going to need one tablespoon for the cake and the remaining teaspoon for the glaze.
Mmm.
3. Now, squeeze the juice from 4 tangerines.
And try not to drink it.
Be strong!
4. Pass the juice through a fine sieve to get rid of seeds.
Because there might be seeds.
They are naughty and tend to sneak into your juice unobserved.
5. Now prepare your dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup granulated sugar.
6. Make a well in the center.
Add the oil, egg yolks, and the tangerine peel and juice.
Whisk into the dry ingredients.
7. In another larger bowl, beat the egg whites until they just stand in stiff peaks when beaters are lifted.
8. With a rubber spatula, gently fold one-third of the whites into the egg-yolk mixture to loosen the batter.
Then fold in the remaining whites.
9. Brush a 6-cup (1.4 liters) bundt cake pan with some vegetable oil.
Or use your cooking/baking spray.
10. Then dust the pan with some flour lightly.
But be careful at this point, don’t miss a spot. The more attention you pay to this process, the easier it will be for you to remove the cake from the pan after baking.
Note: You can use an angel food cake pan instead, if you wish to.
10. Using a spoon or a ladle, pour the batter in the pan.
11. And bake at 325 °F (165 °C) for about 30 minutes…
… or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake…
… comes out clean.
Hello baby.
I like you.
I like you very much.
12. Or, in other words, remove the cake from the oven.
Let it stand on the wire rack for about 15 minutes.
Then, using a knife, carefully loosen the cake from the edges and the center of the pan.
13. Invert the cake on a cake stand or a plate.
14. Let cool completely.
15. To prepare the glaze, squeeze 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon juice from the remaining tangerines.
Start preparing the glaze just before using it.
16. In a small bowl, stir together the confectioners’ sugar, tangerine peel, and 2 tablespoons tangerine juice until smooth, adding the remaining teaspoon juice if necessary for good spreading consistency.
16. Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake, spreading it with the back of the spoon and allowing the glaze to run down the sides of your cake.
17. Use some colorful, happy sugar sprinkles to decorate the cake.
18. Let stand until the glaze is set, about 30 minutes.
And most importantly – enjoy, dear friends!
Love,
Petra
(This cake has been adapted from www.goodhousekeeping.com.)