It’s the simple things in life, I tell ya.
I made this cake last week on a whim. It’s pretty much the same cake recipe as this Perfect Pound Cake recipe, which is the same basic cake recipe as this Lemon-Lime Pound Cake recipe, but instead of using lemon-lime pop like Sprite or 7-Up as the other two do, I used Orange Crush. Except it wasn’t actually Orange Crush. It was Fanta Orange.
Are you confused yet? Because I sure am.
So here’s what happened: I used orange pop instead of lemon-lime pop, and while I thought the finished product was good and all, I didn’t find that it tasted all that different from the original lemon-lime version. It certainly didn’t have an overwhelming, distinctively orange flavor. But then Marlboro Man and my boys sauntered into the kitchen, took a bite of the cake, and declared it one of the best cakes they’ve ever tasted, and they love the orange flavor, and mama, please continue to make this delicious orange cake for the rest of our lives.
Ha.
Bottom line: This cake is good! Not wildly different from the original, but it’s kind of like choosing between two different pairs of identical-fitting jeans: One with an antique wash, one with a dark wash. It’s just a way to subtly change things up if you’re bored one day!
Add three sticks of butter to the bowl of a mixer.
Yes, I said three sticks.
Yes, I said of butter.
Add three cups of sugar.
Yes, I said three cups.
Yes, I said of sugar.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Mix it until it’s all combined…
Then, and I didn’t show this because I’m an airhead, crack in 5 eggs, letting each one mix in before adding the next one.
Yes, I said 5 eggs.
Oh, never mind.
Halfway through, scrape the bowl thoroughly…
Then mix it again until it’s all fluffy and marvelous.
Add some flour to a bowl with some salt…
And mix it together.
Then, with the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in increments…
Letting it mix in after each addition.
And now it’s time to party.
Add about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of Orange Crush, otherwise known as Fanta Orange, otherwise known as whatever orange soda you can get your mitts on.
Mix it around, scrape the bowl, mix it again. Now, the color is nice—kind of light orange. Otherwise known as “peach.” But I’m afraid if I say “peach” it would confuse things since this is technically an orange cake. So I’ll just say “light orange” if it’s okay with you.
I’m so glad we had this talk.
Anyway, I decided “light orange” wasn’t enough for me, so I decided to add a little orange food coloring. However, seeing that I didn’t have any orange food coloring, I added a little red and yellow.
Still confused? Good. Me, too.
Just a teeny bit!
Any more orange than this and it would be…well, it would be too orange. I’ll stop there!
And listen: The orange food coloring is, like, totally optional. Just add it if you want a little more color saturation.
Spray the heck out of a bundt pan with nonstick baking spray…
(Oh, and please take a moment to admire my manicure, which I have clearly maintained and kept lovely.)
(Not.)
Then pile in the orange batter.
Use a spatula to smooth out the surface…
Then bake it till it’s golden brown and wonderful.
Lovely! Now just let it cool for about 5 minutes…
Then turn it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
When it’s all cooled, make the glaze: Add some powdered sugar to a sifter…
Sift it into a bowl, then add a pinch of salt.
Then use your very disturbing pink alien hand to pour in a little of the orange pop. You should still have some left in the can.
Whisk it together and check the consistency. See how the string of glaze disappears pretty quickly into the bowl? That means it’s pretty thin, and will pretty much disappear into the cake once you drizzle it on.
I wanted it to be thick enough to stick to the surface of the cake, so I sifted in a little more powdered sugar.
I wanted to see if orange juice would add a little extra orange flavor to the glaze…and it did! Just a tablespoon or so.
But then I had to sift in more powdered sugar to thicken it up again. But just keep going until it’s right.
Zee cake ees ready!
So just drizzle it on. Now, if I’d been smart, I would have put a sheet pan under the cake to catch all the excess. Since I’m not, I had to move the cake, use a spatula to scrape up all that excess, and put it back in the bowl.
Either way, plan to catch the excess and reuse it if you can.
Hey, it ain’t the prettiest thing in the world…
But man, was it ever good.
Serve it with coffee, serve it with milk…
Just serve it. It’s very, very moist and lovely.
The boys devoured it, the girls devoured it, Marlboro Man devoured it…
And okay. I had a slice or two. And I have no regrets.
Here’s the handy dandy printable, friends!
