Orange Buttermilk Bundt Cake

Orange buttermilk bundt cake: this moist and flavorful bundt cake is suitable for breakfast and even better as an afternoon pick-me-up with an iced coffee.

It has been one crazy, tiring, busy week and it’s not over yet. I’ve been stress eating all the olive oil chocolate chunk cookies. While I love cookies and other hand held snacks, I hate having them around the house. They lead to aimless snacking and they disappear before I realize that I was mindlessly eating them.

For moments when I need to slow down and breathe, I seek an afternoon pick-me-up snack that requires more of an effort to eat. Sounds contradictory? Let me explain. When it comes to cakes, I take time to slice myself the perfect piece. I have to grab a plate and a fork. I have to sit at the table and slowly eat and savor my treat. I get five to ten minutes of sweet peace where I think about nothing but my delicious slice. Some people like to meditate, I like to eat cake.

I enjoyed the flavors of my orange marmalade cake so much, I decided to make another orange cake. When simplicity is what you’re after, bundt cake is the way to go. This is my favorite bundt cake pan to use. I love its clean shape, but most of all, I love how easy it is to unmold the cake from the pan.

This orange buttermilk bundt cake is lightly flavored with orange zest. I used a mixture of cara cara oranges and moro blood oranges. You could easily substitute lemon zest, lime zest, or a combination of lemon-lime-orange. The slightly sweet, slightly bitter orange zest pairs wonderfully with the sour, tangy buttermilk. And when you eat this with a cold brew coffee, it’s heavenly and magical.

Yield: 10-inch bundt cake

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, room temp
4 large eggs
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Orange Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
pinch of fine sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour bundt cake pan. Tap out any excess flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine sugar and orange zest. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a handheld mixer), cream butter and sugar mixture until smooth. Scrape down bowl as needed.
Add eggs one at a time, ensuring each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add dry flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
Pour batter into prepared bundt cake pan. Level batter. Bake for 60-70 minutes until cake springs back to touch and toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert bundt cake onto a wire rack. Remove cake from mold and allow to cool to room temperature.
To make orange glaze: whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, 1 tablespoon milk, orange zest, and salt. Whisk until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add another tablespoon of milk. Drizzle over cooled bundt cake.

Notes:

I used this 10-cup capacity bundt cake pan
The sweetened dried orange slices used to garnish is from Trader Joe's
I used this microplane zester/grater

Recipe by Maryanne Cabrera, The Little Epicurean

Cathy

SUCH a gorgeous cake! I love the orange!

Orange Buttermilk Bundt Cake