If you are creative with your photography, you can pretend that the pan was greased enough and you didn't have trouble getting the cake out of it.
Orange Rum Cake

My non-drinking husband ate almost this entire cake the last time I made it. The combination of the vanilla and the rum and the orange juice, the brown sugar in the topping with the rum, all of it together with the butter in the syrup is just perfect. If you don't like or can't have the nuts, they can be left off, but the crunchy sweet topping with the brown sugar is really, really good. I haven't done it with just the brown sugar and no nuts, but I would be tempted to try that rather than leave it all off entirely.

Cake:

3 cups pastry flour (or all purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
zest of 6 oranges
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup rum (gold)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla paste or extract (the paste is really best, it is expensive, but so worth it)

Topping (optional, but really, really good):

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar

Rum Syrup:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup rum (gold)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice


Preheat oven to 350˚ F.

Generously (really generously - grease it, flour it, then grease it again when it has solidified) butter a tube or bundt pan (tube pan is easier).

In a medium bowl, whisk together pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer, or a large bowl with a hand mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Add the orange zest and mix to blend.

In a small bowl, mix together buttermilk, rum, orange juice and vanilla paste or extract.

Add dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture, alternately, to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, mixing well in between each addition.

Mix brown sugar and chopped pecans and sprinkle in the bottom of the prepared pan.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed with your finger.

When the cake has about 10 minutes of baking left, make syrup by melting butter with sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk sugar and butter until completely melted and mixed. Add orange juice to the mixture and boil for about 4 minutes. Take off heat and stir in rum, it will bubble up, which is why you need that bigger saucepan. Set aside.

Remove cake to a rack and immediately drizzle with about 1/3 of the syrup. Allow to cool and soak for 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a serving plate and poke all over with a skewer. Slowly pour the remaining syrup over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Allow to cool completely to at least room temperature before serving so the syrup soaks in completely.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen