St. Clements Bundt Cake

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when you’re lucky enough to have lemons and oranges, you make cake! This St.Clements bundt cake boasts of a lovely almond sponge infused with an orange-rosemary syrup and drizzled with a refreshing lemon icing. When making a drizzle cake, it’s all about going the whole way. Rather than just the usual zest that’s a guilty cheats way to perk up any old dessert, this sponge is soaked in citrus until it’s sweet, sticky and still deliciously tart. It’s an absolutely delightful dessert and just what you need to brighten up your weekend this summer!

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS 

For the batter:

• 125 g caster sugar
• 125g almond meal
• 75g ground almonds
• 100 g self-raising flour
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs
• Zest of 1 large orange

For the orange syrup:

• Juice of 1 large orange
• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary* (optional)
• 100g caster sugar

For the icing:

• 225 g icing sugar
• 1 large lemon

Note: This recipe makes one round 8 inch sponge, in order to achieve a proper bundt double up the quantity of all the ingredients. The one I’ve made here rises up to half a bundt tin.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the butter and the sugar for a few minutes until pale and smooth. Next, add in the eggs one at a time and whisk thoroughly as you go.

Grate in the orange zest, which  kicks off the addition of citrus to your sponge. Sift in the almond meal, ground almonds, self raising flour and fold through until you have a smooth batter.

Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared bundt tin, rather than pouring it all in.

Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted through the centre comes out clean.

Once out of the oven, set the cake on a wire rack and move on to making the orange syrup.

In a saucepan, pour in the orange juice, add the caster sugar and a whole spring of rosemary and simmer on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup thickens. Discard the rosemary from the syrup. If you’re not shy of that strong fragrant rosemary flavour you could alternatively finely chop a sprig of fresh rosemary and add it to you syrup as well.

While the cake is still hot, poke holes through the sponge with a skewer and spoon over the rosemary-infused orange syrup that further enhances the flavour.

Leave the cake to cool completely while you make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice, add some lemon zest and whisk until a you achieve a smooth consistency.

Flip the bundt cake onto a wire rack and generously drizzle the lemon icing over the cake.

Transfer to a serving plate once the icing has set and brace yourself to indulge in an overload of citrus!

PRESSURE POINTS

When incorporating the eggs into the batter, DO NOT add them in all at once. Whisking it well, between eggs prevents the batter from curdling.

When poking holes through the sponge to soak in the orange syrup, make sure to insert the skewer only three quarters of the way in to avoid damaging the face of the cake.

Once you’ve spooned the batter into the baking tin, make sure to thoroughly tap it onto the counter to avoid any air bubbles or gaps on the face of the bundt cake.

If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to see how it turned out. Leave a comment below and share your pictures on Instagram using the tag #thecookbooklife!

Happy baking! Have a lovely weekend!

Nikita xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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