Chocolate meets Orange in a cake pan

If there is ever an excuse to doll yourself up in pink and glitter and hearts, it's Valentine's day.

And Saturdays. I like dressing like a 1980's prom queen on Saturday nights too. (Uber-cool...)

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! All Cupid like, with an abundance of roses.

So.....this cake.

It's like, one of the best. Ever made. Ever ever.

So soft, so fluffy, it's like a pillow of love.

The secrets?  Sifted cake flour and sour cream. No substitutions because the cake flour is so light and fine compared to regular all purpose, and the sour cream makes the cake moist but not heavy.

It's a layered bundt cake, top layer is fragrant orange, bottom layer is silky chocolate.

(Note: the recipe calls for orange extract & grated orange peel, but I didn't have orange extract on hand, so I just used the peel and it turns out a.m.a.z.i.n.g.)

I've made this cake 4 times now.

It's one of those things where I'll be baking it in the kitchen and throngs of people will show up outside my front door.

People: It's the cake!!! It's the cake!!!

People: It's the Cake!! (in foreign languages)

I like to pretend people swim overseas for it...

Recipe is from the oh-so-fabulous Joy the Baker (how can one person be so cool?!) (if you haven't checked out her blog....man, what are you doing with your life? But for realziez, go look at her site :)

http://joythebaker.com/2008/04/chocolate-orange-bundt-cake/ 

Try it! Go, go, go!! And let me know how it fairs! :)

Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake

Do you remember those Girl Scout cookies?

The apple cinnamon ones that got discontinued in 2000?

Came in a box of a bunch of smiling little girls?

You don't?

Oh.

Wait, what- You've never had one?!

Well.

I think the only plausible thing left to do is for you to go on Amazon.com and see if you can order a shipment from somewhere...or you can bake this cake.

I suggest baking this cake... :)  

I know, I know. How'd I get to cake from Girl Scout cookies?

Well, it's quite simple.

See, my dad celebrated his birthday last week, and my mom told me to bake a cake.

This is how that conversation happened:

Mom (walking into my room): You're baking a cake for dad's birthday, right?

Me (getting up from a nap, face bewildered, hair a mess): ....I guess I am now....

Mom: Yeah.

It was a really meaningful conversation. Glad I got to share it with y'all.

Anyhoo, my dad likes baked goods with fruits and veggies, so I was torn between what to make.

Carrot cake? Pumpkin cake?? Blueberry cake?

And that's when the most perfect idea hit me. (Cue the hallelujah chorus!)

An Apple Cinnamon bundt cake! (...yes...a perfect fall cake...in the middle of winter...)

My sister was a Girl Scout (for 13 years, by the way, and I honestly have no idea how she did it...My mom tried to get me to join Girl Scouts but I was much too antisocial for that), and in the early years they had an apple cinnamon cookie my dad loved.

Which is why I decided to make an apple cinnamon bundt cake. (That and because I was desperately missing the warmth of SoCal autumn. SoCal winter was bitter this year...It was bitter...)
 


Let's get started!

Here are the shining stars in this production: The Amazing Apples!!

The dry ingredients that smell wonderful. Shout out to the Cinnamon!

 Brown sugar being all brown sugar. From a *cool camera angle. (*bad)

 Dry ingredients get whisked into the wet mixture.

 Mixing, mixing, mixing. Smells all autumn-like at this point.

Carefully fold in the diced apples. Like a boss. Or like a manager. Whatever floats your boat.

How excited does that bundt pan look? I'd say pretty excited.

 

And the batter has found its home.  In the oven it goes!

Um, I think it's time for a cute picture. That's my dog. And his blanket. What can I say, guess he's attached...

 

The finished product! 

 

Recipe (adapted from food.com) (link below)

http://www.food.com/recipe/apple-cinnamon-bundt-cake-112901?layout=desktop 

     Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbspn cinnamon
• 2 tspn baking powder
• 1 tspn salt
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (my brown sugar actually ran out while I was making this, so I did 1/2 cup brown, and a  1/2 cup white, didn't want to use 1 cup white)
• 4 eggs
• 3 med. apples, diced

      What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray bundt pan w/ non stick baking spray. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, & baking soda
3. In a separate bowl, melt butter in microwave. Add brown sugar & eggs. Whisk till smooth.
4. Gradually whisk dry ingredients into egg mixture. Be careful not to overmix.
5.  Fold in apples.
6. Bake for 50-60 min.
7. Cool 15 min in pan. Flip to rack to cool completely.
8. Enjoy!! :)

Let me know how this goes for you if you try it out. Also, feel free to let me know what you want recipes for, comment below!

HEADS UP: Valentine's Day treats post coming this weekend!!!! :) Stay tuned!!!