Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Date Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze


This cake is good. Really good. It only lasted a day in our house - a few bites here, a few bites there for dessert and snack and then a few slices toasted for breakfast the next morning (served with some eggs, of course). It was gone, and as I'm typing this and listening to election coverage at the same time, I'm in desperate need of another slice ...


You'll notice that the title says this is a bundt cake, but the pictures don't tell that truth. Something happened to my bundt pan and when I finally had the last-minute chance to make this cake, I didn't have time to get another one. I don't recommend you using your angel food cake tube pan for this recipe, but that's what I did. It was a huge mistake as I lost a bit of batter from the bottom of the pan as the batter started getting hot and rising. Thankfully I was able to clean it up from the bottom before the cake had a chance of falling and put some aluminum foil down for the rest of the drippings - and salvaged everything without that dreaded smoke taste!


Many thanks to Adina from Gluten Free Travelette for hosting our Gluten-Free Ratio Rally this month and giving us the challenge of bundt cakes. Be sure to check out her delicious cake as well as the cakes the other participants have baked up for you. They all look amazing and you don't want to miss them! 

If you aren't familiar with the rally, you can check out my rally page here, where I list the other rally posts and find out why we are so excited about the freedom we've discovered in our kitchens when we bake by weight and ratio.

Logo designed by Anile Prakash
I chose the flavors in this cake because I was craving a dessert my grandmother makes (I really need to give you that recipe one day - it's incredible!) and with the holidays coming up, wanted to add a festive twist to the flavor with the orange glaze. I used Ruhlman's ratio for pound cake, which is 1 part butter: 1 part sugar: 1 part egg: 1 part flour, but reduced the amount of butter by a fourth and was pleased to see it still came out delicious. It really has a perfect texture that I was very pleased with.


Date Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

6 ounces butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
8 ounces (228 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 ounces egg (4 large eggs plus 1 large yolk), at room temperature and whisked lightly together
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2.5 ounces (71 grams) tapioca starch
1 ounce (27 grams) almond flour
1 ounce (27 grams) sweet rice flour
1.5 ounces (42 grams) millet flour
2 ounces (54 grams) brown rice flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground chia seed
1 cup chopped dates (chop them yourself for best results and don't use the already chopped stuff)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Orange glaze:
1/4 cup refined sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
Zest of an orange
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat over to 325 degrees and butter a bundt pan.

Mix flours together with ground chia seed.

Beat butter with paddle attachment in stand mixer (or however you mix if you don't have a stand mixer) at medium speed for about a minute. 

Add the sugar and salt, then beat on medium-high until butter mixture becomes fluffy and lighter in color (about three minutes). Scrape bowl if necessary.

Have your eggs ready and lightly whisked together, then slowly add them to the butter mixture, continuing to beat until they are mixed in. Scrape bowl and mix a little more. Scrape again and mix in the vanilla.

Slowly add the flour with the mixer going at low speed. Scrape bowl and mix again just until everything is mixed together.

Pour batter into pan and bake at 325 for about 50 minutes to an hour. Cake is done when toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Let cake sit for 5-10 minutes, then turn onto plate and cool on wire rack to cool completely.

For glaze, heat refined sugar and zest with orange juice until bubbling and sugar is dissolved, then add powdered sugar and more orange juice. After cake has cooled, spoon over top and sides, letting sauce saturate the top of cake.

Enjoy!

Don't forget to stop by Adina's post and check out her cake as well as the other cakes this rally. Thank you again, Adina!



10 comments:

  1. Now that's a fruit cake I'd actually eat! :) I think the dates must really enhance the flavor here. Sweet and molassesy with a hint of that orange? Love that plate too.

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  2. Yum! This looks so tasty! I love the combination of the dates and pecans.

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  3. Gorgeous cake - and good to know about the angel food pan! I almost did that myself actually...

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  4. Sounds delicious!

    I had a similar problem with over filling my mini bundt pans, I think the trick is to get the batter volume just right, and that is something I am still learning :)

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    1. Thank you, Mary Fran! I can't wait to try out a mini bundt pan!

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  5. I love reading the newest recipes for the GFRR. This one in particular makes my mouth water.

    Any readers interested in previous GFRR recipes can find them all listed here: http://gfratiorally.com/Blogs+Recipes.html

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  6. I did that angel food pan mistake recently and I was not as lucky- there was a disaster in my oven for awhile! This recipe looks fantastic- I love the texture dates bring to cakes. Can't wait to try this one.

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