Clementine and Spiced Rum Bundt Cake

For me, fall and winter are synonymous with baking, pumpkins, apples and citrus fruits.  Most of us enjoy a good pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie this time of year.  We love a freshly baked apple pie, still warm and served with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert….but, how about those citrus fruits??  What’s a girl woman to do with them in baked goods?

I admit that I was never a big fan of citrus in baking or cooking, other than lemon and Meyer Lemons in particular.  We adore those lemons and can’t get enough of them this time of year (well, maybe last year we did …). 😉

I also never understood the attraction of eating orange marmalade until I made homemade orange marmalade.  The stuff you buy in a jar is so bitter and unappealing in taste, however, this homemade version is so unbelievably good, it will make you cry .  Mr. Bunkycooks ate every bit of the leftovers that weren’t used in creating the Orange Tian.

I think the Orange Tian was my turning point in using citrus in baking and desserts.  I really enjoyed the flavors.  Now, could I find a way to use some of the other citrus fruits in baking that we also enjoy eating by themselves?  I think I have done that with this cake!

I love the delicate citrus flavor with a hint of spiced rum in this cake

I came home with a bag of clementines (as well as some other goodies) from an event I attended last week in Atlanta, the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit, at the Georgia World Congress Center.  I have never seen so much produce in one place.  It was very impressive.  There were International vendors as well as local and organic producers, so there was a great mix of people to meet and talk to about where our fresh fruits and vegetables come from.  My bag of clementines was courtesy of Duda Fresh Foods.  They are the folks that supplied me with all of those Meyer Lemons last year.  I was also excited to see my friend Julie of The Little Kitchen, who was doing a cooking demonstration for Duda Fresh Foods at their booth.

Clementines are one of our favorite citrus fruits to have as a snack.  First named in 1902, the “clementine” is a variety of mandarin orange.  They are much like a tangerine, but are seedless, so sometimes they are called simply, seedless tangerines.  Clementines are mostly available mid-November through January, so they are great to have around for the holidays for any ravenous snackers guests that you have in your home during that time.  They are quite sweet and very juicy, so I decided they would make a very nice substitute for the traditional orange flavor in baking.

As you may know, there are only two of us at the Bunkycooks house, so we do not need all the sweets and baked goods lying around en masse.  This 6-cup bundt cake is perfect for just the two of us when we want a cake and then I still have some leftover to share with friends and neighbors.  Well, maybe…

We didn’t save too many slices for friends and neighbors…

This subtly citrus and spiced rum flavored pound cake was delightful.  It is best baked on the lower side of the cooking time and it will stay moist for several days.  Topped with a clementine and spiced rum glaze, this cake is so good, it probably won’t last longer than a day or two!

What a beautiful cake to serve this time of year!

Print Recipe

Clementine and Spiced Rum Bundt Cake

Yield: 1 6-cup bundt cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

This perfectly sized 6-cup bundt cake is great for smaller families of parties. The subtle citrus and rum flavors make it perfect for fall and winter gatherings.

Ingredients:

For cake:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, organic if possible, at room temperature
1 teaspoons finely grated clementine peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons spiced rum (I used Captain Morgan)
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk

For glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 teaspoons fresh clementine juice, maybe more until desired cocnsistency
3 teaspoons spiced rum (I used Captain Morgan), maybe more until desired consistency

Directions:

For cake:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in the eggs, clementine peel, vanilla and rum. Combine flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

2. Pour into a greased and floured 6-cup bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (* Be sure to check the cake at 40 minutes. The cake does not need to be brown to be done.) Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.

For glaze:
1. Combine the confectioners’ sugar, juice and rum until smooth. (* I had to add a bit more liquid to get the desired consistency.) Drizzle over the cake.

Inspired by a recipe at Allrecipes.com