Monday, August 15, 2011

Sunday Night Cake with Orange Cinnamon Glaze


Is anyone getting anxious for fall?  The weather has been pretty mild this summer in Southern California, and I doubt there will be a huge change when fall officially hits.  Just a few degrees cooler and it will signify it's time to start baking all the warm and wonderful fall flavors...cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice, pumpkin and apples.  Though I love the flavors of summer, like watermelon and sweet corn, I'm starting to get a little fall bug.  That's why I made a little twist on this week's Club: Baked pick by Julie of a Little Bit of Everything

This week marks the 4th recipe we are baking from Baked Explorations.  Julie picked Sunday Night Cake for the group to make.  The authors describe this cake as a "no frills-affair....it is an exceedingly, pleasing, simple and delicious gently spiced sour cream cake with easy chocolate frosting".  My eyes lit up when I saw the cake had cinnamon as one of the components.  My original intention was to make the recipe as is.  But earlier this week I made this chocolate cake recipe and this chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe for a co-workers send off party.  Then I used the leftover chocolate cream cheese to fill peanut butter whoopie pies (to be posted later this week). 


I can't believe I'm about to say this, but this chocolate girl was feeling a bit chocolated out.  The authors of Baked Explorations suggest you can make this cake even simpler by skipping the chocolate frosting and giving it a simple dusting of powdered sugar.  I contemplated that thinking Hubby would be more likely to help me eat it with powdered sugar.  Then I decided I wanted a something a little more....what could I do and still keep in the spirit of the "ease and comfort" of the Sunday Night Cake?


I looked over my fridge and saw that I had half an orange that needed to be used up.  And the orange cinnamon glaze was born!  This glaze is extremely easy and is delicious with the lightly spiced cake.  To make the glaze I started with powdered sugar, added in a bit of orange juice, orange extract, a pinch of cinnamon and a bit of heavy cream.  Sometimes when I make up my own recipes, I'm not always in love with the result.  But this was awesome.  I loved the flavors of the orange and cinnamon and how they paired with the moist buttery cake.  It was a nice preview of fall and has got my mind turning, thinking about the recipes I plan to make this season. 


Other notes about this recipe.  The original recipe makes a 9 inch square cake.  I halved the recipe and used a 6 inch round cake pan.  I was too lazy to half one of the eggs, so there is an extra half egg in my cake.  I added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract because I couldn't resist.  And the last modification was I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar (again, because I was lazy and didn't want to open the light brown sugar when the dark was ready to go).  While baking, the cake rose about 1/4 inch over the top of the cake pan.  But it shrank down a bit and ended up being exactly 2 inches tall.

And this will come as no surprise, but I've eaten this twice for breakfast already and loved it!
To get the cake recipe, head over to A Little Bit of Everything.  To see what other Club Bakers did with their Sunday Night Cakes, click here.  If you want to join our baking adventure through Baked Explorations, hop over to the Club: Baked site and reach out to Karen.  It's a lot of fun and you get to eat delicious treats, like this Sunday Night Cake.


Orange Cinnamon Glaze

2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (more if you want extra orange punch)
Pinch (generous) of cinnamon
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream

In a medium bowl whisk powdered sugar, orange juice, orange extract and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream until fully combined.  Add additional tablespoons of cream to get to a pourable yet slightly thick consistency.

Yields enough to generously glaze 6x2 inch cake.

14 comments:

  1. Great job!! I love the change you made....that sounds fantastic!

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  2. Love the glaze idea. It sounds so good - I love cinnamon-orange combinations! I, too, have been craving fall recipes. I keep canned pumpkin on hand year round for that precise purpose. Contemplated having Thanksgiving in July as well, although the cranberries would have been hard to find.

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  3. I love your glaze. It looks like it was totally meant to be on that cake! It definitely looks like something I would eat for breakfast too!

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  4. Ooh, love your glaze idea as I am not a fan of cinnamon and chocolate together. You've got me thinking....I might try this with a maple glaze in the fall.

    Your photos are totally magazine-ready!!

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  5. I would never have thought of orange cinnamon but what a great idea that is. I must try this for another cake.

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  6. I love the glaze you used! Beautiful! Thanks for baking along with me.

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  7. I'm loving the glaze idea. I'm actually not a chocolate girl, so I've been brainstorming other toppings that could pair with this cake. Orange cinnamon glaze sounds perfect!

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  8. Fall is my favorite time of year, G! Not just because my B-Day is October (just a reminder)- but I love the food flavors of Fall and the warm soft fall air on my skin. So- I LOVE your frosting choice- it makes me eager for fall now reading your post...and for a piece of your cake- Thanks a lot. That close up shot of the frosting saturating into the top layers of the cake, kills me. Love you- Nice job, Sister!

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  9. What a yummy idea for a glaze! Sounds good. I bet the flavors complimented each other very nicely. This cake seems like a good base for many different types of icings.

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  10. I am SO ready for fall baking, but I don't want the season itself to arrive. I hate the short days of fall/winter so it's a time of year I dread a bit. One of these days I'll convince Shane to move further south with me :)

    I've wanted to make this cake for a while so it's good to read your review. I love the ease of the recipe, and your glaze is such a fun change from the chocolate frosting!

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  11. Yum G, looks and sounds so good,

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  12. Oh oh oh! Brilliant modifications! Orange frosting glaze makes everything taste incredible!!!...okay, almost everything!

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  13. i used honey instead of sugar and subsided red oranges for red oranges which turned the icing red. Awesome recipe tho; Fantastic it cam out. It is now a suoerfood icing,

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