Moist And Delicious Amaretto Cake

Thirteen years ago, my sister and her family were invited by a friend to join her family for Purim seuda.  My sister turned her down, to join the meal my parents were hosting for all of us.  Her friend graciously accepted being turned down, and sent something for our family to enjoy that Purim.  My sister came in with the cake  that her friend sent and placed it on the table while my mother got ready to serve the meal. My mother left the room for under 5 minutes and when she returned to try the cake, the entire bundt cake was already devoured.
The cake was perfect, it was taste and moist without being heavy.
Fast forward six years, the cake has not been mentioned in all that time.  I was sitting in my kitchen going through some cookbooks, trying to find the perfect cake.  My memory took me back to my parents dinning room a few years earlier.  That Purim, we were all still living in Brooklyn.  I think that might have been one of the last Yom Tov meals we all actually ate together as a family before we all started moving away.  (To get us together at one time isn't as easy these days, there are six of us in three countries, six different cities.)  So I wondered, was the cake really as good as memory, or could it have been made great by the memory.  I had to track down that recipe and try it. 
When I called my sister to ask her to try tracking down the recipe, she too started reminiscing the taste.  Now we knew we had to get it.  She promised to call the friend and fin out if she still had the recipe.  Of course she did, and the cake didn't disappoint my memory.  The cake has now become the most requested in my house and always gets tons of compliments when I send it over to friends.  Not only in this cake fabulous tasting but its a super easy one bowl cake. The cake is delicious as is or dusted with icing sugar, but I found that the glaze I experimented with compliments it beautifully.

Amaretto Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding (I find its best with Jello brand pudding mix)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cups orange juice
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1/4 cup amaretto

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a bundt pan. Place all ingredients in bowl of mixer and mix at medium speed till smooth.  Pour batter into pan and bake in oven for 1 hour or until toothpick test comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then turn over on cooling rack and continue to cool in pan.  Don't remove from pan until completely cool or you will break the cake.

Almond Glaze

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3-5 teaspoons water

Place sugar and extract in small bowl.  Add water one teaspoon at a time and mix till reaches a smooth, thick but pourable consistency.  Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

 

Till next time,

Chanie