Aperol Spritz Bundt Cake

Another day, another round of bundt alchemy. This time, my friend Vicki had challenged me to an Aperol Spritz cake, which meant all the orange! Of course, my creation was never going to be an understated number, not a chance. Look at Aperol though, it's bright orange and is generally served with fizz; this does not scream 'keep me conservative' in any way.

I was plotting to bring out the big guns... coloured gel, glitter, and the naffest of cocktail umbrellas. The actual cake is Aperol flavoured, and the icing is made from a mixture of Aperol and Prosecco to give the cake that much needed 'Spritz'. I declared I was binning off the soda water element as it tastes like fizzy nothing.

This cake is actually gluten free, but can be made as a standard bundt very easily (see the recipe variation below). I was hugely impressed with the Doves Farm gluten free flour. It made a beautifully light cake which released like a dream.

Cake:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour or Doves Farm gluten free plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml low fat plain yoghurt
• Zest of a large orange
• Juice of half an orange
• 5 tbsp Aperol

Topping:

• 500g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp Aperol
• Prosecco
• Orange food colouring gel
• Naff cocktail paraphernalia 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ginger.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the Aperol and orange zest and juice.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
9. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
11. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
12. When completely cool, mix the icing sugar with the Aperol, and enough Prosecco to make a thick yet runny icing. 
13. Add enough orange food gel to make your eyes burn.
14. Tip it over your cake.
15. Decorate with baking glitter and the most garish cocktail decorations you can find. If you're thinking 'less is more', get outta town. 

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.