Christmas Baking: Day 1

It's 5 days before Christmas, and my family and I have started our holiday baking. The first thing I baked was a recipe from my grandma called Absolutely Heavenly Amaretto Cake. She liked it so much that she hand-wrote the whole thing from its original source-- maybe a cookbook of hers, maybe a magazine-- and my mom saved it so that we could make it in her memory.

Absolutely Heavenly Amaretto Cake

Serves 10-12

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup butter

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ozs sour cream

2 teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon orange extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup amaretto

Glaze: 

1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons apricot preserves

3/4 cup orange marmalade

1/4 cup amaretto

Cake Instructions: 

1. Beat butter at medium speed in an electric mixer about 2 minutes or until soft and creamy.

2. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed 5-7 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.
4. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl; add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, making sure you begin and end with flour mixture. Mix at low speed just until blended after each addition.
5. Stir in extracts and 1/2 cup amaretto with a spatula.
6. Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes, at which time a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
7. Cool in pan 10-15 minutes. 

8. Remove from pan and let cool completely.

Glaze Instructions: 

1. Combine apricot preserves, orange marmalade and 1/4 cup amaretto in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until melted, stirring frequently.
2. Drizzle over cooled cake.

What a lovely cake: the tang of the orange and apricot complements the light, sweet amaretto taste perfectly. A delightful treat for dessert or even breakfast.

Stay tuned for amaretto cookies :)