An Excuse to Dig Your Old Bundt Pan Out of the Cupboard . . .

This cake is REALLY good. I got the recipe after one of our carry-in lunches at the store about 15 years ago. One of our printing customers retired and came to work for us part-time, and her boyfriend brought this cake along. Now I'll admit that it sounds strange to refer to the "boyfriend" of a woman in her 70s, but it was what it was . . .



This is an Apricot Nectar Cake. Very moist, and just a little crunchy around the outside from the glaze.



And these are the only things that you'll need to make it that you may not already have in your pantry -- a Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix and some Apricot Nectar. I use these little cans from Kern's (they're not easy to find) because I can use two for this cake and save the other four for later.

Here are your ingredients:

1 Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1 Cup Apricot Nectar
3/4 Cup Wesson Oil (or your favorite cooking oil)
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Sugar



You'll also need to grease and flour your Bundt pan (some people call this a "tube pan"). For the uninitiated, that means slime down every inch of that thing with a thin film of Crisco and then cover it with flour until you can't see the Crisco anymore. If you don't, the cake will stick.



Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl (use a mixer), beating well after adding each egg. Then pour the batter into the Bundt pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour.



Five or ten minutes before the cake comes out of the oven, make the glaze. Put 1½ Cups of Confectioners Sugar into a cup and add 1/3 Cup of Apricot Nectar. Then use a fork to mix it together.



When the cake comes out of the oven, immediately turn the pan over and drop the cake onto a plate.



If you did a good job on the greasing and flouring, this is about all that will be left in your pan. If you have chunks left in yours, peel them off and stick them into the holes in the cake -- the glaze will take care of the rest.



Drizzle the glaze over the cake a little at a time. Give it plenty of time to absorb into the cake -- if you pour it too fast, it will just run off. You may have to get the fork and mix the glaze in your cup again -- it tends to want to separate. You'll probably have a little glaze left over when you finish.



My son loves this part -- you'll end up with a little "lake" of glaze in the hole in the middle. That's fine -- it will harden and you can scoop a little out when you cut a piece of cake.



This is how it looks when I've just finished putting on the glaze. If you can keep everybody away from it, let it cool for a while and the glaze will harden and make the outside a little crunchy. Everyone is different -- Ryan likes it while it's still hot, I prefer it after it has cooled.



Enjoy! Now I'm off to Atlanta. Come on out to the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds and see us this weekend (Saturday 10:00-5:00, Sunday 11:00-4:00).