Can u believe he's 4 months already | Vanilla Pound cake with Orange Caramel Drizzle

Yesterday was pretty hectic. It was time to bake another cake and with no one around to help me with the kid, I was pretty sure that baking a cake was a big no-no. Added to that the kid is down with flu. Running nose and dry cough, he hardly sleeps. Poor thing finds it hard to breathe and its been sleepless nights for me holding him to sleep. God how I want the week to end... Not to worry, he is recovering great.
But I didn't want to break the ritual... A cake had to be made. I wanted to bake something new and I had the right recipe in mind with tangy touches. Also I wanted my bundt pan to be put in use... Its been a year since I got it and not a single bundt cake on the blog. But with the sudden onset of the flu in the family every plan took a backseat. Yes, the flu took the family as a ring ~ first the huss, then me and now the kid.

So when the kid took his paracatemol and was fast asleep by mid-day, it gave me ample amount of time to whip the cake batter and make the caramel. Since the huss is around this time, I made it a bit exotic by drizzling chocolate over the cake. A touch which was perfect with the vanilla. Sprinkled some sugar balls and a beautiful cake was ready for my sugarplum.

Buttery Vanilla cake with dark chocolate and tangy orange caramel drizzle and studded with sugar balls...

The cake was super soft with a mild hit of orange tang to the palate counteracted beautifully by the dark chocolate. A winner...
And to those who have no idea why the name pound cake, here is the fact... Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Hence, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar is called a pound cake.

~*What U Need*~ All purpose flour - 1 cup Butter - 100 gms Sugar - 3/4 cup Eggs - 2 Vanilla extract - 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking soda - a pinch Salt - a pinch (optional) Milk - 2 tbsp (if the mix is thick) For the orange caramel drizzle (Inspired from Pain Perdu by Philippe Mouchel - Masterclass) Sugar - 1/4 cup Water - 2 tbsp Orange juice - 3/4 cup Melted dark chocolate, sugar sprinkles

How I made it:
Lets make the orange drizzle first. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet, add sugar and water and allow to caramelize. Once the mixture turns to amber, add the orange juice and mix well. Reduce to a syrup of pouring consistency. Set aside and allow to cool.

Sieve flour, baking soda and baking powder thrice. Set aside. Beat eggs untill light and fluffy. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

Add milk to eggs if using. Add this to the creamed butter and mix well. Add vanilla essence and mix.

Add flour mix in batches and combine well. Preheat oven to 175C. Grease the pan with butter. Pour the batter into the pan and bake the cake for 35-40mins or until the top turns golden brown (inserted tooth pick will come out clean). Cool for 10mins and then unmould.

Cool down completely and then drizzle melted dark chocolate followed by orange caramel evenly. Decorate with sugar balls.

Slice and enjoy.

** My Notes:
** Always use butter at room temperature.
** Skip salt if using salted butter like Amul.
** I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup as I had the orange caramel drizzle over the cake. Increase to 1 cup if making the cake plain.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!