I’m constantly reading recipe books and blogs… honestly, recipes are probably one of my favourite things to read. I love seeing the flavour combinations and ideas that other people come up with! Last week, I was clicking through some recipes on Real Simple , and came across this recipe for orange, honey, and rosemary cake topping . I have to admit, I never would have thought of combining those things, but I was intrigued! So I decided to make a pound cake, along with my own version of this sauce… and I have to say that the rosemary compliments the orange so well! Here’s my recipe:

INGREDIENTS
makes one 6″ pound cake + enough sauce to go with the cake

for the cake;
110 g butter, room temperature
140 g sugar
1 large egg + 1 small egg, room temperature
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
130 g flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
50 g milk, room temperature

for the sauce;
2 large oranges
2 clementines
4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons gin

for the glaze;
60 g icing sugar
2 teaspoons orange juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180°C (~350°F), and prepare a 6″ bundt pan by buttering the sides and dusting with flour.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat at medium speed with the paddle attachment until the mixture is light and fluffy – about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs and extracts, and beat to incorporate.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture in two batches. Mix only on low speed, and until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth it with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until done. Cool on a wire rack.

Next, prepare the sauce. Peel the oranges and clementines, and then remove the skin and pith from each orange section. (I actually left the clementine sections intact, but was careful to remove all the pith). Combine the orange and clementine pieces in a small saucepan, along with the honey and rosemary.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook until the mixture is reduced by about 50%, and it has thickened slightly – about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the sugar and gin. Set the sauce aside to cool.

Finally, glaze the cake. Whisk together the icing sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the cooled cake. It’s helpful to do this with the cake on a wire rack, and a paper towel underneath, so that the excess can run off.

Serve slices of the glazed pound cake, topped with the orange-rosemary sauce… Delicious!

PS: here’s the printable version of this recipe !