OLD FASHIONED APRICOT NECTAR CAKE

Old Fashioned Apricot Nectar Cake, like other vintage recipes, this bundt cake recipe has simple ingredients that come together easily for the best dessert imaginable. It’s a tender, moist, delicately flavored apricot cake perfect any time of year.

Bear with me…

I very rarely write about my family or myself opting instead to focus on the recipe and ingredients. The Apricot Nectar Cake holds such fond memories for me that I simply must document them. (Skip to the recipe, if you prefer.)

I helped my great-grandmother make Apricot Nectar Cakes numerous times when I was little. I stayed with her on and off when I was little while my mother was getting her master’s degree. We called her Mawmaw and she was the most gentle, sweetest lady you’ll ever meet. She had been born in 1901, lived through the Depression, the 1st World War, the 2nd World War, and a lot of hard times. We (my brother and I) ‘helped’ her in the garden. We played I Spy and Hide the Thimble; games that required only your imagination. She made glue using flour and water. And, she made us ‘baseballs’ to play with out of scrap fabric. I thought these were the coolest things ever!

As well, I ‘helped’ her make Apricot Nectar Cakes, Sock-It-Too-Me Cakes, and Southern Tea Cakes. Actually, I probably got in the way more than I helped but she had lots of patience and made me feel like I was really doing something grand. 

Therefore, this Apricot Nectar Cake is more than a recipe to me. Making it, smelling it bake, eating it takes me back to my Mawmaw’s kitchen and sweet, wonderful memories.

We all have memories related to food. I hope you take the time to enjoy time in the kitchen as well as meal time with the ones you love.

OLD FASHIONED APRICOT NECTAR CAKE

Now to the recipe.

This cake is super moist and soft. Personally, I think it is better after it sits a day. It starts with a yellow cake mix. You won’t use the ingredients on the back of the box. Instead, you’ll add these ingredients.

• Yellow cake mix. I used Pillsbury.
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature
• 11.3 ounce can apricot nectar (you’ll use this in the cake and the glaze)
• 3/4 cup oil
• 6-ounce box lemon Jello gelatin (don’t make the Jello, you’ll just use the powder)
• 2 cups powdered sugar

METHOD FOR MAKING

1. First, pay extra attention to greasing your pan for this cake. It’s sticky.
2. Mixing is easy, simply put all the ingredients in your bowl at once and beat.
3. Pour the batter into your bundt pan and bake it in a preheated 350° oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
4. If you’re doing the glaze, you’ll pour it on the cake while the cake is hot and still in the pan. It soaks all the way through the cake and is just heavenly. (You can omit the glaze.)
5. Turn your cake out onto a serving tray.
6. You can serve it warm, it’s great with vanilla ice cream. As well, you can wait until it cools to serve it. This cake is great either way.

OLD FASHIONED APRICOT NECTAR CAKE TIPS AND MORE

I used my Nordic Are Vintage Star bundt pan. This bundt pan is a 10-cup capacity and the batter was to the top so make sure whatever pan you use it’s at least a 10-cup. This is the only ‘specialty’ bundt pan I have. I tend to like the traditional bundt and tube pan best. 

Whatever pan you use, be sure to coat it really well with solid vegetable shortening or Wilton Cake Release. This is a sticky cake especially if you pour the syrup over the cake while it’s still in the pan.

Speaking of that glaze/syrup, it makes the cake very moist/wet. It’s almost ‘tres leches cake’ moist if you’re familiar with tres leches cakes. If you don’t want it that wet, you can reduce the glaze or omit it.

Personally, I think the cake is better after it sits a while which makes it great for make-ahead meals and potlucks.

Also, I love to start a cake with a mix when my time is tight. (You can see some of my Cookie and Cake Mix creations here.)

What is the benefit of using a cake mix? It takes me less prep time when I use a cake mix and using a cake mix gives me very consistent results.

While you’re here, check out these recipes

1. Citrus Pound Cake
2. Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake
3. Scratch-made Orange Zest Pound Cake
4. Sweet & Sour Citrus Salad
5. Orange Bundt Cake
6. Orange curd
7. You can also find great recipes at Recipe Index