Nutty Graham Picnic Cake

Another birthday at work! It may seem like I am always baking for my colleagues at work, but we’re really a fairly small group. We just happen to have two birthdays that we are celebrating this week. I asked what type of cake my colleague wanted for his birthday and it was an interesting challenge to find something that worked. He said that he liked banana break, cobbler, graham cracker and cookie crusts and fruit-based desserts, and not a lot of frosting. I did quite a bit of looking and decided on this one.

This is a Pillsbury BakeOff recipe, one that I hadn’t made in years. It has graham cracker crumbs and orange juice in the batter. It has a simple brown sugar/powdered sugar glaze, and it’s kind of similar to the texture of banana bread. So I think that so it met quite a few of the criteria he had mentioned. I really love this cake and was excited to make it again.

This cake is as easy as a cake mix. Just add everything to the mixer bowl and then blend for 3 minutes. Grinding the graham crackers to make crumbs and chopping the nuts are the hardest parts of this recipe. I doubled the glaze recipe because I wanted a nice coating, but I didn’t end up using quite the entire glaze. This cake smells like the orange rolls that I used to have on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, so there are some good memories there!

2 cups flour
1 cup graham crumbs
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts

2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 teaspoons milk
1 tablespoon butter
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan.

In large mixer bowl, combine all cake ingredients except nuts; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in 1 cup nuts. Pour batter into greased and floured pan.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 15 minutes; invert onto serving plate. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.

In small saucepan, combine 2 tablespoons brown sugar, milk and 1 tablespoon butter; cook over low heat just until sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar; blend until smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Recipe from Esther Tomich, The 1978 Pillsbury BakeOff