A little known aperitif until about five years ago, you now can’t get far in the summer without seeing a glass of Aperol Spritz. Walking through Wimbledon at the weekend, every other drinking establishment was promoting it, some with really elaborate orange decorations. I’d even say it’s overtaking Pimms as the drink of the summer…

I for one am a huge fan of the sweet, refreshing and ever-so-subtly bitter tipple and the combination of Aperol and orange sparked another summer idea – Aperol cake!

Who doesn’t love a drizzle cake? I recently made this Aperol and orange drizzle cake for a family barbecue (aways a good testing group for new ideas) and it went down really well. I’ve gone for a mixture of both a hot drizzle to soak the cake, and following it with an icing layer to really bring out the Aperol flavour and make it a real treat.

This recipe is really simple and this cake is a great way to bring something a little bit different to a summer party or barbecue and creates a good talking point.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 180g butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 180g self-raising flour
• Zest of 1 orange

For the drizzle:

• Juice of 1 orange
• 30ml Aperol
• 50g caster sugar

Method

1. Grease a 500g/1lbs loaf tin and line with baking paper. Pre-heat the oven to 180/160 Fan.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs one at a time and stir until all combined.
3. Slowly sift in flour until the mixture. Add the orange zest. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
4. Bake for 45 mins or until you can poke a skewer in and it comes out clean. In the last minutes of the cake cooking time, heat the syrup ingredients until the sugar is all dissolved.
5. While the cake is still hot, poke holes all over with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Let cool in its tin.

Want to share this recipe on Pinterest?