POM Spice Tea Cake

About a month ago, the incredibly nice people at POM Wonderful sent me several bottles of POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice. My parents and I really love pomegranate juice, so most of it went towards our daily cup of juice. I was able to spare some out for this cake, which of course, happened to be photographed on a blue-tinted day, as you can see in the picture. There's not one bad thing that I can honestly say about this cake. The flavor reminds me of spice cake: it has cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. It's moist and tender at the same time. The pomegranate juice in the cake gives it a really good taste that enhances the spices. The lemony frosting that it has complements it well, as well as the pomegranate arils that are sprinkled on top. I'll definitely be making this cake often, since it flew in under a day, and this last slice was the only bit that I had to photograph.

POM Spice Tea Cake
*makes one 10-inch Bundt cake*

Ingredients:
CAKE
1/2 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
1/2 cup arils from 1 POM Wonderful Pomegranate
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup shortening
3 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

LEMON FROSTING
4 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
CAKE
Score 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate underwater to free the arils. The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1/2 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.) Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixer, cream together sugar, shortening and eggs (batter should be slightly lumpy). Add pomegranate juice and milk; beat for 2 minutes. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed sugar and shortening mixture. Mix to combine. Pour into greased Bundt pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted into cake comes out clean and free of crumbs. Let cool. Frost with lemon frosting and decorate with arils.

LEMON FROSTING
Cream lemon juice and butter together. Add powdered sugar and beat to a spreading consistency. Thin with water if necessary.

If you want to print out this recipe, it can be found here at the POM Wonderful website.