Harvey Wallbanger cake from 1970

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Retro recipe the Harvey Wallbanger cake

If you love this classic cocktail of orange juice, vodka, and Galliano liqueur this may be your new favorite cake!

The Harvey Wallbanger is a classic cocktail that gained popularity in the 1970s. While its exact origin is a bit murky, the most widely accepted story attributes the creation of the drink to a California surfer named Harvey who frequented a bar called Blackwatch in Los Angeles during the 1950s.

The story goes that Harvey, a regular at Blackwatch, was a poor surfer who had a string of bad luck in competitions. After one particularly disappointing event, he drowned his sorrows in a combination of vodka and Galliano, an Italian herbal liqueur. Legend has it that after a few too many of these drinks, Harvey banged into the walls of the bar on his way out, earning the drink its name - the Harvey Wallbanger.

The cocktail gained mainstream popularity in the 1970s, in part due to a marketing campaign by the Galliano brand. The campaign featured a fictional cartoon character named Harvey Wallbanger, a surfer with a perpetually banged-up surfboard. The catchy marketing and the cocktail's unique name helped make it a hit in the disco era.

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Recipe to make a Harvey Wallbanger cake

Prepare a standard-size bundt pan with butter and flour method. If using a silicone bundt pan just give a light spray of oil. I use this silicone fluted bundt pan.

Preheat oven to 340F.

1 box orange cake mix (Currently Duncan Hines has one available)
1 butter melted and cooled (it gives great flavor and adds a bit of caramelized flavor to the outside once baked)
1 Package French Vanilla Instant Pudding
4 eggs at toom temperature
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup Galliano
2/3 cup orange juice

Bake 50-55 min til toothpick in the center (near the core) comes out clean. Cool completely then make the glaze.

Glaze:
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 TBSP each vodka and Galliano
3 cups confection sugar or enough to make a thick glaze

Mix all together til very smooth (no lumps), pour over cooled cake.

I decorated by slicing an orange into 8ths and arranging them in the center. For a large orange slice into 10th's.

Keep covered at room temp for up to 3 days, refrigerate or freeze leftovers.