Showing posts with label #BundtBakers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #BundtBakers. Show all posts

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Lemon Poppy Seed Ricotta Cake #BundtBakers

Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition. 

Food Lust People Love: Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition.

As I’ve mentioned before, one of my younger daughter’s favorite baked good combinations is lemon and poppy seeds. Probably because the lemon offsets the sugar in most recipes. And who doesn’t love the subtle crunch of poppy seeds? 

My cake was baked and cooled and I was whisking the glaze when she came into the kitchen yesterday. She sidled over and peered into the glaze bowl. “Are you sure you want to add that?” she asked. I was absolutely positive that I did! One of her tenets is that everyone loves plain things. And while I cannot disagree with that, and this cake would be just as tasty glaze-less, it wouldn’t be as pretty!

My best compliment came after she cut herself a small slice and said, “It’s good. Not too sweet!” 

Lemon Poppy Seed Ricotta Cake

This recipe is adapted from one on Food 52 which was baked in an 8x8in pan. That’s the same volume as a 6-cup Bundt pan so it fit perfectly in my small Nordic Ware anniversary one. I have to say that I would not hesitate to double this for the 12-cup pan next time. It’s that good!

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
zest from 1 large lemon
1 cup or 240g whole milk ricotta, at room temperature
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon poppy seeds, plus extra to decorate, if desired 
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1-2 teaspoons butter, for greasing the pan

For the lemon glaze:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup or 125g icing sugar, sifted
pinch fine sea salt

Method 
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 6-cup Bundt pan by buttering and flouring it. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and most of the zest, reserving a little to sprinkle on the glaze for decoration. (I put the spare zest on a paper towel. This dries it just enough to make sprinkling it easier after the cake has baked and cooled.)


Use your fingers (or the back of a rubber spatula) to rub the zest into the sugar until fully incorporated and fragrant. This step smells like sunshine and makes me hopeful that spring and brighter days are coming!

Add the ricotta, lemon juice, oil, and eggs to the bowl and whisk together until blended.


Add the poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl. Whisk again to combine. 


Sift in the flour and then fold it until it is no longer visible.


Pour the batter into your prepared pan.


Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until it springs back when touched, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 


Cool the cake in the pan for about 7-10 minutes then turn it out on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.

Food Lust People Love: Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition.

To make the glaze, place the icing sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and whisk to combine. Add more of the lemon juice as needed to make glaze of a pouring consistency. If you live in a humid climate like I do, you might not need all the juice. 

Gently pour or drizzle the glaze over the cake. Sprinkle immediately with the extra poppy seeds, if using, and the reserved lemon zest. 

Food Lust People Love: Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition.

Slice to serve and enjoy!  

Food Lust People Love: Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition.

It’s the third Thursday of the month so it’s time for my Bundt Bakers to share their favorite recipes with you. This month we are celebrating the impending arrival of spring! Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.


Pin this Lemon Poppy Seed Ricotta Cake!

Food Lust People Love: Rich, tender and oh, so flavorful, this lemon poppy seed ricotta cake is speckled, with seeds but also tiny dots of the soft white ricotta cheese. The tart lemon glaze with the sprinkle of zest and more poppy seeds is a tasty addition.

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Thursday, February 17, 2022

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread #BundtBakers

This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

We are super fans of garlic bread in our house so when our host for this Bundt Bakers event proposed the key ingredients “herbs” I decided to make a garlicky herby bread instead of a cake or quick bread. It was a good decision!

Once it came out of the oven, all golden, fragrant and delicious, I said to my husband, “You know what would be nice? Pizza sauce to dip the monkey bread in!” He heartily agreed. Fortunately, I almost always have homemade pizza sauce in the freezer. I warmed it up and we enjoyed this pretty little loaf as supper with a salad. I suggest you do the same!

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread

We want lots of springy fluffiness for this soft monkey bread so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up. For the herbs, I used a mix of fresh oregano, rosemary and Italian parsley. Use your favorite fresh herbs!

Ingredients
For the bread dough:
3/4 cup or 155ml milk
3 tablespoons or 42g butter, plus extra for greasing the Bundt pan
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup or 57g sourdough fed starter 
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for kneading
Several sprigs assorted herbs, stems discarded, leaves chopped

For baking: 
1/4 cup or 57g butter 
1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
(1/2 the herbs from above)

Optional for serving:
1/8 cup or 28g butter, melted, for brushing on finished bread

Method
Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast and sugar in your mixing bowl and pour in the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Bubbling and active!

Now add the sourdough starter, the egg yolk and the salt along with about half of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Adding the sourdough starter, egg yolk and salt with half of the flour

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonsful until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

The finished dough. Keep kneading!

Now add half of the herb mix and knead for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Adding half of the herbs to the dough and knead

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

After the first rise

Meanwhile, grease your 6-cup Bundt pan liberally with butter.

Add the other half of the chopped herbs and the minced garlic to a microwave safe bowl with the butter. Microwave on high until the butter is melted, stirring once or twice. This takes just a minute or so. 

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough (620g) 17 balls about 26g each down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into small pieces about the size of golf balls. Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Divide the dough and roll into balls

Roll them in the herby butter then put the balls, side by side, then on top in another layer, pinched side down, filling your prepared Bundt pan as you go. 

Filling the Bundt pan with dough balls rolled in the herby garlic butter

Spoon any leftover herb garlic butter over the dough balls. 

Spooning the leftover herby garlic butter over the dough balls

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the dough. Allow the monkey bread to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

The risen dough balls

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the monkey bread in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I like to put the Bundt pan on another larger pan to make it easy to 

Out of the oven!

Allow to cool for a few minutes then invert the pan and decant the monkey bread. Brush with more butter, if desired. (Do it!)

Brushing with more butter!

Serve warm, if possible.

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

It’s the third Thursday of the month so that means it’s time to bake something in a Bundt pan! Our original host for this event is Lara of Tartacadabra. We send her our best wishes for good healthy and well-being and thank Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in to take over the hosting duties! Check out all the Bundt bakes with herbs below!

#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread!

Food Lust People Love: This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

 .



Thursday, January 20, 2022

Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing. 

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

Theories abound regarding the invention of the hot toddy, a comforting drink made of lemon, honey or sugar, whisky and hot water.  The most likely one is that they originated in India and were brought to Great Britain during the time that the British controlled that country. According to dictionary.com notes, in the 1610s, the Hindi word “taddy” meant “beverage made from fermented palm sap.” By 1786, taddy was officially written down and defined as “beverage made of alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices.”

The hot toddy made its way north and west and gained appeal not only as a warming drink but also as a cure or at least reliever of the common cold, especially in cold climates. I remember years ago, a Scottish friend telling me that when she was suffering from a cold as a child, her father would tuck her into her bed then make her drink down a hot concoction with whisky to cure what ailed her. 

She said she didn’t know that the hot drink cured her but she sure slept well. And maybe that is half the battle when one is fighting a cold. That said, let me just say right now that doctors these days do not recommend giving your child alcoholic drinks! 

Historically a hot toddy is made with whisky but nowadays you can find recipes with rum, brandy and other liquors. While I am not a fan of Scotch whisky, I do like Kentucky whiskey so that’s that I’ve used for the syrup and icing for these mini Bundts. You can substitute your favorite libation or, to keep it non-alcoholic, substitute orange juice for the whisky. 

Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts

This recipe serves 9 and is adapted from one in .delicious magazine which you can also find online. (Theirs makes a full size Bundt cake.) I only own a 12-hole muffin pan so I fill the other three holes with some water for baking. I have no idea if this actually helps the heat distribute more evenly but I like to think so. 

Ingredients
1/3 cup or 75g very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1/2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1/2 cup or 50g ground almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch ground cloves
pinch fine sea salt
1/2 cup or 63g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the syrup:
1 tablespoon whiskey (I used Bulleit Kentucky whiskey.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon clear honey

For the whisky icing:
1/3 cup or 40g icing sugar
3-4 teaspoons whiskey   

Optional for decorating: amber sugar crystals

Method
Heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 9-hole mini Bundt pan liberally with butter. (See note above ingredients list.)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using a hand-held electric whisk or your stand mixer.

Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and egg white, whisking well to combine.  

Adding in the egg and egg white

Add the milk and whisk again.

Measure in the almonds, baking powder and spices with the pinch of salt. Sift in the flour with the baking powder and baking soda. Fold to combine. 

Adding in the rest of the ingredients

Divide the batter between the cups in your prepared mini Bundt pan. 

Divide the batter between the mini Bundt holes in the pan

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Removed from the oven

Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Cooling on a wire rack

Once the cake is cool, heat the syrup ingredients in a pan or in the microwave until just simmering. Brush the syrup all over the mini Bundts until it’s all absorbed. 

Brushing on the syrup

For the icing, put the icing sugar in a bowl and slowly stir in enough whisky to form a smooth icing. 

Drizzle the icing all over the mini Bundts then scatter with amber sugar crystals to decorate, if desired. I like the way they look but I especially like the delightful crunch they add. 


Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

Welcome to the first 2022 edition of Bundt Bakers! As you might guess from the titles below, our theme today is Fireside Drinks. Many thanks to our host Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs!


#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.


Pin these Spiced Hot Toddy Mini Bundts!

Food Lust People Love: Delightful and soft, these spiced hot toddy mini Bundts are the perfect warming winter treat, brushed with whisky syrup and drizzled with an equally boozy icing.

 .

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt #BundtBakers

This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

This month’s Bundt Bakers event is special! Rather than choosing an ingredient or theme, our host Patricia of PatyCo Candybar asked us to choose a cake made by one of our fellow bakers to recreate. Gosh, was it hard to choose just one! 

Some of us have been baking Bundts together each month for almost 10 years so that’s a lot of lovely cakes to choose from. I scrolled down the list on our Bundt Bakers’ page and, honestly, it was a struggle. I love so many of them! I finally decided on the chocolate peppermint Bundt from Rebekah of Making Miracles because the flavors sounded perfect for the holiday season. 

If you haven’t been over to Rebekah’s blog yet, you might not know that her blog name, Making Miracles, is a reference to the beautiful babies she gave birth to as a surrogate. Several families are more complete because she was willing to help them fulfill their dream of having children. She is an amazing mom herself and a special, generous, caring person! 

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt

The original instructions say to use a 12-cup Bundt pan so, of course, I did, but I think this batter would fit quite comfortably in a 10-cup pan as well. 

Ingredients
For the cake:
1 cup or 240ml boiling water
6 tablespoons or 30g unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for the pan
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 57g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup or 162g full fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup or 45g semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
3/4 cup or 94g powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

To decorate:
1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan by generously buttering and lightly coating it with sifted cocoa powder. 

Pour the boiling water into a heatproof measuring vessel then add the cocoa and whisk till it has completely dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool. 

Whisking the cocoa into the boiling water.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Use electric beaters or your stand mixer on medium speed to cream together the butter, sugar and peppermint extract.  Add the first egg and beat again.

Adding the first egg to the creamed butter and sugar

Add the following two eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. 

Adding the third egg to the mixture

Blend the yogurt into the mixture, followed by the cooled cocoa mixture. 

After the yogurt is added, adding the cocoa mixture

Fold in the flour mixture in batches until just until combined (do not over mix).  

Folding in the flour in three batches

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Folding in the chocolate chips

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth; tap pan once or twice sharply to remove any air bubbles. 

Spooning the batter into the prepared pan

Bake 40-45 minutes, until cake begins to pull away from edges of pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Just out of the oven!

Carefully invert the cake onto the rack and allow to cool completely (or invert directly onto a cake plate if preferred).

The inverted cake cooling on the wire rack

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and peppermint extract in a small bowl, starting with just 1 tablespoon of the milk. Add more milk a little at a time until you reach pouring consistency. You may not need it all. 

Mixing the glaze ingredients

Crush the candy canes in a plastic baggie using a rolling pin or a the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Stir half of the crushed candy canes into the glaze. 

Adding half the crushed peppermint candy cane to the glaze

Drizzle or pour the glaze over the cake then sprinkle the top with the remaining crushed candy cane. 

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Allow the glaze to set before slicing to serve. 

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s time for December’s edition of Bundt Bakers! Check out all the tributes to our Bundt Baker friends below. Many thanks to Patricia of Patyco Candybar for hosting! 

#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Chocolate Peppermint Bundt!

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

 .