Showing posts with label Bundt cake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bundt cake. Show all posts

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing for #BundtBakers


This beautiful pecan Bundt cake is made with very little flour since the coarsely ground pecans bind with the sugar and eggs to create a rich batter.   It bakes up light and is perfectly complemented by the rich orange cream cheese icing. 

I know your mother told you differently growing up but sometimes having a reputation is a good thing.  When people know you love to cook and bake, for instance, they buy you cookbooks and magazines.  They send you interesting links to deliciousness and sometimes they even cut recipes out of newspapers for you.  When we were in Rhode Island over Christmas, my mother-in-law handed me a bit of the Houston Chronicle “Flavor” section.  She had pulled out the pages, folded them up and brought them with her from home because she knew I would like to read them.  Because: Pecans!  They were FULL of pecan recipes.  Little did she know, but I was especially pleased because our new Bundt Bakers group theme for January was going to be NUTS and pecans are my go-to nut of choice.  In fact, I’m the host for this inaugural event so I chose the theme!

The only major tree nut that exists naturally in North America, the pecan grows wild in groves as well as in cultivated orchards.  The name pecan comes from the Algonquin word meaning “needs a rock to crack.”   I find a nutcracker much more useful.  Pecans were a major source of nutrition for Native Americans and became a staple for cooking and baking for the settlers as well.  Of course, they are crunchy and wonderful but, according to the appositely named website for the National Pecan Shellers Association, I love Pecans, they are also very heart healthy!  Thanks to well-sealed Ziploc bags and a big deep freezer, pecans feature heavily in my kitchen all year long.

Adapted from a recipe printed in the Houston Chronicle contributed by Carol Aimone from Tomball, Texas.

Ingredients
For cake:
2  1/2 cups or 315g chopped pecans, toasted, plus another generous handful for decorating, if desired.
3 tablespoons flour plus more for coating your Bundt pan
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 cup or 225g sugar
Butter or non-stick spray for coating your Bundt pan

For the icing:
8 oz or 225g cream cheese
1 oz or 30g butter
16 oz or 450g confectioners’ or icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
Zest 1 navel orange
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your Bundt pan by slathering it liberally with butter, spraying it generously with non-stick spray and then coating with flour.  Do this and do this well.  You will thank me later.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the three tablespoons of flour, the baking powder and the salt.

Put half of your pecans in the food processor and process until they are coarsely ground.   Add them to the flour bowl.  Repeat with the remaining pecans.




Put your sugar and eggs in the processor and process until completely smooth.


This will be very liquid.  Add the pecan mixture and process again, scraping down the sides, if necessary.   The mixture make get a little foamy.



Pour into your prepared Bundt pan and bake in your preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes or until a tester (I use a wooden satay stick.) comes out clean.



Meanwhile, you can be making the icing.

Put all the ingredients into your mixing bowl, starting with only two tablespoons of orange juice.

Beat until thoroughly mixed and creamy.  If it seems a bit too thick to spread, add the extra orange juice a little at a time, beating well in between, until the icing is of good spreadable consistency.

When the cake is baked, remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack before inverting and removing the cake from the pan.



We are all friends here so I am going to share the photo that never usually gets seen.

When the cake sticks in the Bundt pan.




Never mind though.  Just pry the pieces out and set them back where they belong.  The icing will cover everything and no one will be the wiser.  And next time you will vow to butter and flour that pan more generously!

Allow the cake to cool completely.

Cover with your orange cream cheese icing.   Because of the delicate state of my cake, I decided to put the icing in a decorating bag and pipe it on instead of trying to spread it with a spatula.  Sprinkle with the handful of extra pecans, if desired.

I think it turned out rather pretty.


And even when it was cut, you would never know what near tragedy had been averted.



Enjoy!


BundtBakers

I am delighted to be hosting this inaugural edition of Bundt Bakers.  I chose NUTS as the theme since we are all nuts about Bundts and couldn’t imagine not baking at least one a month when the BundtaMonth group disbanded.

Have a look at all the wonderful nutty Bundts we’ve baked for you!  For information about how you can join us in the coming months, scroll on down.

We are a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com or ask to join our private Facebook group.


Friday, October 4, 2013

Honeycomb Crunch Honey Bundt Cake for #BundtaMonth


This month’s BundtaMonth is candilicious.   No surprise that spellcheck doesn’t like that word but never mind, because I know that you all will.  We are baking Bundts with our favorite candies and hopefully some of yours!  If you stopped by last Sunday, you know that I made honeycomb to use in my cake but store-bought honeycomb can be used as well, if you are fortunate enough to have a candy store nearby that makes it.   It’s called many different names around the world: sea foam, angel food candy, sponge candy, honeycomb toffee, cinder toffee, puff candy, hokey pokey, fairy food and molasses puffs, just to name a few!

All I can tell you is that it is delicious and will pull your fillings out if you are not careful.  Also, if you add it to a cake, it melts inside and makes that cake caramelly throughout.  AND, when you decorate the outside of a cake with it, eventually it melts all over the cake and gives it another sweet sticky layer, in addition to the honey glaze.  But that’s okay if you’ve made enough honeycomb crunch.  Just add some more before you serve each time!

The Bundt cake batter was adapted from this recipe.  Scroll on down to the bottom of this post to see all the other fabulously candilicious Bundts we have for you this month

Ingredients
For the Bundt cake:
1 1/4 cups or 295ml honey
1/2 cup or 115g butter
1/2 cup or 100g brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups or 375g flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 125g Greek-style plain yogurt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/3 lb or 125g honeycomb crunch caramel candy, plus extra for decorating

For the honey glaze:
1/8 cup or 30ml honey
1/8 cup or 25g brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Pinch sea salt flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method              
Preheat the oven to 325°F or about 165°C and prepare your Bundt pan by greasing it liberally and then flouring the greased inside.

Separate your eggs and make sure the whites are in a clean, grease-free mixing bowl that gives you plenty of room to beat them with a hand mixer or whisk.



Sift the flour with other dry ingredients and set aside.


Measure your honeycomb candy and break it into small pieces with your handy hammer.  Set aside.



Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer.


Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the egg yolks.  Beat until the batter is fluffy.



Pour in the honey and beat again.



Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture and gently blend.





Add the yogurt and milk and blend again.



Beat the separated egg whites until stiff, then gently fold them into the batter, along with the pieces of candy.




Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan, smooth the top with the spatula and bake in your preheated oven for 50-55 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.




Cool on a wire rack.  After about 10 minutes, turn the cake out of the pan.  I had a few pieces that stuck because of the candy inside and I had to force myself to extract them and place them back on the cake because they were deliciously sticky looking and I just wanted to eat them.  As you can see, it’s not the most beautiful cake, unless you are a fan of caramel, but the glaze and extra candy will take care of the imperfections.



Once the cake is completely cool, combine the honey glaze ingredients in a small pot and cook slowly, stirring the whole time, just until all the sugar has dissolved.


Drizzle over the cooled cake.   Decorate with more broken honeycomb crunch candy.



Enjoy!


Who's in the mood for some candy and cake?


Here’s how you can be a part of Bundt-a-Month:
  • Simple rule: Bake us a Bundt using your favorite candy
  • Post it before October 31, 2013
  • Use the #BundtaMonth hashtag in your title. (For ex: title could read – #BundtaMonth: Candy Bundt)
  • Add your entry to the Linky tool below
  • Link back to our announcement posts

Even more Bundt fun! Follow Bundt-a-Month on Facebook where we feature all our gorgeous Bundt cakes. Or head over to our Pinterest board for inspiration and choose from hundreds of Bundt cake recipes. For candy inspiration, check out all of our announcement posts above!


Friday, September 6, 2013

Triple Chocolate Mini Bundts #Bundtamonth

Deep chocolate mini Bundt cakes covered in semi-sweet and white chocolate then sprinkled with silver dragees are pretty, but not too pretty to eat!

How does one celebrate the one-year birthday of the Bundt-a-Month challenge?  Well, by baking more Bundts, of course.  My daughter and I were discussing this month’s “fancy” theme for this first anniversary, and she suggested that I didn’t need a fancy Bundt at all, just stick a flowering plant in it!
  After all, that was good enough for an engagement celebration on My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Anybody else LOVE that movie?  I could watch it over and over.  Just as funny each time.

While I acknowledged the truth in that, I wanted to make something pretty, something special.  So it had to be chocolate.  Dark chocolate.  And white chocolate.  And with silver balls.  Because those have always said PARTY to me, even if they do want to break your teeth.  They are like sprinkles for grownups.

When it came time for decorating, I couldn’t decide on a pattern so I just went a little crazy, drizzling on both chocolates and having a wild time.  I don't know when to stop, but more is more, right?  No two little Bundts are alike, but they sure looked pretty all together.  Like I imagine a dessert table set out with all the BundtaMonth Bundts would look, if we could ever get them all in one place.  Maybe for the second anniversary?   Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to see what my fellow bloggers have baked for you, along with our hosts, Anuradha from Baker Street and Lora from Cake Duchess.

The batter for these little cakes is slightly adapted from Molly Wizenburg’s recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes in her fabulous book, A Homemade Life.

Ingredients
For the cakes:
2 oz or 55g dark chocolate
1/2 cup or 120ml hot brewed coffee
1 cup or 225g sugar
3/4 cup flour plus 1 tablespoon for preparing pan
1/2 cup or about 40g unsweetened cocoa powder, plus 1 tablespoon for preparing pan
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil
1/2 cup or 125g well stirred plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For decoration:
8 oz or 230g semi-sweet chocolate
4 oz or 115g white chocolate
1 tablespoon (or more!) dragees or little silver balls

Method
Preheat oven to 325°F or °C.  Prepare your mini Bundt pan by spraying it liberally with non-stick spray or generously buttering it.  Put one tablespoon each of flour and cocoa powder in a sieve or sifter and sprinkle all over the pan, tipping it this way and that to make sure that all the insides of the little cups are covered.  Bang the pan gently on the cabinet and dump the excess out into your sink.  Set aside.





Chop the chocolate for the cake into small pieces and put it into the measuring cup with hot coffee.  Stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted.



Into a medium bowl, sift the cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Whisk in the sugar and flour.   Set aside.


For the best batter, electric beaters or a stand mixer with the K-beater in place is essential here.  In a large bowl, beat your egg on medium for a minute or two or until it becomes pale yellow.  Add in the oil, yogurt and vanilla, once again, beating well.


Gradually pour in the melted chocolate/coffee mixture and beat to thoroughly combine.




Add the dry ingredients all at once.  Beat on low speed until the batter is just combined.


Scrape down the sides and bottom to make sure all the flour is incorporated.



Divide your batter between the cups of your prepared mini Bundt pan, but don’t fill them more than two-thirds full.  If you have a little batter left over, it’s better to make a couple of extra cupcakes instead.  Your tasters will be happy.


Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Meanwhile, let your helper clean out the yogurt pot before recycling.



Cool your mini Bundts in the pan for about 10 minutes, then place a wire rack on top of the pan and carefully invert the pan and rack so that the little cakes can fall out.  If any don’t fall out, loosen them gently with a knife or toothpick and remove them one by one.



Allow the little cakes to cool completely before topping with melted chocolate.

For the decoration, break up your dark and white chocolate into smaller blocks (or chop if you need to) and put each kind in a separate microwave-proof bowl.  Zap them one at a time on high for 10-15 seconds, then stir and repeat until both of the chocolates are pourable.




You can drizzle these over the mini Bundts with a small spoon but I prefer to put the melted chocolate into cake decorating bags with small tips (Wilton no. 3, 4 or 5) for better control.

Have fun drizzling on the dark chocolate, followed by swirls of the white chocolate.  Sprinkle a few silver dragees in the middle to complete the festive party look.


Enjoy!

                                         
Check out everyone else’s Bundt cakes if you are looking for fancy inspiration:

Since these are fancy little triple chocolate Bundt cakes, I am also submitting them to this month's We Should Cocoa anniversary challenge to create a show stopper, hosted by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog.