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?

Banana Butterfinger Bundt Cake by Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious

Candy Corn Bundt Cake by Holly at A Baker’s House

Caramel Apple Milky Way Bundt Cake by Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks

Chocolate Coconut Cake by Kate at Food Babbles

Chocolate Hazelnut Candy Bundt with Nutella Glaze by Anita at Hungry Couple

Chocolate Mini Bundts with Candy Coated Chocolates by Alice at Hip Foodie Mom

Coconut Almond Bundt with Chocolate Drizzle by Kathya at Basic N Delicious

Honeycomb Crunch Honey Bundt Cake by Stacy at Food Lust People Love

Kit Kat Cream Cheese Bundt Cake by Anuradha at Baker Street

M& M Nutella Cake by Kim at NinjaBaking

M&M Cream Cheese Pound Cake by Laura at The Spiced Life

Pumpkin Bundt with Salted Caramel Chocolate Sauce by Lora at Cake Duchess

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake by Felice at All That’s Left Are The Crumbs

Snickers Bundt with Chocolate Caramel Peanut Sauce by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands

Twix and Tween by Sandra at Sweet Sensations

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!

Salmon with Homemade Caper Onion Mayonnaise

Making homemade mayonnaise is a dying art but one I would love to see revived.  It reminds me of my grandmother’s cheerful kitchen, painted the same friendly shade as lemon zest and her café-curtained window with bright, warm sunshine beaming in.  The yellow yolks whipped into creaminess bring back the nostalgic taste of her warm potato salad.  Proceed slowly, and you will be amply rewarded. 

I don’t recall if my maternal grandmother ever had store-bought mayonnaise in her dark brown doublewide Admiral refrigerator.  It’s possible she did.  But I can tell you that when Sunday rolled around and she was making potato salad, she was also going to be making homemade mayo to put in it.  My mother is the same.  She says that when she was growing up, she avoided the kitchen when she saw the potatoes and eggs go on to boil, because otherwise she would be roped into making the mayonnaise and she lived in fear of the darn stuff splitting.  Now she can’t get enough of homemade mayonnaise and makes it willingly.   I imagine years of being press-ganged into service have made her an expert.  When it came time to make a sauce for this week’s Sunday Supper theme of Sauce It Up, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  My own concoction of onion and capers added to my grandmother’s homemade mayonnaise.  So I consulted the family expert.   And this is what she sent me.   Thanks, Mom!  (My comments in green.) 

Ingredients
For Mother’s (by which, she means my grandmother's) homemade mayonnaise:
(Yields about 1 1/2 cups or 350ml)
2 egg yolks (raw)
2 egg yolks (hard-boiled)
1 cup or about 240ml vegetable oil or more as needed (I used canola.)
Black or white pepper  (I used about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.)

For the caper onion mayonnaise:
1 recipe Mother’s homemade mayo
1/2 medium purple onion (about 1 1/4oz or 35g)
2 tablespoons capers in brine with a little of the brine
More salt and pepper to taste – you can let it sit for a while after adding in the capers and then add more, if necessary.  Remember that capers in brine are salty.

For the salmon:
One filet per person (about 6-7 oz or 170-200g each)
Sea salt flakes
Black pepper
Olive oil

Method
Mash the yolks real well with a fork.

Using an electric mixer, add a little oil at a time to egg mixture and beat well.  Be very careful, mayo can curdle if you add too much oil at one time.   Continue mixing and adding oil gradually.   (I used a whisk and added about a tablespoon or two at a time, whisking thoroughly in between.  It took a while but I was watching The Great British Bake Off so I didn’t care!) 

Just the four egg yolks.

Adding the first of the oil.

After the third or fourth addition of oil.

Add a few drops of water to mayo as it thickens.  Sometimes I will use lemon juice or vinegar instead of the water.  As it thickens, you may have to add more than one time.  (Since I knew I was going to add the grated onion and capers at the end, I skipped this step.  If you are making plain mayo, you may need to drizzle in a bit of water if it gets too thick.) 

Continue the process until you have the desired amount of mayonnaise.  (I stopped after adding the whole cup of canola, which gave me almost a cup and a half of mayo.) 

The last of the oil going in. 

Season with sea salt and black pepper.

You have now mastered my grandmother’s homemade mayonnaise.  Well done!  (If by some chance you did pour in the oil too fast and it split, rescue it with the instructions here.   They work and, sadly, I know that from past personal experience.)

Now to make the caper onion mayonnaise, simply grate your onion very finely and make sure to collect the juice as you grate it.  I actually left the onion whole and grated half off, which is easier than trying to grate a cut onion.

Add the grated onion and the juice to the mayonnaise.

Add in the capers with a little of their juice.  Stir well, cover with cling film and, if you aren’t eating right away, store in the refrigerator.

And on to the salmon.

Season the salmon on both sides with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and black pepper.

Pan-fry it skin side up in a small drizzle of olive oil for a few minutes or until you can see the color of cooked pink come half way up the sides.

Turn the salmon filets over and cook for another few minutes or until the salmon is just cooked though and the skin is crispy.

Taste the caper onion mayo and add more salt and pepper if necessary, stirring well.  Add a liberal dollop to the top of each salmon filet and serve.

Enjoy!

For lagniappe, as we say in south Louisiana – here’s just a little something extra:
If you are only serving two with salmon, you are going to have plenty of caper onion mayo left over.  Stir some through a drained can of tuna and serve on toast.  Delicious!  I don’t know that my grandmother would approve but I think it would also be pretty good in potato salad.  The caper onion mayo will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

Join today’s host and all-around good guy, DB from Crazy Foodie Stunts, and the rest of the Sunday Supper group as we Sauce It Up!

Savory Sauces

• Creamy Dairyfree Mushroom Sauce from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
• Guava BBQ Sauce from Basic N Delicious
• Homemade Steak Sauce from Juanita's Cocina
• Homemade Tartar Sauce from The Foodie Army Wife
• Homemade Teriyaki Sauce from Curious Cuisiniere
• Jalapeño Cranberry Sauce from Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Port Wine and Fig Sauce from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Red Wine Sauce | Molho de Vinho Tinto from Family Foodie
• Tomato Kasundi from What Smells So Good?

Pasta Sauces and Pastas with Sauce

• Amatriciana Sauce from The Weekend Gourmet
• Angel Hair Pasta with Neapolitan Sauce from Cookin' Mimi
• Basil Pesto from Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Black Walnut Kale Pesto with Zucchini Spaghetti from Sue's Nutrition Buzz
• Chardonnay Seafood Sauce (with Linguine) from Country Girl in the Village
• Homemade Guiltless Alfredo Sauce from Momma's Meals
• Italian-Style Tomato Sauce from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Lamb Ragout from Maroc Mama
• Lentil Marinara Pasta Sauce from Alida's Kitchen
• Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Sicilian Marinara Sauce from Growing Up Gabel

Entreés with Sauces 

• Chicken Tikka Masala from I Run For Wine
• Chicken with Mushroom Demi-Glace from Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Garlic Mushrooms In Red Wine Sauce from Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Jack Daniel's Honey Barbecue Baked Wings from Chocolate Moosey
• Mrs. A's Skillet Lemon Chicken from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Philly Strip Steaks with Provolone Sauce and Caramelized Onions from The Texan New Yorker
• Pork Tenderloin with Plum Sauce from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Salmon with Homemade Caper Onion Mayonnaise from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet & Sour Garlic Chicken Wings from Big Bear's Wife

Sweet Sauces 

• Apple Cider Caramel Sauce from The Messy Baker
• Banana Pudding Sauce from Killer Bunnies, Inc.
• Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Sauce from Daily Dish Recipes
• Port Wine Cranberry Sauce from Webicurean
• Pumpkin Applesauce from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Pumpkin Caramel Sauce from Noshing With The Nolands
• Raspberry Red Wine Sauce from Treats & Trinkets
• Slow Cooker Applesauce from Citronlimette

Desserts with Sauces 

• Baked Espresso Berry Pudding from The Urban Mrs
• Bananas Foster from MidLife Road Trip
• Caramel Apple Sheet Cake from Pies and Plots
• Pear Tatin with Rum Caramel Sauce from Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Salted Bourbon Caramel Sauce (over Chocolate Rosemary Cake) from Gotta Get Baked
• Sticky Toffee Pudding w/ Toffee Sauce from girlichef

Dark Chocolate Toasted Sesame Muffins #MuffinMonday

Toasted sesame seeds and toasted sesame seed oil boost and complement the dark chocolate roasted sesame Lindt bar in this fragrant chocolate muffin. Plus, look how pretty the sesame seeds look!

I have a small collection of chocolate bars that I have been amassing for a number of months because they come in such wonderful and unusual flavor combinations. Chocolate, of course, with orange, mint, sea salt, black currant, crunchy caramel, salted caramel, blueberry, passionfruit, cherry, chili, coconut, dark lemon and pepper, just to name a few! My master plan is to do a muffin series based on the chocolates. Doesn't that sounds like a fun idea? I finally got around to baking the first one today. And, before you ask, let me say that I have no affiliation with any of the chocolate makers and I have bought all the chocolates myself.

I was extremely pleased with this first batch, using Lindt Dark Chocolate Roasted Sesame and my usual Monday morning taste testers enjoyed them too.

Ingredients 

1/2 cup or 70g sesame seeds
2 cups or 250g flour
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/4 cup or 20g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml toasted pure sesame oil
1 Lindt dark chocolate and roasted sesame bar (3 1/2 oz or 100g)

Method
Toast your sesame seeds in a nonstick skillet over a medium flame. Stir or toss them often to keep them from scorching. This takes just a few minutes. Set them aside to cool.

Chop your chocolate bar with a knife and put aside a small handful for decorating the tops of the muffins.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and either grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, stir together your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and half of the toasted sesame seeds. No need to measure. Just eyeball it.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk, and toasted sesame oil.

The toasted sesame oil is a rich, golden brown.

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ones.  Stop when there is still quite a bit of flour still unmixed.

Add in the larger pile of the chopped chocolate bar and stir again until the batter is just mixed.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups.

Sprinkle on the remainder of the toasted sesame seeds then add a few little pieces of the reserved chocolate bar to each muffin.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

The Candy Bar Series

2. Pecan Caramel Chocolate Muffins using Frey Pecan & Caramel

3. White Chocolate Lemon Muffins using Movenpick Swiss Chocolate White Lemon

.