Bundt #5 of BCS5: Bubble Ring (aka Monkey Bread)

Baked on November 11, 2012.

When the Main Squeeze and I first got together, he used to talk about this cinnamon-sugary, yeasted dough, breakfast baked good that his Mom had made a few of times when he and his brother were younger: Bubble Ring.  This breakfast item was described in idyllic terms.  It sounded wonderful.  But in spite of all this waxing poetic, the infamous Bubble Ring has never appeared.  It was explained to me by the Main Squeeze that Bubble Ring was pretty time consuming to make, and would require getting up really early.  As someone who values sleep, I could understand why his Mom did not feel compelled to make Bubble Ring for us.

Several years ago (dear lord, it's been at least ten), I don't know how it came up, but I was describing this mythical dish to some former co-workers.  One of my co-workers told me that she knew exactly what I was talking about, and that she had a recipe for it, which she would bring in for me.  I was terribly excited.  Bubble Ring was almost in my grasp!  And the next day, she gave me a photocopy of a recipe for something called "Cape Cod 'Sunrise' Stickies."  But this couldn't be right, it called for frozen bread balls and butterscotch pudding mix.  This seemed nothing like the hours-long process for Bubble Ring, with a yeasted dough you rolled into balls and covered in cinnamon and sugar (though both were baked in a bundt pan), that the Main Squeeze had described.  I held onto the recipe, but I never made it.

Then a year or two ago, in response to either the announcement of the start of the latest Bundt Cake Season or a specific bundt cake I had posted about, my cousin's husband, Jack (a fabulous baker, by the way), shared a recipe for something called Monkey Bread, and described it as "[his] kind of bundt cake."  This involved, if I remember correctly, Pillsbury biscuits cut up and mixed with cinnamon and sugar and baked in a bundt pan.  But as much as I have been a fan of Pillsbury biscuits in the past, this again, although it sounded similar to Bubble Ring, couldn't be right.  Pre-made biscuit dough?  No, that would never do.

Fast-forward to last fall.  My friend, Joanna, in the links for a Pajiba Love, included a link for something that looked absolutely fabulous, Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.  In the description, the author mentioned that you could make a cream cheese glaze for these pancakes, if you wanted.  (The Cinnamon Roll Pancakes are fabulous, by the way.  I strongly recommend that you make them.  This weekend.  And they really don't need a cream cheese glaze--they're perfect plain.)  And that, my friends, intrigued me.  Cream cheese frosting is my favorite kind of frosting, so a cream cheese glaze sounded like it could have a lot of potential.  I went in search of a cream cheese glaze, and that search lead me to this: Smitten Kitchen's Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze.

I took one look at it and immediately thought, "That's Bubble Ring!"  Since Smitten Kitchen is responsible for one of the all-time best bundt cakes I've made during the various Bundt Cake Seasons, I was certain that I could trust her recipe for Bubble Ring (or, as I have figured out, what everybody else calls Monkey Bread), especially when in her post she pooh-poohed using canned biscuit dough for this dish.  I quickly bookmarked that recipe and looked forward to the day I would surprise the Main Squeeze with the famous Bubble Ring (only sixteen short years since he first mentioned it).

He wasn't kidding when he said this would take a while to make.  It has two rising periods, each at least an hour long.  Then there's the time it takes to divide the dough into 64 pieces, dip each of those in melted butter, and then in a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and layer them in a bundt pan.  And then it bakes for half-an-hour or so.  It took me over four hours to make the Bubble Ring--I think it may have been five.  A speedier baker, I'm sure, could cut down that time quite a bit.  I would hope.

In addition to the time factor, which wasn't too intimidating, I undertook the task of making Bubble Ring with some trepidation, because you see, yeast makes me nervous.  I'm afraid of killing it.  This anxiousness did bring about the one major problem I had when I made the dough.  I was so concerned about getting the water temperature to exactly 110 degrees, that it wasn't until after I had combined all the dough ingredients, I realized I hadn't poured out the extra water, and that I had no idea how much water was in the dough.  I had no choice but to throw the dough out.  Do you know how painful that was?  VERY.

In any case, I persevered, and started all over.  One of the exciting things about making Bubble Ring, is that it meant that I got to use the dough hook attachment for my stand mixer for the first time.

Look!  The dough came together, exactly as the recipe described.  It's a miracle!

After kneading the dough, the big test came.  It was time to let it rise.  Into a greased bowl it went.  After coating the dough with a little more oil, it went into the warm oven to rise.

In only one short hour  later, I'd know if the Bubble Ring was doomed to failure, or if there was hope that the mythical baked good might be mine to try.

OK, I know that I should have taken the picture of the risen dough
still in the bowl for proper perspective, but you're going to have to
trust me that it did what it was supposed to do: double in size.

Success!  The dough came out of the oven twice has big as when it went in!  I had mastered a yeasted dough.  All kinds of baked good possibilities were now open to me.

The next step in the process took a while.  After patting the dough into an 8-inch square, you then cut it into 64 pieces, and then each piece gets dunked in melted butter and then covered in sugar and cinnamon and layered into a bundt pan.  Ms Smitten Kitchen gave some excellent advice to make sure you separate the pieces quickly from each other, or they'll just glom back together while you aren't looking (or even while you are looking).  I figured the easiest thing to do was to cut off an inch strip at a time, which I then cut into eight pieces, rather than trying to divide and separate 64 pieces at once.  This worked well for me.  Her other excellent piece of advice was to use a fork to spear the dough balls for the dunking and coating process.

I'll note here that I ended up using an additional quarter of the brown sugar coating more than the recipe called for.  Perhaps I was just extra generous with the sugar mixture?  I remember at the time thinking a little cardamom in the cinnamon-sugar mix would be delicious, but for my first try, I was going to stick to the recipe (and to keep it traditional for the Main Squeeze).

It was as I was doing the dunking and coating that the Main Squeeze walked into the kitchen, essentially spoiling the surprise.  This was, in part, because making this was taking much longer than I had anticipated, and he needed to head off to football Sunday.  He was incredibly excited and clearly hadn't expected Bubble Ring when I told him earlier I was making him a special surprise.  Upon figuring out what was going on, he suggested I bring the Bubble Ring to football Sunday, because A) it was best warm, B) it doesn't last very well & C) would be far too much for two people (us) to eat on our own, and D) that his brother would be stunned if I showed up with Bubble Ring.

After all the cinnamon-sugar coated dough balls are in the pan, it gets covered with plastic and put back in the oven to rise again.  For another 50 to 70 minutes.  You see why this took so long, yes?  Of course, what cracked me up is that the directions say that after this second rise, it will be one to two inches from the top of the pan.  As you can see from the picture above, that's where the balls of dough were *before* they went into the oven to rise again!  (I'm guessing that this is because I have a 10-cup pan, rather than a 12-cup pan.)  One of the things that Ms. Smitten Kitchen recommends is making sure you stagger the placement of the dough balls, so that you don't end up with columns of them, but since I don't have a standard bundt pan, that's pretty much what happened naturally for me.

I'm trapped in a plastic-wrapped bundt pan of emotion!

I was worried that the Bubble Ring wouldn't rise as much as it should, because it would be restricted by the plastic wrap, but I think it turned out fine.

Finally ready for baking!

Into the oven it went, to bake for 30-35 minutes.  Ms. Smitten Kitchen said that her Monkey Bread ended up baking for a little too long, because the recipe she was following said that the caramel would bubble up, but hers never did.  So, I decided to just bake it until the top was deep brown.  (The caramel didn't bubble up for me either, as I recall.)

Just seeing it fully baked in the pan is making me crave Bubble Ring!

After it cools for only five minutes, you turn it out of the pan--she was clear that if you waited any longer, you'd have problems getting it out of the pan.  And no one wants all that hard work to go to waste!  (Or, at the very least, to lose any of the delicious bubble ring/monkey bread to the pan.)

Taa-daa!
Mmm, cinnamon-sugar turned to caramel-y goodness.

After letting it cool for another ten minutes, you drizzle it with the cream cheese glaze.

I'm not sure why this photo came out so dark.

I quickly popped the top on the cake taker and headed over to the Main Squeeze's brother's place.  It a little less than 15 minutes away, so the Bubble Ring was still warm when I got there.

The Main Squeeze was right.  His brother was shocked by the arrival of Bubble Ring, which he didn't think he had had in at least 20 years.  Shocked and super excited.  The others at football Sunday, by the way, confirmed that everyone else calls this Monkey Bread.

We dug into the still-warm Bubble Ring/Monkey Bread and it was *so* good!  The eight of us pretty much devoured it.  (Even the hung-over member of the group, who had only eaten dry toast that day, was able to eat and enjoy the Bubble Ring--it's clearly a miracle food.)  The Main Squeeze and I had enough to nibble on the next morning (when it wasn't nearly as good).  I will absolutely make Bubble Ring/Monkey Bread again in the future, but obviously when I have several hours that I can dedicate to doing so.  You should also set aside a good four hours or so in the near future to make one for yourself.  (Well you and your friends/family--this is too much for just one or two people to eat and the Main Squeeze is right, it's really at its best on that first day.)  You deserve some super delicious Bubble Ring or as everyone else calls it, Monkey Bread.

* * *

Normally, this is where I'd post the recipe, but I'm going to send you over to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.  Not only is this post long enough as it is, I think you should see her gorgeous pictures and get all of her baking hints.  Also, if you are unfamiliar with her food blog, you really should check it out.

Here is the one change I would make to the recipe, based on my experience of running out of cinnamon-sugar mix:

Brown Sugar Coating
1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (Instead of just 1 cup)
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (Instead of just 2 teaspoons)

If you like cardamom, I'd put a teaspoon of that in as well.
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), melted (I'm pretty sure I didn't need any more melted butter, so this stays the same.)

Bundt #4 of BCS5: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Baked November 10, 2012

You may recall that one of the few bundt cakes that I baked last season was the Strawberry Champagne Celebration Cake for my friend's birthday/ housewarming party.  What I found out that evening was that her favorite kind of cake is Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  I made a mental note to make her that kind of cake for her next birthday.

As November rolled around, I actually remembered my mental note from the previous year, and made plans to make Becky a bundt Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Part of the reason I was excited for this cake was that I knew my Kiss My Bundt cookbook actually had a Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe, which meant I had access to what I expected to be a really good cake recipe.

Although Chrysta Wilson recommends ditching the traditional maraschino cherries in favor of dark fresh or frozen cherries, I decided that when you are taking on someone's favorite type of cake, you stick with tradition.

After making the batter, the first step is to line the bottom of the pan with pineapple rings and then place a cherry in the center of each ring.  I didn't think that would be enough pineapple, so I placed the pineapple so that they were along the sides of the pan as well.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture to show you--I was quite proud of my handiwork.

Next you make a caramel, which goes, still warm, into the pan.  From this you can get and idea how I arranged the pineapples and cherries.

Mmm, caramel.

On top of all this goes the batter.  And then it's into the oven.  Ms. Wilson recommends lining the oven rack with aluminum foil, because the caramel can bubble over, which I did.  I think I was glad I did so, but it's been long enough that I don't really remember if it bubbled over or not.

I do remember two things quite clearly.  One, this cake took much longer to bake than the recipe called for.  And two, when I turned the cake out onto my cake plate, the caramel, which was quite thin, since it was so hot, went everywhere!  So, for that last part, when you turn the cake out, make sure you do so on an easy to clean surface, like your kitchen counter.  And make sure the space is cleared of items you don't want caramel to hit.

As for the cooking time issue, perhaps this is a good time to discuss how often this happens to me.  I think once, in all the times I've baked a bundt cake (a full size one), has the time been accurate.  I don't think it's that my oven is too cool, because I bought an oven thermometer, and that indicated that the temperature was accurate.  No, I'm 95% sure that it's due to the fact that I use a 10-cup bundt pan, rather than the 12-cup that is the standard size pan, which means that the pan is more full, and the batter is deeper than it would be in a bigger pan.  To the best of my knowledge, all of the "fancy" bundt pans (the ones that aren't in the basic bundt shape) are 10-cup pans.  So, for those of you who also have 10-cup pans, count on your cakes taking *at least* 15 more minutes than the latest time of the recipe.  This one?  I think it was at least 30 more minutes.  I just remember that I was on the phone with a friend, and that I set the time for 10-15 more minutes at least three times!  I mention this for planning purposes.

The cake itself was a hit.  And Becky had never seen one in bundt form before, so score one for me.

Here's the recipe:

Ready to go into the oven.

Batter Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
1 can pineapple rings, drained
5 cherries, sliced in half

Caramel Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar, packed

Directions:

1. Line oven rack with aluminum foil, in case the caramel bubbles up over the sides of the pan.  (Alternately, you could put a cookie sheet in the oven to catch any caramel spillage.)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift flour and baking powder and salt together.  Set aside.
3. Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.
4. Slowly add the sugar. Beat on medium speed until mixture is fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add to batter one at a time.  Then beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes.
6. Add vanilla to milk.
7. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mix 1/3 of the flour into the wet mixture, then 1/2 of the milk, alternating until all ingredients are mixed.
8. Coat pan with a baker's cooking spray that includes flour.
9. Line the bottom of the pan with pineapple rings (6 - 12 rings--if, like me, you put the pineapple so that it goes up the sides as well, then you will use the whole can of pineapple rings).  
10. Put half a cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.
11. Make the caramel by combining the butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the mixture is smooth.
12. Pour the warm caramel over the pineapple and cherries at the bottom of the pan.  (Use care in handling the caramel, so you don't burn yourself.)
13. Transfer the batter to the cake pan. 
14. Bake cake until an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.  About 40 minutes (as I mentioned, this cake took much longer than 40 minutes to bake.  I think it was closer to an hour and 15 minutes.  So keep that in mind for planning purposes.)
15. Invert cake onto a cake plate.  You might want to let it cool for 10 minutes--I turned mine out right away and the caramel went every where, because it was so hot.  You also don't want to leave the cake in the pan for too long, or else I don't know if you'll have any problems getting it to turn out.

Bundt #3 of BCS5: Cranberry-Pecan Bread (aka the Hurricane Bundt)

Baked on October 29, 2012

As I mentioned when I did a mini-post on it back at the end of October, I took the forecast of Hurricane Sandy as a call to break out my bundt pan.

In October of 2011, we had an unseasonably early snow storm.  Because it was autumn, and not terribly cold out, the snow was very heavy.  That heavy snow landed on trees which had not dropped most of their leaves, which then lead to downed branches and downed trees.  And that in turn, lead to power outages.  The Main Squeeze and I were lucky, because although our back porch did take a hit, and we were without power, unlike many folks around us in neighboring towns, we got our power back in about a day and a half.

As far as damage from that October 2011 storm goes, we were really lucky.

With that experience fresh in my mind a year later, the forecasted arrival of another big storm and the possibly of being without power again, meant preparing for that worst-case scenario.  And that meant making sure we had things to eat that did not require power (or opening the fridge).  I wanted something that was going to be a bit healthier and heartier than cake, and I love cranberries, so when I found this Cranberry Nut Bread recipe in my Bundt Cookbook, I thought it would be perfect.

The recipe actually called for cranberry-orange relish, but I just substituted a cup of sliced cranberries instead. The final step of the recipe struck me as strange, "When cool, wrap bread tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store overnight before slicing."  I am really curious why they want you to do that, but I wasn't about to follow that step.  I will say this, after the first day, the consistency of the bread was  a little weird.  Kind of like it started going stale pretty quickly, but not exactly that.  I don't know if following the wrap-and-store-overnight step would have prevented that.  I also don't know if the bread would have simply benefitted from being kept in foil (or plastic wrap), rather than in the Tupperware cake taker I always use for my bundt cakes.

I'm not sure I'd make this bread in the future, but it was fun to give it a try.  I've had other cranberry breads that I've liked better.  I think I might just find another cranberry bread recipe, and perhaps try it in the bundt pan, in the future.  This one was really good the first day, though.

Here's the recipe:

3 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cups sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup cranberry-orange relish (Though as I mentioned, I just used a cup of sliced cranberries--I had some frozen.  If you have frozen cranberries you want to use, don't bother to defrost them, just slice 'em in half and throw them in.  If you want a cranberry-orange flavor, then just put in some orange zest.  A tablespoon or two should do it.)
1 cup chopped pecans (other nuts would work too)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until blended.
Add egg to butter mixture and mix well.
Add sifted dry ingredients and milk alternately to butter mixture; mix thoroughly.
Stir in cranberry relish (or sliced cranberries and orange zest, if using) and pecans.
Bake in a greased and floured (I just use baking spray) 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bread tests done.
Cool in pan 10-15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to complete cooling.
When completely cool, wrap bread in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store overnight before slicing.

***

As I mentioned in my mini-post on this, I had chosen my "wave" bundt pan, as I think of it (but which is actually Nordic Ware's Heritage bundt pan) because since this was a bread, there was definitely not going to be any glaze (which I think of working less well with this shape bundt).  What I didn't realize, until I turned it out of the pan, is how appropriate it was for a bread made in anticipation of a hurricane.  See:

There is a 100% chance of cranberries and pecans.

In any case, we were lucky and the storm wasn't so bad for us--no loss of power or downed tree limbs on our house.  So, I'm crediting the hurricane bread.

Bundt #2 of BCS5: Caramel Apple Cake

Baked on October 14, 2012

Our local neighborhood association had its annual meeting on October 14th.  Part of the meeting included an "apple fest" where folks were to bring an apple dish.  Clearly, I had only one option, which was to make an apple bundt cake.  My first destination for a recipe was my favorite bundt cookbook, Kiss My Bundt by Chrysta Wilson, but sadly, no apple cake recipes were to be found there.  So, my next stop was the old school Bundt Cookbook put out by the originators of the bundt pan, Nordic Ware.  There, I was drawn to the Caramel Apple Cake.  And so, it was decided that was the cake I was bringing to the annual meeting.

Because I was running late (as usual) I neglected to take any pictures of the cake, until after the meeting.  (As you can see from the picture for this post.)  You can also see that the cake was well received, which was interesting to me, since I, myself, did not love this cake.  The caramel glaze really was not caramel-y.  Instead, it had an almost maple flavor.  I think it's due to all the powdered sugar in the glaze recipe.  If I were to make this again, I'd find something more traditionally caramel--butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and milk (or even better, cream).  So, that's my recommendation to you.  Find a better glaze.  (If you look at the picture, you can see the glaze is not the right color for caramel--that's all that powered sugar mucking things up.)

I don't remember much about this cake (see, this is a problem with waiting three months to write your posts), just that I thought it was okay.  Again, though, other people really liked it.  One neighbor even asked me for the recipe, as it was her favorite item there!  And another neighbor, when I mentioned on Facebook that I didn't love the cake, also gave it high praise--and she described herself as being "fussy."  So, there ya go.  Oh, speaking of that FB post, I see I said that if I were to make the cake again, I'd leave out the raisins (and I like raisins!).  So, that's good to know.

So, yeah, now that you're all excited to try this cake for yourself, here's the recipe.

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

2 cups, peeled, thinly sliced apples

1 cup chopped nuts (I think I used pecans.  And you should always toast nuts for the best flavor.)

1/2 cup raisins (like I said, I'd leave these out; let the apples shine.  Hell, maybe add another 1/2 of apples?)

For the glaze (Though again, I really, really recommend finding a different glaze! Unless you want a more maple-y glaze, then use this one.):

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 4 teaspoons milk

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped nuts

Directions for the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray pan with baking spray (or you can use the grease & flour method).

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.

In a large bowl, blend all cake ingredients except nuts and raisins, beat 2 minutes at high speed.

I am certain I did not follow that step, but rather, whisked the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in one bowl.  And then, in my stand mixer, beat the butter for 2 minutes on medium, until light.  Then slowly added the sugar, and let it mix for another two minutes, until fluffy.  Then I would have added the eggs one at a time.  And then added the vanilla.  Finally adding the dry ingredients in batches.  At which point, I'm guessing I let it mix for 2 minutes, per the directions above.

Stir in nuts and raisins.

Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake 45 - 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool upright in the pan 30 minutes; invert onto a serving plate.

Cool completely.

Directions for the glaze (or try this one, it looks good):

In a small saucepan, melt butter.

Stir in brown sugar; remove from heat. (I know I kept it on the heat and let it cook for a little while, in an effort to get it more caramel-y.)

Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk; blend well.

Immediately spoon over cake.

Sprinkle with nuts.

Bundt #1 of BCS5 - Honey Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze

Baked on September 30, 2012.

I was motivated to start Bundt Cake Season 5 earlier than previous seasons, in part, because my colleague, AJ, sent me this recipe for Honey Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze (and a sprinkling of sea salt) and it looked delicious.  I was also motivated to get an early start to BCS5, because I ended up baking so few bundts last season (four total, though I only posted about two).  So, I was eager to get out my bundt pans and get baking!

I have been searching for a good Honey Cake recipe for awhile.  My old CSA used to sell these amazing honey cakes for Rosh Hashanah, which had raisins and carrots in them(not dissimilar to carrot cake), but that CSA no longer exists, hence the search for a honey cake recipe of my own.

This cake, although it has neither carrots nor raisins (which I'm pretty sure were unique to that baker's interpretation, as I don't think most honey cakes have either) still looked really good.  And how can you go wrong with a dark chocolate glaze and a sprinkling of sea salt?  The answer is, you really can't. Also, clearly this Honey Cake was meant for me, because it was a bundt cake.

I brought this cake into work to share with my coworkers and the Dean (who usually avoids sweets and things that aren't healthy, in general) poked his head into my office and told me, "You could sell this."  That was high praise.  

As the description at Epicurious says, this cake is ideal for any occasion, so no need to wait for the next Rosh Hashanah to make this.

Here's the recipe (which you can also find here).

Ingredients

For cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup pure honey
3/4 cup lukewarm coffee (brewed, or instant dissolved in water)
1 1/2 teaspoons packed grated orange zest

For chocolate glaze:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk (not light)
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 ounces bittersweet (60% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped (I just used dark chocolate chocolate chips.)

Out of the pan, before the glaze.

For garnish:
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon (optional)

Preparation

For cake:
Heat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously spray pan, including center tube, with baking spray.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl.

Whisk eggs well in another large bowl and whisk in sugar, oil, honey, coffee, and zest until well combined.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the honey mixture, then stir with the whisk until the batter is smooth.

Pour batter into pan (it’s liquid enough to level itself in the pan), and bake in oven until springy to the touch and a cake tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.

Let cake cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes.

Loosen cake from the pan with a thin rubber spatula, then invert cake onto the rack and cool completely.

For glaze:
Bring coconut milk and corn syrup to a simmer in a small heavy pan, stirring until combined.

Remove pan from heat and add chocolate. Let chocolate stand 1 minute, then stir until chocolate is melted and glaze is smooth.

Let glaze stand, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, but still pourable.

Transfer cake to a cake plate and slowly pour the chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. If desired, let the cake stand at room temperature until glaze is set.

Freshly glazed cake, pre-sea salt.

Just before serving, sprinkle glaze lightly with flaky sea salt, if using.

Helpful hint from Epicurious (check out their web site for other hints):

Measuring oil and honey: Both should be measured in a liquid measuring cup. The oil is listed first, because if you measure the honey in it afterward, without washing the cup, the honey will slide out easily, with barely any help needed from a rubber spatula. 

Let's Get this Bundt Cake Season Back on Track!

Sadly, I seem to be following in last season's footsteps.  But unlike last season, I have been making more bundts!  (Though there has been a two-month lull since my last bundt.  I do have plans to fix that tomorrow, however.)

Clearly, I'm not cut out to be a very good blogger.  Oh well.  Let's just see if I can get this blog back up to speed.

Hurricane Bundt

This is just a quick mini-post.  I know I still need to tell you about bundts one and two of Bundt Cake Season Five (and actually bundt three, since this isn't a full post), but this just calls for an out-of-order post.

Like many of my East Coast friends who were going to be potentially affected by Hurricane Sandy, I decided that the situation called for some baking, which in my case, meant a bundt.

Having lost power in last year's October snow storm, I figured we'd want something that didn't need refrigeration and would be easy to snack on.  I also wanted it to have some sort of redeeming nutritional value, so I decided to go with a cranberry-pecan bread, rather than a cake.

Since there was clearly going to be no glaze with this bread, it meant I could use my newer "wave" pan, as I've dubbed it.

It wasn't until I turned it out of the pan, that I realized how appropriate that pan choice was.  See for yourself.

Hmm, that shape looks familiar...

Yep, it's a hurricane-shaped bundt!

Luckily, we didn't lose power this time.  I'm crediting the bundt bread.

Bundt Cake Season Five Has Begun!

Yes, yes, I'm behind on Season Four, quelle surprise.  But, there's only one more cake in the season, so I'll get that post up eventually.  I'm hoping to turn over a new leaf with Season Five.  Also, since there were only three bundt cakes in Season Four, that may be why Season Five is the earliest starting season so far.

Anyway, here's the first bundt cake of the season, a Honey Cake with Dark Chocolate Glaze (sea salt is coming, but not yet sprinkled on the cake).  My friend, AJ, sent the recipe to me on Rosh Hashanah.   So, she gets some credit for the early start to this year's season.

Recipe and all that to follow.  Though, if you're in a hurry, you can find the recipe here:  http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/highholydays/honey-cake.

Bundt Cake #2 of BCS4: I kind of had to Frankenstein it together

A friend of mine had a birthday on November 10th, since she was turning 25 (yes, I know, so young) and had recently moved into a new place, she and her main squeeze had a party. Since she is a fan of the strawberry champagne (she also extols its virtues in a strawberry mimosa), it seemed appropriate to make her the Strawberry Champagne Celebration Cake. Because this was going to be for a party, I went for the full-size bundt this time. I also skipped the champagne buttercream, because, as I mentioned in that post, it turns out that I don't really like the stuff (buttercream frosting in general, not the champagne one specifically). I decided, instead, to make a Strawberry Champagne Glaze to go on it.

I made the cake (you can find the recipe here) and when I went to turn it out, I started getting nervous that I was going to have a repeat of the disaster of Bundt Cake #1 from this season. The first time I attempted to turn it out, only a small section came out--from just one side of the cake. I let it sit for 15 minutes and tried again, this time an almost equal-sized chunk of cake came out--this time from the other side. Remember, this was supposed to be going to a party. I was seriously starting to freak out!

If you look closely, you can see the two pieces.

And obviously, the cake still in the pan behind it.

Before I turned the cake out for the final time, I got a silicon spatula out, and ran it along the side of the bundt pan to help the cake loosen from the edges. Luckily, that worked! Then I just needed to "Frankenstein" the cake together, which I did by figuring out where the edges matched up, so when I turned it out the final time, the parts all fit together. Too bad I wasn't frosting the cake, because then I could have used the frosting to glue the pieces together. As it was, since the two pieces that came out first were flat-ish, it just kind of stayed together.

Because the cake left some of its crust, so to speak, in the pan, I decided against pouring the glaze on it, for fear it would end up soggy. So I brought it separately to be poured on individual slices.

Crysta Wilson has a recipe in Kiss My Bundt for a 7-Up glaze for her 7-Up Poundcake, so I used that recipe as my guide when making the Strawberry Champagne Glaze.

Strawberry Champagne Glaze

1/2 cup Strawberry Champagne

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (I recommend sifting the sugar, as my glaze ended up a little lumpy)

Pour the champagne into a small bowl. With a whisk, stir in the powdered sugar a 1/2 cup at a time until fully mixed.

She recommends pouring a 1/2 cup of the glaze on the cake while it's still hot (that way it will absorb some of it) and then once the cake has fully cooled, drizzling the rest on it.

As with the first, more disastrous, cake of Bundt Cake Season 4, this cake was still delicious. And since it was dark at the party, no one really noticed its Frankenstein qualities. This cake is so good! You should definitely give it a try--you don't even need to splurge on the good stuff, Andre or its like will do just fine. This cake would be especially handy if you had some leftover champagne you wanted to use up, but weren't in the mood for drinking it (for some bizarre reason).

After two problematic cakes in a row, I was seriously starting to worry about the fate of Bundt Cake Season 4!

Bundt Cake #1 of BCS4: Bundt Cake Disaster!

As you may recall, Bundt Cake Season 4 started on October 31st. The Main Squeeze and I were among hundreds of thousands of people in New England who lost power in the evening of Saturday, October 29th in a freak snow storm that brought down lots of branches and whole trees (since the snow hit so early, most of the trees still had their leaves. That, combined with the heaviness of the snow, led to the downing of trees and the breaking off of tree limbs. In fact, our back porch was damaged from a large branch hitting it). We were lucky, because our power returned by Monday morning. Once the power returned, among the many things that I wanted to do to take advantage of once again having electricity was to bake a bundt cake and get Bundt Cake Season 4 started!

Months ago, I had found a recipe on the web that I wanted to use to start BCS4, but unfortunately, I didn't have at least two key ingredients, and I wasn't about to venture to the store when it was sure to be insanely packed. So, I found another recipe whose ingredients I did have: Lemon Ginger Cake from Kiss My Bundt.

I had forgotten that I used up my baking spray, but I figured, no big deal, when I first started baking bundts, I used the old butter and flour method, I'd just do that. I don't know what happened (I'm guessing I didn't grease the pan thoroughly enough), but I had my first experience of the cake not releasing from the pan. I kept letting it sit for 15 minutes and trying to turn it out, but no go. I even tried to ease it out using a silicon spatula. I finally had to take desperate measures. I think I ultimately had to use a knife to get it out.

It wasn't pretty. In fact, I think it's safe to say it was an aesthetic disaster. See for yourself:

Well, at least it tasted delicious.

Sadly, I had made a lemon ginger syrup to pour over it, to give it a stronger ginger flavor, but clearly, a syrup would have just have made it soggy.

Did I mention that we had invited friends who were still without power over for dinner? And after all the work that went into this cake, I wasn't about to just toss it. The Main Squeeze had an excellent suggestion: serve it in bowls. Which is what I did. With the syrup on the side for folks to put on their cake as they liked.

It really was quite tasty. Since it was a fresh ginger cake, without the ingredients that would have made it more spicy (like molasses ), the ginger flavor was on the subtle side. And this was after I added more ginger than the recipe called for. I also was probably a little too generous with the lemon zest, as I think the lemon flavor dominated the ginger flavor a bit.

If you're looking for a cake with more of hint of ginger than an intense gingerbread experience, then this is the cake for you. Omit the lemon zest if you'd like just a simple, fresh ginger cake.

Ginger peeling hint: The best way to peel ginger is to use a spoon. Seriously. That way you remove just the thin skin without losing any of the delicious root.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger (I don't have a ginger grater, and my experience using a regular grater has been unsatisfactory, so I just chop it very finely.)

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup whole milk (as always, I used the 1% I had on hand)

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Add grated ginger, lemon zest, and vanilla to milk. Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.

Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about two minutes.

Slowly add the sugar. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy, about two minutes.

Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and add to batter one at a time. Then beat on medium speed for an additional two minutes.

Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mix 1/3 of the flour mixture into the wet mixture at low speed, then 1/2 of the milk, alternating until all ingredients are mixed.

Transfer batter to a cake pan that has been coated with a baker's cooking spray that includes flour. (If you are using mini bundt pans, fill them 3/4 full.)

Bake until an inserted toothpick or cake tester comes out clean--about 40 minutes for a regular-sized bundt pan.

Invert cake onto a cooling rack or serving plate. If cake resists, cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting. (HA!) If it still resists, give it another 15 minutes (double HA!).

I don't remember now what I did for the syrup, but I think I went with something like this:

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup of sugar

1-2 tablespoons of grated ginger

1-2 teaspoons of lemon zest

If you happen to have some Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, add some, that would be delicious--a couple of tablespoons, I'm guessing, would do nicely.

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly syrupy, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

If everything had turned out correctly, I would have poked holes in the cake with a skewer and poured the syrup over it.

Woohoo! I FINALLY Finished the BCS3 Posts!

Now it's on to Bundt Cake Season 4 posts! Wait until you see the first two cakes...

If you missed the last two cakes of BCS3, #16 - Cabernet Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Red Wine Glaze and #17 - "Pretty in Pink" Chiffon Cake (because I changed their post dates so they'd at least be found with their sister cakes), you can find them here and here. They were both delicious, and very different from each other. So check them out and see if you're in the mood for one or the other.

I am determined to get BCS3 wrapped up!

Sigh. We're over a month into Bundt Cake Season 4 and I still haven't finished the posts for Bundt Cake Season 3! Demerits for me. I'm officially four (yes, four!) cakes behind: two for Season 3 and two for Season 4. Also, National Bundt Cake Day went by without any recognition from me. I'd feel worse about that, but November is when all hell breaks out at work, so getting much done outside of that is really just not going to happen.

But let's try to get back on track, shall we?

BUNDT CAKE SEASON FOUR HAS BEGUN!

Yes, yes, I know I haven't wrapped up BSC3 yet, but once the power came back on (yes, I was among the hundreds of thousands of people without power thanks to the October 29th storm), I took that as a clear sign that it was time to get the Bundt Cake Season show on the road.

So, for the record, the first bundt cake of Bundt Cake Season 4 is a Lemon Ginger Cake. Recipe and analysis to follow at some point in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

An interlude between Bundt Cake Seasons

On Friday, I did a little pre-season bundting. (Yes, I know I haven't wrapped up BCS3 yet, even though it ended back in June. I still have two cakes to tell you about. I'll get to it sometime, you know, before the beginning of BCS4). The Main Squeeze and I were going to be visiting friends on Saturday and I wanted to bring the Red Velvet Mini Bundts that were so awesome from BCS3. So, I busted out my mini bundt pans and my Kiss My Bundt cookbook.

For some reason, the cakes weren't as tasty this time. The Main Squeeze and I agreed that they simply weren't chocolate-y enough. And I even added a little extra of the fancy Dutch-processed cocoa. The recipe only calls for one tablespoon, which seems like a tiny amount, but I'm sure that's what I put in last time. So, the next time I make these, I'm going to *at least* double to cocoa powder.

I didn't have time to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, so I got what I needed from the local natural food store and fancy convenience store downtown. Unfortunately, this meant only regular cream cheese for the cream cheese frosting, and I have to say that I really prefer the neufchatel, at least for this cake. The tanginess of the neufchatel works really well with the tanginess of the cake itself. If, in the future, I only have regular cream cheese, I might just cut down on the sugar and maybe put in a little buttermilk for extra tang.

In the meantime, I'm just going to sit here and be a little perplexed about the fact that although I followed the recipe the same way each time, this time they weren't as fabulous.

Go figure.

Bundt Cake #17 of Bundt Cake Season 3: "Pretty in Pink" Chiffon Cake

I'm changine the publishing date for this, the final BCS3 cake, so that it falls with the rest of the cakes from this season (like I did with the 2nd to last cake). Even though that technically throws off the order of when I wrote the posts, I think it just makes the most sense to have all the BCS3 cakes together.

I extended Bundt Cake Season 3 into June, which is well past when it normally should have ended (remember part of the reason Bundt Cake Season is a season is so that one isn't baking--especially cakes that take a long time--during the warm months of the year), because I wanted to make this cake and I needed strawberries to be in season.

I never would have thought to "bundt" this recipe, if The Food Librarian hadn't mentioned in one of her posts that when she looks at cake recipes, she asks herself if she could bundt it. That totally opened up bundt cake possibilities in my mind. Especially since this cake is supposed to be made in a tube pan, I figured a bundt pan would be a perfectly reasonable substitute. Then, I just had to wait until June, for New England's short-lived strawberry season.

This cake was delicious! I think I may be making one late bundt cake for many years to come, so that I can make this during future strawberry seasons. It's a strawberry-lemon chiffon cake (my first chiffon cake), which means it's the sort of cake you have to be careful doesn't fall on you. I don't know if my cake rose as much as it was supposed to, but the texture was light and airy, so I think it turned out well. And the flavor was amazing! Exactly what you want on an early summer day, when strawberries are in season. Oh, and did I mention it has a delightful strawberry sauce?

On quick note on making the cake. I think in an earlier post that called for separated eggs I was all, "people say that room-temperature eggs are hard to separate, but I didn't have any problems." Yeah, not this time. I lost two eggs. And this cake calls for seven egg whites! So, it pained me to waste two eggs. Speaking of which, this recipe only calls for 2 egg yolks, so I ended up tossing 5 yolks, which was incredibly difficult for a woman raised to abhor wasting food. So, if anyone has a recipe that calls for just egg yolks, please let me know! And next time I make this cake, I'm going to follow the advice this cookbook has in their angel food cake recipe, which recommends separating the eggs while they're cold, and then letting the whites come up to room temperature (because they whip up better at room temperature).

The recipe is from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large egg yolks

7 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup strained pureed fresh (or frozen) strawberries*

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel

* They recommend using a strainer to drain any excess liquid so you have a thick, smooth sauce, but I don't think I needed to do this.

Strawberry Sauce Ingredients:

(This sauce is really just sugared strawberries with lemon juice. But it's A) delicious and B) and key part of the cake.)

2 cups sliced fresh (or frozen) strawberries

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

sugar to taste

Directions:

I reversed the second and third steps so that I could beat the egg whites in my stand mixer, and then I transferred them to another bowl. Then I mixed the other ingredients in the stand mixer. But I'll give you the directions as they appear in the book, and you can figure out what method you prefer.

Preheat the oven to 325. Oil and lightly dust the cake pan with flour (I used baking spray, instead.)

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil and egg yolks--but don't mix yet.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft and foamy. Add the cream of tartar and confectioner's sugar and continue to beat until stiff by not dry. (I think I had a small issue here, so I'd recommend waiting until the egg whites are closer to stiff--not just "foamy"--before adding the sugar and cream of tartar.) Without washing the beaters, beat the flour and oil mixture at low speed. Gradually add the pureed strawberries, lemon juice, and lemon peel, beating until just blended.

With a rubber spatula, gently fold a small portion of the egg white mixture into the batter. Then in five or six additions, fold the batter into the egg whites. The batter will be light and bubbly, with some egg whites showing. (I think I may have over-mixed the batter & egg whites, so be careful of that.)

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350 and continue to bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake is well risen and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the cake bakes, combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside. Allow the sauce to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving.

When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and cool it upright in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. When the cake is cool to the touch, gently lift it onto a serving plate and cool completely.

Cut the cake into wedges with a serrated knife and serve each piece topped with a generous 1/4 of strawberry sauce, and, if you like, whipped cream. (You can see that I skipped the whipped cream. It really wasn't necessary.)

I want a slice right now!

Bundt Cake #16 of Bundt Cake Season 3: Cabernet Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Red Wine Glaze

OK. Bundt Cake Season 3 has to be wrapped up! This has gotten ridiculous. I'm going to make the publishing date for this post (and the final BCS3 one) so that they fall with the rest of the cakes from this season. Let's hope that once I get caught up on BCS4, I stay on track! Sheesh.

My Mom came to visit me in May. I had had surgery at the beginning of the month and was still in recovery mode. While she was here, I definitely wanted to make sure we made a bundt cake together. Which also meant that I got to use my new bundt pan! Wheee! I handed her the various bundt cookbooks, and after identifying a couple that she wanted to try, we decided on the Cabernet Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Glaze from Kiss My Bundt.

Originally, I thought that we'd make the cake sometime on Saturday, but we ran out of time

(what with seeing Bridesmaids and the fact that I was taking two-hour naps as part of my recovery). Luckily, her flight out on Sunday wasn't too early, so we whipped up the cake that morning. Which worked out well, because it provided the perfect opportunity to use up the leftover strawberry champagne from the previous week's Strawberry Champagne Mini Bundts by making strawberry mimosas! Doesn't everyone like to drink and bake?

This cake actually has two toppings. In addition to the delicious Blackberry Red Wine Glaze, it also calls for either a chocolate glaze or chocolate ganache. I asked my mom which she wanted to make, and she decided on the glaze. Next time, I'd definitely go for the ganache instead. In part, I think that my new bundt pan doesn't lend itself well to glazes, because the sharp ridges don't offer the glaze much to cling to. But also, the blackberry red wine glaze does a nice job of soaking into the cake a bit, but the chocolate one just kind of ran off, whereas, a ganache, which is thicker would stick better to the cake, and then you'd get the full benefit of the chocolate flavor. Also? I used maybe a third of the chocolate glaze (the rest has been sitting in my fridge forever. I keep tasting it, and it's still good, I just haven't found a use for it yet).

The cake itself was deliciously moist and chocolatey. And that Blackberry Red Wine Glaze? So delicious! I think it was my favorite thing about the cake. I should definitely find other uses for it, so I have an excuse to make it in the future.

Here's the recipe:

Cabernet Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 cups flour

3/4 cup high-fat cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs, room temperature

1 cup whole milk (I used 1% as usual, since that's what I have on hand)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon (or other dry red wine) (I used a Spanish red we had, it worked well.)

Cake directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

With the mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients to the wet, 1/2 cup at a time. Do this slowly so that the batter doesn't develop clumps. (Do not overmix.)

Combine the water and wine in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Slowly mix boiled water & wine mixture into the batter. Note: the batter will be thin.

Transfer batter to cake pan that has been coated with baker's cooking spray. Filing it 3/4 full.

Bake care until an inserted toothpick or cake tester come out clean - about 45 minutes for a regular bundt pan.

Invert cake onto a cooling rack or serving plate. If cake resists, cool in the pan for 15 minutes before trying again. If the cake still resists, cool in the pan for an additional 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting, at least an hour.

Drizzle blackberry glaze (recipe below) over the cooled chocolate cake.

Pour warm chocolate ganache or chocolate glaze (recipe below) over blackberry glazed cake.

This is the cake sans either glaze.

Blackberry Red Wine Glaze

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons seedless blackberry fruit spread or preserves

1/3 cup Cabernet Sauvignon (or other dry red wine)

Directions:

In a small saucepan, whisk wine and blackberry preserves over medium heat.

Once incorporated, bring mixture to a boil and boil for one minute (this helps thicken the glaze).

Remove from heat and let mixture cool for 3 minutes.

Spoon over chocolate cake.

Dark Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

6 ounces premium dark chocolate finely chopped or grated (I used dark chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Directions:

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter.

Remove pan from heat and mix chocolate into the butter, stirring until chocolate is completely melted.

Add corn syrup and whisk to a smooth glaze.

Let the mixture sit for 1 or 2 minutes to allow glaze to thicken slightly before drizzling over cake.