Cake Simple: Recipes for Bundt-Style Cakes from Classic Dark Chocolate to Luscious Lemon-Basil

132 Pages·2011·0.03 MB·English

by  Christie Matheson

CAKE SIMPLE
RECIPES FOR BUNDT-STYLE CAKES
from Classic Dark Chocolate to Luscious Lemon Basil
••••
BY CHRISTIE MATHESON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEX FARNUM

In loving memory of my grandmother
Betty Craven (a.k.a. Nana Banana)
••••
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Huge thanks to my wonderful editor, Amy Treadwell, who came up with this idea and
let me run with it. Thanks, also, to the extraordinary Sarah Billingsley, Vanessa Dina,
Doug Ogan, Claire Fletcher, Tera Killip, Peter Perez, David Hawk, and the rest of the
team at Chronicle Books, and to my agent and friend Stacey Glick. Enormous thanks to
Kara, Charlotte, Kelly, and Jeannine, who tasted lots of cakes and helped make my first
two years of mommyhood so delicious. Thanks to Mindy for running off the cake
calories with me and letting me turn your birthday cake into a recipe test. And thanks,
as always, to my sweet, sweet family, which now includes the bun(dt) I had in the oven
while writing this book. We’re so glad you’re here.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Chapter One
BETTER-THAN-EVER BUNDT CLASSICS
BROWN SUGAR
CRANBERRY–CRÈME FRAÎCHE
LEMON–POPPY SEED
LADY BIRD LEMON
MAPLE WALNUT
ORANGE PECAN
CHERRY ALMOND
VANILLA BEAN
YELLOW CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE
CAN’T-TELL-IT’S-VEGAN CHOCOLATE WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE
DARK CHOCOLATE
MILK CHOCOLATE
MINT CHOCOLATE
MOCHA WITH ESPRESSO HOT FUDGE
AUNT POLLY’S BIRTHDAY BUNDT
MARBLE
Chapter Two
GOOEY, SWIRLY BUNDT DECADENCE
PB&J
GINGERBREAD WITH ORANGE–CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
APPLE BUTTERSCOTCH
SALTED CARAMEL
TRIPLE–CHOCOLATE BANANA
S’MORE!
TUNNEL OF FUDGE REDUX
DIY “NUTELLA”
BOOZY CHOCOLATE BOURBON CAKE WITH DRUNKEN BOURBON
SAUCE
Chapter Three
BUNDT CAKES FOR FOOD SNOBS
FUYU PERSIMMON
LEMON BASIL
MOJITO
KUMQUAT-COCONUT WITH TARRAGON
OLIVE OIL–ROSEMARY
HONEY JALAPEñO
CORNMEAL LIME WITH CHILE
SAFFRON ALMOND
VANILLA–PINK PEPPERCORN
MEXICAN CHOCOLATE WITH SPICED DULCE DE LECHE
EARL GREY
Chapter Four
MINI BUNDTS: CUTER THAN A CUPCAKE
COCONUT MINIS
CHOCOLATE–PEANUT BUTTER MINIS
RED VELVET MINIS
CARROT MINIS WITH MAPLE–CREAM CHEESE ICING
PUMPKIN–SPICE MINIS
BROWN BUTTER MINIS
BLUEBERRY-BUTTERMILK MINIS WITH LEMON GLAZE
INDEX

INTRODUCTION
When my friends heard I was working on a cookbook about Bundt-style cakes, at first
they usually laughed and said something like Bundt cakes? Really? How retro.
••••
Well, yes. Bundt cakes are retro. They’ve been around at least since the early 1900s,
and they skyrocketed to fame in 1966, when Ella Rita Helfrich’s Tunnel of Fudge cake
took second place in Pillsbury’s biannual Bake-Off Contest. (The winner that year was a
snack bread featuring processed cheese spread and dry onion soup mix. Go figure. By
the way, there’s a grown-up version of Tunnel of Fudge (see recipe.)
Since then, Nordic Ware—the company that trademarked the Bundt pan in 1950—
has sold close to 60 million Bundt pans in the United States, which makes sense,
because these cakes are fantastic: simple, no-nonsense, and delicious. They come out of
the pan—if you butter and flour it properly—looking fabulous. You can bake one and
have a really good-looking dessert without doing another thing to dress it up.
What’s more, these circular sensations are one of the quintessential homemade
desserts. There aren’t many Bundt-style cakes in the processed food aisle or at grocery
store bakeries. If you’re going to eat dessert, it ought to be homemade and also really
flipping good. Otherwise it’s not worth it! (Those friends who laughed at me, by the
way, stopped laughing after their first bites. Then most of what I heard was requests for
more.)
Making this simple cake is also an easy way for people to try their hand at “slow
food” (that is, food made by hand, with care, using the best-quality seasonal and local
ingredients). I’m a big proponent of sustainability, and I think cake baking can be
related to the sustainability movement, if it’s done right. (Bear with me for a moment.)
Spending time in the kitchen baking from scratch teaches us a lot about what goes into
our food. I’m not saying that baking cakes is quite as impressive on that front as, say,
growing your own organic vegetables, but it’s a darn good start, especially if you take
the time to find the best-quality ingredients—local and organic whenever possible.
For some reason, the idea of using high-quality organic ingredients in baking
doesn’t get as much attention as using similar ingredients in cooking. That makes no
sense to me, because it all goes into our bodies. Our treats should be made of the best
possible stuff, just like our dinners. Opt for unbleached organic flour if you can (I like
King Arthur), and try to find organic granulated sugar and brown sugar, too. Even more
important is organic chocolate. Conventionally grown cacao wreaks havoc on the
earth’s ecosystems, because farmers destroy rainforest canopies to speed the growth of
plants by exposing them to direct sunlight and then use lots of unhealthful chemicals to
help them flourish, because they’re meant to grow more slowly in the rainforest shade.
And the most important thing you can do for yourself, the planet, and the quality of
your baked product is use organic milk, butter, yogurt, and eggs. You don’t want dairy
products loaded with hormones and chemicals, and you don’t want to support farms
using all that stuff if you can avoid it. Of course, also try to use organic fruits—
preferably when they are in season and available from nearby farms and orchards.
Okay, that’s enough of that. Thanks for paying attention. Let’s get back to cake!
••••
Baking good Bundt-style cakes requires many of the same things involved with baking
good cakes:
You don’t want to over- or underbake a cake, and so you should rely on suggested
baking times as a guide only, and keep an eye on your cake as you get close to the time
when you think it might be done because all ovens are a little different. (There’s no
need to check it constantly; in fact, opening the oven door a lot near the beginning of
baking isn’t great for the cake because you want the temperature to stay consistent.)
You should also get an oven thermometer to check how accurate your oven is.
Overmixing batter can develop the gluten in the flour too much, and can lead to
tough cakes. Undermixing, on the other hand, can cause grainy or crumbly cakes. So
once your wet and dry ingredients are combined, try to mix as much as needed and not
more. You don’t want to overbeat egg whites, either. Get them to soft or stiff peaks as
called for, but don’t keep going, or you’ll wind up with a foamy mess that won’t add
any oomph or rise to your cake.
When a recipe calls for whisking the dry ingredients (such as flour, baking powder, and
baking soda) together, it’s a good idea to do this so you distribute the leavening agents
well.
Recipes in this book generally call for butter at room temperature. This means room
temperature: softened, yes, but not melting. The butter needs to be firm enough for the
sugar to burrow into it and create tiny pockets of air. (NOTE / Most recipes in this book
give instructions for using a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar, and to mix the
rest of the batter. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use an electric hand mixer or
mix by hand with a wooden spoon, but you’ll need to add a minute or two to the mixing
time.)
There are also a few tips specific to Bundts to help you get the results you want:
BUTTER AND FLOUR THE PAN WELL It’s a huge bummer if your cake gets
stuck in the pan. This can happen, even when the surface has nonstick properties. I’ve
found the best method for buttering thoroughly is to brush the inside surface generously
with melted butter. Use a pastry brush and get into every crevice, nook, and cranny—
and don’t forget the inside tube! Then dust the pan lightly with flour (or cocoa powder
for chocolate cakes) and use the pastry brush to help distribute the flour. It will get a
little pasty as it mixes with the butter, and that’s okay. If you have piles of flour or
cocoa powder that aren’t clinging to the inside of the pan, simply tap out the excess
before you pour in the batter.