30 Days of Pumpkin-Day Four: Pumpkin Caramel Glazed Bundt

This Caramel Pumpkin Pecan Bundt from Eat 2 Gather was pure heaven on a plate.

It was rich and moist and I could have eaten that caramel glaze by the spoonful.  Maybe I did.  I'll never tell.  No one was around as a witness.  Just remember...if you're going to lick the pan, wait til it cools.  The caramel glaze is HOT!

Also, don't be like me and burn the first batch of glaze.  Burnt glaze is neither tastes nor smells any kind of good.  If you burn your glaze, don't be tempted to throw in the towel.  It's so totally worth the extra effort.


Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Bundt from Eat 2 Gather
1 c Vegetable Oil
2 c Sugar
3 Eggs
3 c Flour
2 t bakingSoda
1 t Cinnamon
1/2 t Nutmeg
1/4 t Clove
1/2 t Ginger
1 t Salt
2 c Pumpkin
1 c chop Pecans
1 recipe  Caramel Frosting
1/2 c chop pecans for garnish

Preheat to 350 F.

Combine oil and sugar in bowl. Beat til combined. add eggs one at a time.  beat on med high til light and fluffy. In med bowl combine flour., soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and salt to flour . Slowly add dry to wet. Scrape side of bowl once or twice. Continue to blend on low, when dry ingred completely incorp, grad add pumpkin, scrape sides of bowl. beat on med 1 min. Fold in 1 c chopped pecans.

Pour batter in to a well greased bundt. Bake 350 F for 50 min or til toothpick comes out clean when poked in center of cake. Allow to cool slightly before pouring Caramel Frosting over cake.

Caramel Frosting
1 stick Butter
1/2 c Br Sugar
1/4 t Salt
1 t Vanilla
2 T Milk
2 c Powdered Sugar

Melt butter, sugar, and salt together, whisk continually til butter melted and caramel is bubbly. Remove from heat whisk in vanilla and milk. Let cool for 2 min, add powdered sugar, whisk until thick and smooth. Spoon over cake.

Avast! It be National Bundt Day!

We've waited patiently all year for this day. It's finally here! NATIONAL BUNDT DAY!!!!!! This is cause for celebration people. Break out your fanciest bundt pans and that non stick spray with flour, cause it's party time!

source

 That's right Jack.  The secret ingredient in today's bundt is RUM.

Rum in the cake AND the glaze.

Yeah. You read that right.  

Rum 

in 

the 

cake

AND

 the 

glaze.

See!

 That bundt is drenched in rummy glaze-y perfection.

This glaze is probably the best glaze in the seven seas.  

It's even better than the Vanilla Caramel Glaze from yesterday.

Why?

Rum of course.

source

 Oh Jack, don't fret.  I didn't use ALL the rum making this cake.  

 There's still plenty left over for you.

You're most welcome. 

Swoon.

(You decide whether I'm swooning over the cake or the smoldering look from the pirate.)

The Bestest Rum Cake, YAR! from My Homemade Life

1 box Yellow Cake Mix

1 small box Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding

4 eggs

1/2 c. Dark Rum (I used Malibu, because I like coconut rum)

1/2 c. Vegetable Oil

1/2 c. Water

3/4 c. chopped walnuts

For Glaze:

1/4 c. Dark Rum (I used Malibu again)

1 stick butter

1 c. sugar



Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray bundt pan with baker's joy or pam with flour.  Coat that bad boy really really well.

 

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, rum, eggs, oil and water. Pour batter into pan.  Then sprinkle walnuts evenly over the top of batter. Bake 40-50 min. Baking times will vary with ovens.  Test with toothpick for done-ness.

10 min before cake is done, prepare glaze. In a small pan, over med-high, combine butter,  sugar, and rum.  Stir with wooden spoon until it comes to a soft rolling boil. Keep stirring the mixture so the sugar breaks down and is not all gritty.  Just like what you would do when making fudge. When the sugar is no longer gritty, remove the pan from the heat. 

 

Take your cake out of the oven and set your Bundt pan on a cookie sheet.  This is so the glaze won't run off onto your counter. Gently pour the rum glaze of awesomeness over the top of the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Let the cake sit for two hours.  In the meantime you can lick any remaining glaze off the spoon and out of the pan you prepared it in.  Try to wait until the pan has cooled so you don't burn yourself.

After two hours, the glaze will have set.  Use a knife to loosen any glaze from the edges of the pan.

Take out two dinner plates, or what ever you are going to serve it on.  First invert the cake on plate number 1.  Then invert the cake again on your second or fancy serving plate.  This way the glaze-iest Rummiest side is on the top. 

Slice the cake once it has cooled completely.

Try not to eat the whole damn thing in one sitting.

Autumn Spice Apple-Banana Bundt

Are you ready for it?

National Bundt Day is tomorrow!

I had big plans to make 5 bundts and post one each day this week. With Blockette and I both getting over our colds/sinus infections/bubonic plague, that just didn't happen. I did manage to make two though! One for today, so you can prepare yourself for the majesty that is Bundt Day, and one for the most honored day itself.

Today's bundt is the Spiced Apple and Banana bundt from Avarie Cooks.  This cake has two, count 'em, two different fruits in it.  No need to go to the gym people, cause this cake is so darn healthy!

Would you look at that glaze...drool drool.  It's Vanilla Caramel Glaze.  Vanilla. Caramel. Glaze.  This stuff is so good it's criminal.  I had some glaze left over and I ate that stuff right off the spoon, on sliced apples.

I want to remind you that it is a scientific fact, that if frosting enables you to eat healthy things like fruit, then the frosting itself becomes healthy as well.  What?  You didn't know that?  I bet you're glad you visited my blog today then, just for that helpful factoid.  Oh, and the recipe for this delicious cake!

The cake itself was quite moist, without being soggy or dense.  To me that says it has the perfect amount of fruit.  Don't you hate it when you make banana bread and it is so moist it's squooshy?  You don't have to worry about that with this cake. 

I liked this cake so much that I even put it on our fancy wedding china!  (You know something's special when you eat it off plates that can't go in the dishwasher.)

This cake would make a great holiday alternative to apple or pumpkin pie.  The flavors are very autumnal with the pumpkin spice, nutmeg and cloves.

 Spiced Apple And Banana Bundt from Averie Cooks
1/4 c butter, melted
1/4 c  vegetable oil
5 to 6 ounces vanilla or plain yogurt (I used 6 oz low fat sour cream)
2 large eggs
1 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 T vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
1 c mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 lg bananas)
1 c finely diced apples- about 1 med apple (If you're feeling lazy, shred it in the food processor.)
2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt, optional and to taste

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan with a cooking spray for baking that contains flour.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter, 1 min. To melted butter, add oil, yogurt, eggs, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves. Whisk til batter smooth, about 1 min  vigorous whisking. Add bananas, apples, and stir to combine. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 39-43 mi, til cake tester comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan 15 min before inverting and removing cake.

While cake is cooling, make caramel sauce. Poke approximately 25 holes in top surface of cake with a chopstick. The holes will allow the glaze to seep into the cake’s interior.
 

Vanilla Caramel Glaze Makes about 1 c  glaze, enough to generously glaze the cake
1/4 c butter, melted
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T milk
1 T vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups+ confectioners’ sugar, sifted (must be sifted)

Note: This is a fast moving recipe; have everything in place before you begin.

In sm saucepan, melt butter over med-high. To butter, add br sugar and bring to boil, stirring  continuously. Allow to boil rapidly 2 min, stirring continuously. Remove pan from burner, allow it to cool 1 min, add cream, taking caution because mixture could bubble vigorously. Whisk aggressively to incorporate cream and calm bubbling.

After bubbling has subsided, add vanilla and whisk to combine, using caution because the alcohol in the extract could cause mixture to bubble up again. Add  sugar 1/2 c at a time, until desired sauce consistency is reached. Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set up for a few minutes if desired; or slice and serve immediately.

Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. If there is extra unused glaze, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month; gently reheat it in the microwave prior to glazing another dessert.

Baby Bundt Fail

Oh how I wanted these little baby bundts to turn out. It seems like I'm either hit or miss with bundts.  When they turn out, they are something spectacular.  My successful bundt posts have even gotten the most traffic on my blog.  Unfortunately, these pumpkin spice pudding bundts from Nutmeg Nanny fell into that "miss" category. 

These mini bundts are made from are a very simple cheater cake recipe that uses cake and pudding mixes.  Sounds pretty righteous eh?  It should have been.  I mixed up all the batter and put it into my mini bund pan.

Everything is looking fine right?  Mini bundts filled 3/4 to the top.  But wait!  The recipe says that it should yield 12 mini bundts.  Uh oh.  The Nutmeg Nanny must have a different size bundt pan than I do.

No problem though.  Right?  So I'll just cook these little guys for a bit longer than the recipe says.  And sure enough, after 25 minutes, a toothpick came out clean.  So out of the oven they came.

Here's where a picture would have been great.  I thought I'd taken one, but alas.  The little bundts came out of the oven domed over the top of the pan. Woah.  They mega rose!  Maybe I filled them up too much.  But wait, as you can see in the above picture, I filled them 3/4 full.

The recipe didn't say that they needed to cool in the pan for any specified time, so after about 5 minutes I began to freak that they might decide to stick to the pan. I turned these little cakes out onto a cooling rack like I would any muffin or cake.  Ten minutes later I had this:

Wha'happen?!!!!

Nice little cakie cake went splat.

Here's a slightly better picture with my hand for scale (and my daughter photobombing in the corner.)

I wish I knew what I did wrong.

How did they taste?  Meh.  I made a cinnamon glaze for them and it never set up.  (Maybe dessert was just doomed the day I made this.)  I think the runny cinnamon glaze was probably the best part. 

As I am my own worst critic, I hated them.  Mrblocko said it was good, just not his favorite dessert ever, and that I make lots of other things he likes better.  I'm pretty sure he was just being nice.  Now Blockette?  She thought this was the best dessert ever on the planet/history of time.  At least someone was over the moon about them!

Pumpkin Pudding Bundt from Nutmeg Nanny
1  Jiffy yellow cake mix (9oz.)
1 Jello Pumpkin Spice instant pudding mix (3.4oz.)
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1/2 C. water
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. In bowl add dry ingredients. Whisk together. Add rest of ingredients and mix until combined. Generously spray your mini-tube pan. Fill each cup and bake for 15 – 20 min until done.

Gollum's Chocolate Cheesecake Bundt

Chocolate, bundt AND cheesecake?  Aw yeahs, the Holy Trinity of Desserts.  Now this is how you celebrate National Bundt Day.  I'm not gonna let that potato bundt of doom get me down.  No sirree.  Gotta get right back on the horse. I found this gem of a recipe for chocolate cheesecake tunnel cake over at Barbara Bakes.

The whole time I was making this cake I kept thinking about Gollum talking to himself/Smeagol in the movie Lord of the Rings:Two Towers. You know, the part where he says "Up, up, up, up the stairs we go. And then we come to the tunnel."  But he says the word "tunnel" in this creepy crazy voice. 

You know that I couldn't stop saying "And then...a tunnel" as I was pouring the cheesecake batter over the chocolatey goodness of the cake batter.  My husband may or may not have had to tell me "to shut up already"...more than once.

Here is the finished product:

And then...the tunnel.  Hehehe.  Sorry.  Couldn't help myself.

Anyhow, back to the cake. This was the first time I used the zip bag technique for drizzling chocolate. I've been too lazy to do it in the past. I mean it's messy work pouring the chocolate into the bag. I thought, "Why do all that work when you can just drizzle it on with a fork?" Well, let me tell you. Because even if it is messy to get the chocolate into the zip bag, it is loads less messy drizzing the chocolate when it's in that bag.  AND the finished product looks so much nicer.  So don't be lazy like me.  Use the zip bag and have a perty cake.

Oh! So how did the bundt taste?  Fantastic.  The cake base was made with a mix, but the sour cream and extra eggs make the cake so moist and light.  The ratio of cheesecake to chocolate cake was just right. Even Mrblocko and Blockette who really don't care for cheesecake thought the dessert was scrumptious.

One final note:  The regular sized chips didn't get very evenly distributed within the cheesecake tunnel.  I'm sure that this problem can be solved easily by using mini chips though.

Chocolate Cheesecake Tunnel Cake from Barbara Bakes
For the cake:
1 Chocolate Fudge cake mix with pudding in the mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 T. milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

For the cake: Place cake mix, sour cream, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with  electric mixer on low for 1 min. Stop machine and scrape down sides of bowl. Beat 2-3 min til combined. Pour 2/3 batter in a greased and floured 12 c bundt pan. Mix filling ingredients. Spread filling over batter and top with remaining batter. Bake 45-55 min til cake springs back when lightly pressed and is starting to pull away from sides of pan.  Cool on wire rack for 20 min, invert it onto a rack and cool 20 min more.

For the glaze: combine chocolate chips and milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until  chocolate melted and mix has thickened slightly, 1-2 min.

Place cake on a serving platter and drizzle warm glaze over it. Melt chips with milk in microwave, put glaze in a Ziploc, cut corner and drizzle it over cake.

You say "Potato." I say "What the...?"

You may or may not know that National Bundt Day is on Nov 15.  Every year Mary the Food Librarian hosts "I Like Big Bundts."  This is the third year in a row where she has made a bundt every day for a month leading up to Nov 15.  This year I didn't want to leave the celebratory baking to the very last minute, so I made a bundt a little early. 

I scoured the interwebs for a suitable recipe to try out.  I settled on the chocolate potato bundt cake from La Receta de la Felicidad.  I thought a cake with potato in it was very intriguing.  A few years ago I tried a recipe for Homemade Almond Joys that contained potatoes.  They turned out super yummy.  I figured, if potato plays nice with coconut, why wouldn't it with chocolate cake?

Why indeed.  I mixed everything up and popped that bad boy in the oven. I peeked in at my creation half way through it's allotted cooking time...things were not looking good.  The cake had barely risen.  I called my dear loving husband to vent my frustrations.  When I told Mrblocko my cooking woes he started singing "My bundt's not risin'" to the tune of Jim Morrison's Mojo Risin'.  Yeah.  Thanks a lot.  It was really helpful.  Especially since I couldn't dislodge that song from my brain for the rest of the day.

This is what I pulled out of the oven after 30 minutes:

The cake should be to the top of the bundt pan.  NOT half way up.  I tested it with a toothpick in hopes that a few more minutes in the oven would magically make the cake rise.  Nope.  That toothpick had zero crumbs on it.  The cake was done.

I let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes before I turned it out onto a cooling rack.  The cake fell even more. This was not a "Big bundt".  Oh baby's got back...just not in the good old Sir Mix a Lot way.  "She's a brick house" is more accurate.

I had flashbacks of my Horrible Zebra Bundt Mishap at the end of last year.  That cake was so oily you could wring it out and make french fries with the drippings.  At least I didn't have that problem this time.

I cut a slice off to test it out.  Maybe it would be ok, even it if was dense.  Look how tiny that slice is in my hand!  I took a bite of my teeny tiny itty bitty brick bundt. Rest assured, I didn't break any teeth, but...

There was something that didnt dawn on me until I tested the cake...there is only 3/4 c powdered sugar in this cake.  That is not enough sugar for a whole cake.  Cake is supposed to be sweet.  Or did I miss the memo where they changed that?

At first  I thought something must have gone wrong when the author made the conversions for the English version of the recipe. I looked up how many grams of powdered sugar make up a cup and several sites said 200 grams.  So...3/4 c for 150 grams of powdered sugar seems to be the right amount.  I looked back in my blog archives and every cake that I've made contains at least 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar. 

Bundt cakes, unless specifically intended to be savory, (like this Pizza Frittata Bundt,) should be sweet enough on their own to not NEED frosting.  You only really frost or glaze a bundt when you want to take it over the top with sweetness.

At this point I didn't feel like wasting more butter/chocolate to make frosting/ganache that might not even make the cake more palatable.  So I reached for the next best thing...Nutella.  Aha!  The cake actually tasted good.  Viva Nutella!  Your powers of awesomeness are awesome!

My crazy daughter loved this cake.  Even plain.  Without Nutella.  Reason# 5467 why she is an alien from another planet.  Child, I will never understand you.  You don't like mushrooms or black beans, but you like cake that is not even remotely sweet?  Sigh.  When your people come to take over the planet, tell them to be kind to me OK?

So the million dollar question is why didn't my cake rise? It hasn't been overly dry or humid out.  The recipe on the blog looks like it rose perfectly.  I can't figure out what I did wrong. 

Zebra Trash Cake of Doom

I got this recipe for zebra bundt cake from Bake Me Away. It was one of the cakes featured on The Food Librarian's Big Bundts 2 Round Up. When I saw it, I knew it was going to get bumped up to the top of my to do list. Besides, the recipe was from King Arthur Flour so it's gotta be good. Right? Um no.

It was dreadfully, awfully, horribly, sickeningly disgusting.

I thought that making a red and green version would be super cool and festive to take to a Christmas party. As you can see...the Red and the Green just did not jive well together. I think it would only be festive if one was celebrating the Feast of St. Grossington from Pukingshire. Aside from the atrocious color palate, the cake itself was unpleasant. When I took it out of the oven there was oil bubbling up from the top. Lots of oil. I thought, well maybe it is supposed to be that way. No. No. No.

After letting the cake sit for 20 minutes the darn thing fell. And when I say fell I mean it jumped off of the Willis Building. It was half as tall as what it was when it first came out of the oven. Not a good sign. I mean it's not a good sign unless you like cake so dense it has it's own gravitational pull.

The one good thing about this cake is that it came out of the bundt pan like a dream. Well it should...with all that oil. You can see how shiny the cake is in the picture above. That shine isn't from my camera flash. It's oil.

Once I had resigned myself to the fact that I was indeed not bringing this cake to share with my friends, I decided to at least test a slice. Maybe if I covered it with white chocolate glaze it would be ok for us to eat at home. I cut the smallest sliver and split it with Mrblocko.
After one bite he looked and me and said, "It tastes.."
"Disgusting?" I offered.
"Yes!" He concurred, and we promptly spit our offending mouthfuls into the garbage.

Since I was already throwing this bad boy out, I thought I would cut up the cake to see what the zebra stripes looked like.
Meh. Ugly and undefined. On the upside it was fun to take a slice of cake and mash it in my fist and watch all the oil ooze out onto my hands.

It broke my heart to toss an entire cake into the trash. This was, however, the first time I made something that was completely unsalvageable. I've made a lot of desserts that have turned out just fine. I've also made a lot of mistakes in the kitchen. I think it's pretty sweet odds to say that there was only one thing that I made that I haven't been able to turn into something edible.

One final note to emphasize that this cake was just not meant to be...the next day, when I went to use the heavy cream that I had intended to use for the glaze, the darn cream had curdled. Then, I proceeded to dump said container of chunky cream all over the counter. Talk about the cake of doom!!!!

Zebra Bundt Cake from Bake me Away
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (whole, 2% or 1%)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted to remove lumps

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. On low speed, blend in the milk, oil, and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until the lumps are gone. Remove 3 cups of the batter and pour into a 4 cup measuring cup (see note above). Add the sifted cocoa powder and mix very thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350F. Lube your bundt pan generously with Pam with flour or Baker’s Joy. At the base of the bundt (point closest to you), spoon about 3 tablespoons of the vanilla batter in one spot (it will spread). Then spoon about 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla batter. Continue alternating batters like this until you run out of batter. It will spread and fill out the rest of the pan while keeping this pattern. Bake the bundt for about 45 – 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the bundt cool for about 20 minutes in the pan, then invert it onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

Insert "Squeee" Here

I got quoted by The Food Librarian on her "I Like Big Bundts 2 Round up."

See her post HERE.

I'm feeling giddy, like I've had some sort of brush with fame. I'm just about as excited as the time when my mom and I were eating at a restaurant and we realized we were sitting behind Pat Morita.

Guess it pays to question someone's sanity. I maintain that Mary the Librarian is crazy in all the right ways. I hope she keeps on in her lack of mental instability, cause I like these month long culinary journies through bundt-ville.

Little in the Middle

Happy National Bundt Day 2010! That crazy lady over at The Food Librarian has taken it upon herself to make yet another 30 days of Bundt cakes to celebrate the joyous occasion. Click here to see all her fabulous concoctions for "I Like Big Bundts -2".

Last year I made a Vanilla Halloween Candy Bundt cake for "NBD." We literally had Halloween candy up the bundt. This year Blockette was more interested in having her friend from school come over and play that she came back with a tiny haul. I mean the kid didn't even bring home a single Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Didn't she know she was supposed to go out until she brought one home for her loving mother??? Kids these days.

So, what did I make to honor the festive occasion this year? While I do like big bundts, (I cannot lie, ) I got a mini bundt pan for Christmas last year and I had not yet gotten around to using it. If you can't break in your bundt pan for "NBD" when can you?

Awww look at that lil cutie. Lil bundt cakes totally rock. There is nothing like sitting down and eating a whole cake all by yourself without the unfortunate side effects of actually consuming an entire full scale cake. It's especially cool when you are five. OK. Yeah. Alright. Who am I kidding? It's just as cool when you are 35.

The Cinnamon tea cakes recipe can be found over at Technicolor Kitchen. This site is great because the author is nice enough to include crazy American measurements on the English version of her Blog. I love not having to convert things from metric, because, like Barbie says, "Math is Hard." No, really it's because I'm lazy. Really lazy.

I would like to clarify that the brown on top of the buntlettes is not because I burned the wee fellas. It is brown sugar and cinnamon. I didn't coat the tops as evenly as I would have liked. I was a bit rushed as all the things I made for dinner last night got done cooking at exactly the same time. While the cakes don't look so spectacular they were pretty tasty in their messy cinnamon and brown sugar attire.

This recipe was the first time I ever had to beat eggs to get them to form stiff peaks. I think I did it right, but how would I know if I did it wrong? The batter was fairly thin by the time I added all the ingredients. The cakes did fluff up and rise nicely. They were also moist and airy. I think if I had screwed up somewhere the bundts would have been akin to bricks.

I thought the cakes tasted a bit eggy. Mrblocko agreed, but didn't notice until I pointed it out. I like eggs so it wasn't a deal breaker for me. If this flavor was a negative for anyone, a drizzle of dulce de leche could hide any eggy elements and no one would be the wiser. I may do just that tonight when I wolf down another cake, not because I didn't like the taste of the cake. I just like dulce de leche and feel guilty eating it by the spoonful.

One more thing...the recipe mentions a cooking time of 35 minutes. That may be a good time for cooking a full size cake, but my mini bundts were done after only 15 minutes.


Cinnamon tea cakes from Technicolor Kitchen
2 eggs, separated
1 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons caster sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
¼ cup  unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon topping:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons  unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350°F; butter two 6" round cake pans, line the bottoms with baking paper and butter paper*.  Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar til thick and glossy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well to combine. Gradually add milk then flour, baking powder, butter and vanilla. Beat til smooth. Divide mix between prepared pans and bake 35 min til cooked when tested with a skewer. Turn out onto wire racks.
In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. While cakes are still hot, brush with  butter and dust with combined brown sugar and cinnamon.

* I halved the recipe and used four 1-cup (240ml) capacity mini bundt pans; I generously buttered the pans and unmolded the cakes right after taking them out of the oven;

Pantry Bundt

I had really high hopes for Kitchen Koala's Pantry Raid Bundt. I got the recipe for the rockin Apple butter bundt from the same blogger. Maybe I set the bar a little high, but I was not completely thrilled with how the cake turned out.

This recipe consists of a Devil's Food Cake Mix and a Brownie mix. So, while the recipe was very inexpensive and super quick to whip up, my cake was extremely dry. Because I didn't have a 15 cup bundt pan, I made a 12 cup bundt and 5 mini bundts. I watched the cakes very diligently because I did not want them to get dried out. The mini bundts took a little less than 15 minutes and the full size cake took around 50 minutes.

The weird thing was that the cakes looked very moist when they came out of the oven. They looked so moist in fact, that I was a little unsure if I had cooked them all the way. I don't know why, but once they cooled, they lost their spongy-ness.

Luckily, that problem was solved with a big old scoop of ice cream. The cake was still quite edible and vanished, although not as quickly as it would have if it had been a moist cake. Will I make this cake again? Probably not. If I'm going to make a box mix bundt, I'll just use a box mix and skip the brownie mix addition.

Pantry Raid Bundt from Kitchen Koala
box (18.25 oz.) Devil's Food cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare
1 box Brownie mix (9x13" pan size), plus ingredients called for on box

Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously grease a 15-cup Bundt pan. If you only have a 12-cup pan, use extra batter to make a layer cake or cupcakes. In a very large mixing bowl, stir together dry cake mix and brownie mix. Add eggs, oil, and water (amounts needed depend on brand--check the packages). Mix on low speed to moisten. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Mix batter on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into prepared Bundt pan. Bake at 325° for 55-65 min, til cake tests done. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 15 min, then invert onto serving platter to finish cooling.

Apple Butter Bundt

This apple butter bundt from Fuzzy Koala's Caketastic Adventures was made a few weeks ago for a Christmas party. I was so busy making Christmas cookies that I forgot to write about this cake.

Sweet sassy molassy was this a tasty cake. I accidentally grabbed spiced apple butter at the grocery store, but that just added to the deliciousness. If I could make mistakes like that everyday what a scrumptious world we'd be living in.

Fuzzy Koala said that she thought there should have been more apples. I took her lead and used a large granny smith apple instead of a small one. Next time, I will use 2 large apples. One apple, even though it was a large one, just didn't pack enough of an apple punch. Hopefully, this won't make the cake too moist.

I don't know what Fuzzy Koala did, but my glaze was super thick. I think I may have needed to use a tablespoon of shortening instead of a teaspoon and a half. Because the glaze was thick and stringy on top of the cake, once it was cut it sort of flaked off the edges of the sliced piece. We all sort of fought over the flaked off bits. OK, I fought over them. I'm greedy like that. (Don't worry I did it in the true spirit of Christmas...gimme!)

There were only a few slices left over which we were forced to take home with us from the party. I shared them with Blockette. After one bite she closed her eyes and said, "Mommy you gotta make this again." I sure will!

Apple Butter Bundt from Fuzzy Koala
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ c. butter, softened
⅔ cup + 2 Tbl. sugar
2 eggs
⅓ cup sour cream
1 cup apple butter
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped (I was a somewhat disappointed with the cake:apple raio. Should have used 2 apples, or one big one.)

Glaze:
⅔ cup cinnamon chips
1½ tsp. vegetable shortening

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; set aside. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine sour cream and apple butter. Add to sugar mixture alternately with flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Fold in chopped apple. Spoon into prepared Bundt pan, smoothing batter with a spatula. Bake at 325°F for 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire rack or serving platter to finish cooling. Top with glaze.

Cinnamon chip glaze: Place the cinnamon chips and the shortening in a small glass bowl in the microwave on high power. Heat until the chips have just melted, 30-45 seconds. Remove the bowl from the oven and stir the glaze until it is smooth. Or melt the chips and shortening in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Pour glaze over cooled Bundt cake.

Tiramisu Bundt

We went to a Christmas party last weekend and we were told to bring dessert. I gave Mrblocko a choice of several different bars, cakes and pies. This was his choice: Tiramisu Bundt with Mascarpone Kahlua Frosting.

On the left is the unfrosted cake. No pan stickage! Hooray for Pam with Flour! Never before would I get such a clean release from the pan by greasing and flouring the old fashioned way. The right side is obviously the frosted side. I thought it looked a bit boring so I tossed on a few mini semi sweet chocolate chips to add some visual interest.


I've never used mascarpone cheese before. I wasn't even sure I'd like it. Most people pronounce it Mar- ska - pone. I've been mispronouncing it for years. Its actually Mass- car-pone. I didn't find that out until I was trying to find out what Mascarpone actually was. I wasn't sure if it was a cheese or a cream. I found out from here that it's actually a cheese that is creamy and spreadable like butter.
The website also tells you how to make your own Mascarpone. It also provides a listing of where the cheese is sold in your state. If that isn't good enough for you, or the cheese proves to be cost prohibitive/you don't have the time or inclination to make the real thing, the website also provides recipes for similar tasting substitutes. Luckily, I found Mascarpone easily at Meijers and it was cheaper than I thought it was going to be. Yay me!
Holy cow. The frosting was bloody brilliant. There was a small amount left over from frosting the cake and Mrblocko and I ate it on Ritz crackers. I have enough Mascarpone cheese left to make another batch of frosting. I'm seriously tempted to make another batch. I probably would if I wasn't already swimming in Christmas cookies and candies.

I wasn't entirely pleased with the cake itself. The Kahlua and coffee flavored layers were a bit of a disappointment. I expected them to stand out more from the unflavored part of the cake. Instead, they both sort of floated up to the top where it was hard to distinguish them from the brown of the baked top of the cake. I thought they were a bit gummy as well. I'm not ashamed to admit that I ate the unflavored parts and scraped the frosting off the top.
The hostess of the party told everyone to bring desserts. Only three people wound up having a slice of this cake, so there was a plethora of leftovers. Even with us Blockos munching on the cake the rest of the weekend, there was still just over half a cake left. Mrblocko gladly took the remaining cake with him to work where it was met with rave reviews.

His co-workers really hit the jackpot because this cake seemed to improve with age. I think they got to eat the cake when it was at it's best. I don't know if that is true just for this particular bundt cake, or for all bundt cakes. I have to make another cake this weekend, so I'll test out that theory by baking that cake a day in advance.

Would I make this cake again? Probably not, but I'll definitely make this frosting again.

Tiramisu bundt cake with Kahlua Mascarpone Frosting from Taste and See
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup espresso or very strong coffee
1/4 cup Kahlua

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk into the bowl, ending with an addition of flour, and mixing just until everything is incorporated. Remove 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Remove another cup of batter into a second small bowl. Add espresso to one of the small bowls and whisk until well-combined. Add Kahlua to the second small bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour half of the plain batter into the bundt pan and spread into an even layer. Pour the Kahlua batter into an even layer on top of the plain batter. Pour espresso batter on top of Kahlua batter. These batters may be slightly thinner, but do not mix or stir them. Carefully spread all remaining plain batter into the bundt pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


Kahlua Mascarpone Frosting
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
4-ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup Kahlua
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat at medium-high speed until very smooth and fluffy. Use a butter knife or spatula to apply the frosting to the bundt in a thick, even layer.

O.M.G. Becky, look at her Bundt

How did you celebrate National Bundt day???? Did you even know Nov 15 was National Bundt day? I would not have been thusly informed, were it not for the Food Librarian's I Like Big Bundts: 30 Days of Bundt Cakes. Really, how complete was my life not knowing this...not very I'd say.

Now that the Food Librarian's 30 Days of Bundt Cakes is over, I must admit I'm a bit sad. I really looked forward to a daily bundt recipe. I think she is enough of a bundt freak that she'll be making more in the not so distant future. At least I hope she didn't burn herself out completely. That would be a travesty. Maybe if she becomes the anti bundt queen she'll send me some of her swanky bundt pans. I totally have bundt pan envy. I mentioned a while ago I had chopped up a cup and a half of Halloween candy with the intention of using it in a bundt cake. Blockette has been eyeballing that container of candy bits every time she is in the kitchen. Whenever I would start moving and clanking around in the kitchen, she would ask if I was going to make the candy cake. I figured it was time to end Blockette's suspense. Besides, I couldn't let a mega holiday like National Bundt Day go by without paying due homage.

The recipe I used was Vanilla Bundt Cake with Halloween Candy Bits from Natalie's Killer Cuisine. The cake itself was a bit dry and on the dense side. This may have been because the batter was not mixed properly. Blockette has a creaping nose crud cold and I had to keep putting the hand mixer down to blow her nose. (Don't worry. I washed my hands at least once during the baking process. Mmmm mucus cake!)

There is also a possibility that I baked the cake too long and that was why the cake wasn't as moist as I would have liked. The recipe suggested baking between 30-50 minutes. I baked this bundt for 45 minutes. I checked the cake at 30 minutes and it was quite jiggly in the middle. I set the timer for another 15 minutes. I bet the cake would have been better if I took it out at 40 minutes.

I don't know that I"ll try this recipe again. I came across 2 other candy bar bundt recipes that I'll give a test drive once we are overloaded with candy again. I'll post links to them later in the week, along with several other recipes that call for leftover Halloween candy.

I sprayed the bejeezus out of the pan with Pam with flour. When I thought there was enough I gave it another coat. I also sprayed the pan immediately before pouring in the batter. There was only minor stickage in 3 spots when I unmolded the cake. I was able to stick them back on cake. The top of the cake is so mottled looking from all the different candies that the minor patchwork is not noticeable.

Also, if you take a good look at the picture above, the cake is sitting on a cooling rack. For some reason I turned the cake onto a cooling rack instead of a plate. That was not a brilliant move. I very carefully cut a few slices from the cake while it was on the rack and then moved it to a plate. I tried to move it to a plate before I cut into it, but the darn thing started to crack. Hopefully, I'll remember not to do that with the next bundt I make.

One more thing, this is the first cake I made from scratch. I usually just wimp out and use the mix from a box. I was feeling pretty special making a cake from scratch until I found out that Mrblocko had made a cake from scratch before we met. At least when I made my first cake from scratch I didn't use a tablespoon of salt when the recipe called for a teaspoon!!!!

Vanilla Bundt Cake with Halloween Candy from Natalie's Killer Cuisine
1 stick Butter, room temperature
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg, room temperature
2 Egg Whites, room temperature
3/4 cup Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup Halloween Candy, chopped

preheat oven to 350 degrees Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg/egg whites and mix until fully combined. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking power and salt. Set aside. Add the milk and vanilla extract to the egg moisture, mix until fully combined. The mixture may look curdled, don’t worry it’s not. Add your dry ingredients and mix until just fully combined. Chop up your candy ahead of time and add the candy bits to the cake batter and fold until combined. Pour in a prepared bundt pan and bake 40 minutes. Top with powdered sugar.

Go out and buy a dozen eggs

OK. Seriously. You have to make this pizza frittata. It is so delicious and easy. Making a regular frittata is simple. A Frittata is basically an omlette you start on the stove, but finish in the oven. In this version you stick everything in a bundt pan and all the cooking is done in the oven.
It does taste sort of pizza-y. Enough so that the Blockette ate all her dinner with minimal fuss last night. She is even excited about eating the leftovers for dinner tonight. Yeah, excited about leftovers. I don't think you could ask for a better review than that.

Baked Pizza Frittata from Foodie with Family
12 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
15-20 slices of thin pepperoni
2 cups shredded or finely diced mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Marinara sauce, for serving

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Generously grease a bundt pan.  Evenly distribute the pepperoni slices across the bottom of the pan. Set aside. Crack all eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk lightly.  Set aside. Whisk flour, baking powder and 1/8 t salt in a med bowl.  Whisk milk into flour mix til smooth.  Add flour/milk mix to eggs along with Italian seasonings, basil, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper and whisk til smooth.  Stir in cheese. Pour egg mix over pepperoni. It doesn’t if pepperoni comes up from the bottom of the pan.  Try to keep it evenly distributed through the egg mix. Place bundt pan on the center rack and bake 45 min til nicely browned and the frittata springs back when pressed gently.  Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 min before turning out onto a cutting board. Slice into thick wedges and serve with marinara sauce. This is fantastic, hot, cold or anywhere in between.