Honey & Walnut Cake {recipe} *inspired by Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton

When I attended food blogger connect a couple years ago one of the speakers talked to us about why we blogged. We were all food bloggers of a sort so besides the obvious of our shared love for food we all had different reasons.

One of my reasons I had said at the time was because I felt like it gave me a place to say what I wanted to say. However, it's never been a place where I shared anything but my love for baking and cookbooks and books. I don't talk about my personal life very much. 

My blog life slowed down as my actual life sped up. 

Blogging and baking were my escape and my way to stay creative in the hum drum of daily life. Then life threw me a few curve balls and even though things have quietened down I have struggled getting back into my blogging/baking life. 

It feels like it was a part of me that I've grown out of or that was left behind. I have tried to get back into it on different occasions, but it hasn't seemed to work very well. On top of that so much has changed. It's not just about being a blogger, it's about being a social media guru. 

Even my baking seems to be resisting me. I have attempted another bundt cake after my last disastrous attempt and once again it didn't want to come out of the pan properly. 

I can take pictures show only the good parts. But that isn't life. I used to have proper tantrums and moods about baked goods that didn't turn out how I intended. Now I think "it tastes good and who am I trying to impress?"

Me and my little family were able to enjoy a slice of cake as an afternoon treat this past weekend and that is why I bake. The cake was soft and springy and had the perfect blend of spices that goes well with a cup of coffee. 

Blogging may be on the way out as YouTube and Instagram take over the internet, but I am going to keep my little corner of the internet up because who knows what the future holds. 

Honey & Walnut Cake

125g unsalted butter, softened
140g demerara sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
90g honey (different varieties will give a different flavor)
45g walnuts, chopped
220g self rising flour, sifted
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp all spice
125ml milk

If using a bundt pan make sure you grease and flour it properly, you can use a tray bake pan or I would use a regular 8 inch square pan just be aware that baking times will be different for different pans, if using a square tins line it with baking paper and lightly grease the baking paper before starting.

Heat the oven to 180C. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the eggs a little at a time and beat until just combined in-between each addition. Mix in the vanilla and honey. Fold in the walnuts before folding in a third of the flour. (I weigh out my flour and then sift it directly into the mixing bowl.) Then mix in half of the milk. Then another half of whats left of the flour, then the rest of the milk and the last of the flour. Stir until just combined. Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Again this will vary depending on your baking pan and oven. So, after 30 minutes I would check it using the skewer test and if it's starting to brown to quickly I always place a piece of tin foil/aluminium foil over the top to stop it from browning too much.

Leave to cool in the tin for a minimum of 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely. If it's in a bundt it's pretty enough without frosting or icing, but if using a square tin I would dust icing sugar over it or use a simple icing of 500g icing sugar and a couple tablespoons of water/milk and honey.

Serve with caramel sauce, raspberry sauce, or ice cream!

It seems like there is only room for hobby at time and at the beginning of the year I set myself a reading challenge on goodreads and have already passed it and had to reset it. So, books have taken over my free time and sometimes they mention food, more specific cake! I keep note and if I get a baking bug and depending on what's in my cupboards I used that inspiration. This cake was inspired by mention of a honey cake with a caramel or raspberry sauce in Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton that was featured in July's Fairyloot box.

Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton synopsis - In the ancient river kingdom, where touch is a battlefield and bodies the instruments of war, Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood. The same women who killed her mother without a single scratch.But when Mia's father announces an alliance with the royal family, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Determined to forge her own path forward, Mia plots a daring escape, but could never predict the greatest betrayal of all: her own body. Mia possesses the very magic she has sworn to destroy.Now, as she untangles the secrets of her past, Mia must learn to trust her heart…even if it kills her.

Cake Disaster - Chocolate Orange Marble Bundt

Bundt cakes are my favorite, when they actually come out of their tins properly. It's so annoying when you have taken the time and lovingly mixed a cake and greased the bundt pan and floured it like you always have only to have the cake stick.

In fact it's infuriating.

When I tell people this they act like it's the craziest reason to be annoyed and/or angry. According to them it's just a cake. In reality that's exactly what it is, cake. But yet it's not just a cake.

You know the saying "it's not the destination, it's the journey' and that's the same for baking. It's not just about the delicious treat at the end it's about the process.

To start with there is a craving or a need to use up an ingredient or two in your cupboard, so there is a need to bake. Then it's gathering, measuring, and mixing all the ingredients in a specific order to make a smooth batter that gets poured into a tin and baked to a perfectly risen golden cake that springs back when gently prodded.

So, after all that time and effort to have your cake ruined because it didn't come out of the tin as expected it's annoying. Then if you are a blogger and like to write about these things you have this pressure that it should be perfect.

Life isn't perfect, but on the internet we like to portray it as such.

Like life this cake isn't perfect either, but it was delicious. There is a perfect balance of orange and chocolate. Because it was a marble cake it pretty much came out in half as you can see below. One half I ate as cake and the other half I made Cake Bombs - want to know more check out the following post.

Chocolate Orange Marble Bundt Cake

228g butter
300g sugar
4 large eggs, separated
340g flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 salt
160ml milk
grated zest of 1 orange
1/4 tsp orange extract (optional)
60g cocoa powder
60ml of water

Heat the oven to 170C/350F - grease the bundt pan with butter or a tasteless oil (veggie/sunflower) and sift a little flour to cover it and gently tap it out, leave to the side.

Then beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Separate the eggs, trying to leave the egg yolks in tact and then beat the egg whites into stiff peaks, leave the egg whites to the side and add the egg yolks one at a time and beat until just combined between each one.  Mix the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt together - then add 1/3 of it to the butter mixture mixing until just combined, then add half of the milk again beating until combined, then the flour, milk and lastly the flour. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Split the batter into two - add the zest and extract to one batter and gently fold in and then mix the cocoa powder and water together before adding to the other half of the batter. Alternate adding to your well greased and floured bundt pan - resist the urge to mix them together.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, using the skewer test to make sure it's cooked through. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes before inverting the bundt pan on a wire rack to cool completely - if using a proper Nordic Ware bundt pan they can take a while to cool so just leave it until cool to the touch.

As mentioned above the cake is actually delicious and worth a go. I have not tested this cake in cake pans, but it is an option, I would stick to the same oven temperature, but would vary the baking time depending on what size cake pans you use. But if it all goes wrong you can make cake bombs! Post to follow on how to make them! Because even after a cake disaster, there is always a way to turn it into a happy accident.

Apple & Elderflower Drizzle Cake

The Great British Bake Off is back! Well it was what 2 weeks ago? Every year I say I'm going to bake along with the Bake Off and every year I don't. I like baking and I enjoy the show, but I hate feeling like I have to bake something I don't want to bake just to tag along.

But every year there is that part of me that wants to tag along! I want to be apart of all the social media groups that are baking along and take part in all the competitions held by Lakeland and Dunelm and other various kitchenware companies.

I just can't get my act together. I made a drizzle cake, the one I'm about to share with you two days after the first episode! Yay great, but I'm only just blogging about it. Oops. I also had all the ingredients to make Viennese Whirls and I still have all the ingredients sitting in my cupboard. Oops again. And there is no way I'm going to prepared for this week! Bread.

However, I will be watching every week and maybe I'll be able to sort it out and actually bake something and blog it all in the same week? Although please don't hold me to it.

Apple & Elderflower Drizzle Cake

2 granny smith apples, diced
juice and zest of one lime
2 tbsp sparkling elderflower presse
300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g ground almonds
250ml sunflower oil
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs, 3 separated
1 tsp vanilla extract

Drizzle
2 tbsp sparkling elderflower presse
juice and zest of one lime
50g demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 160C and grease the bundt with butter and dust lightly with flour.
Mix the diced apples with the juice and zest of the lime along with the elderflower presse.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and almonds and leave to the side.
Beat the sunflower oil, 125g of the sugar, 1 whole egg and 3 yolks plus the vanilla until completely combined it should be lighter in color. Fold in the dry ingredients and just the juice from the apples.
In a separate bowl whisk the 3 leftover egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the leftover 125g of sugar and whisk until thick and shiny. Gently fold it into the cake batter a third at a time. Last, but not least, fold in the diced apples.
Gently pour/spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes before carefully turning the cake out of the pan gently poke holes around the cake.
Leave mixing the drizzle ingredients together until you finished the last step. You don't want the sugar dissolving in the liquid you want it to be a bit crunchy where the sugar doesn't soak all the way through. Leave to cool completely before serving!

notes: recipe is inspired from a BBC Good Food recipe found in their 2016 calendar.

Olive Oil Orange Bundt Cake

Once in a while one creates something that you know will be re-created time and time again. In a book titled Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito there exists a cake titled Mom’s Olive Oil Orange Bundt. It wasn’t originally Renato’s mom’s cake, but a French neighbor who passed along the recipe.

Then they put it in their book to share with the rest of the world or the parts of the world who read their book.

I myself was sitting around one Saturday and I decided I wanted a cake. More specifically an uncomplicated cake. Nothing fancy and show-offy just a deliciously plain cake. After looking through one of my many baking books I took this book off the shelf and found Mom’s Olive Oil Orange Bundt.

It was a matter of two things that made me settle on this cake 1. I had oranges in my fridge that were looking a bit sad, plus other cakes required me to go to the store which I didn’t want to do, which bring us right to number 2. it suited my uncomplicated need. With minimum ingredients and little effort this is one of the best cakes I have ever made.

Going full circle, there is a reason this cake has been passed around from neighbor (who knows where the neighbor acquired it) to son to us, it’s that good. The passing around of the recipe is testimony enough for it, there are no other words. I hope one day my girls will call it Mom’s Olive Oil Orange Bundt with the mom in reference to myself and then they make it and pass it along too.

Olive Oil Orange Bundt 

3 cups all purpose flour (plain flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup plain buttermilk
3/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
freshly grated zest of 2 oranges
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
confectioners' sugar (icing sugar) for dusting

Heat the oven to 350F/180C - prep the bundt pan with a little of the oil spreading around with your hand and dust lightly with flour or use a cake spray.

First mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
Using a standing mixer (paddle attachment) beat the egg yolks until they are lighter and thicker, then slowly add the sugar, I did this one tablespoon at a time, until it’s completely combined. Add the buttermilk and olive oil and beat until combined. Mix in the orange zest and vanilla. Beat in half of the flour mixture, scrap down the sides and the bottom before beating in the rest until combined.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold in one large spoon full of the egg whites into the batter. Gently and patiently! Continue to fold in the egg whites large spoon full by large spoon full. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the bundt pan halfway through. Use the skewer test to insure cake is baked through. Leave to cool in the pan until the bundt pan is cool enough to touch. Gently loosen the sides before placing a plate over the bundt and turn the cake out onto the plate. Leave to cool completely before sifting the icing sugar over the top! Enjoy!

notes: Cups are no longer hard to find in the UK and to keep the simplicity of the recipe I used cups! I bought my copy of Baked Explorations years ago - all opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page above for more information!

Apple Cinnamon Bundt

A is for Apple.

B is for Bundt

C is for Cinnamon        

This cake is as easy as A-B-C 1-2-3! The batter for this cake is a bit more like a muffin batter, because you have all the wet ingredients mixed together and the dry mixed together and then you just combine them.

I like the easy things in life especially in the chaos of everyday life. Plus a good slice of cake makes life just a little bit better too.

This cake fits both criteria.

It’s easy to make and since it’s in a bundt pan there is no need to decorate, as it’s gorgeous as is! It isn't a big secret that I don't do a lot of fancy decorating when it comes to my cakes. Probably because I have been tricked by too many pretty cakes that had no flavor!

Trust is an easy thing to lose yet, very hard to gain back. So, while I am still building up a trust in gorgeous looking cakes, I will stick to the simple and wow looking ones like these!  

It’s also a good cake, with a soft spongy texture and cinnamon apples spread through out, exactly what you need when life is being a little complicated. 

Apple Cinnamon Bundt                                      

 2-3 tart apples

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

350g sugar

250ml sunflower oil

4 eggs

60ml apple juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

500g plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

½ tsp salt

Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup bundt pan, leave aside. Peel and chop the apples into little cubes. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples and mix. Leave aside.

Heat the oven to 160C or 325F. 

Whisk the sugar and oil together in a bowl until combined and a bit sloppy looking. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. Then add the apple juice and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together before sifting into the wet ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
Spoon a third of the batter into the bundt pan, then spread half of the apples over the batter before topping it with half of the remaining batter. The apples might be a bit watery try to leave the liquid behind. Then spread the rest of the apples and top with the remaining batter before placing in the oven to bake for an hour/60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Beware that the apples may make it look greasy when doing the skewer test, but just check in a few different places.

Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning it over and taking it out of the pan.

Slice and enjoy! 

notes: This bundt was actually made for National Bundt Day, that day is November 15th. I am clearly not on top of my posting at the moment. So, here it is finally! 

Monkey Bread

No one really knows where the name for this cinnamon sugar covered bread came from. It is possible it got its name because it resembles the fruit from a monkey-puzzle tree.

Once you've tasted it you won’t really care where the name came from only where you can you get some more!

It first appeared in women magazines in the USA back in the 1950’s. It has recently become popular because of the blogging world! It seems I have quite literally seen it everywhere in the last year or so.

Therefore it was no surprise when I saw a recipe appear in Ruby Tandoh’s book Crumb. I thought it was about time I tried it out for myself.

Monkey Bread reminds me a lot of a cinnamon roll, it’s the same components just differently executed. Chopped pecans or almonds could easily be layered between the dough balls before the second rise.

It’s super easy to make, like all yeast type bakes it’s more just the time. My kitchen is particularly cool so unless I move it into the lounge to rise sometimes it feels like it takes forever to rise properly.

But it’s well worth the time invested! It is a great way to get a sugar fix!

Monkey Bread

250ml full-fat milk

400g strong white flour

7g instant dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

30g unsalted butter, softened

Gently heat the milk in a small saucepan until it’s warm to the touch. Stir the flour and yeast together, then stir in the salt. Pour in the warm milk and add the soft butter. Mix with a wooden spoon until it’s combined enough to use your hand to bring it together to form a soft dough. Very lightly dust the work surface and knead for 10 minutes. It should become elastic and have a smooth shine to it. Leave in a bowl to rise for at least an hour.

Glaze:

80g unsalted butter, melted

2 ½ tsp cinnamon

100g light brown sugar

Grease a bundt pan with some of the melted butter. If it’s not greased the bread won’t come out of the tin. Mix the cinnamon sugar with the brown sugar and leave aside in a bowl. Once the dough is raised, break into small balls the size of a walnut. Then dip in the melted butter and then the light brown sugar, before placing in a very well greased bundt pan. Don’t worry about how they are placed in the bundt pan. Once all the sugar coated dough balls are in the pan leave to rise for another hour or until doubled in size. Heat the oven to 180C and once it’s heated and the dough has risen bake for 30 minutes.

Once it’s done tip it out on to a plate immediately and only wait a few minutes until it’s cool to the touch to start ripping off pieces! 

notes: Adapted from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb, which I reviewed here.

The Bundt that started it all: Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Dotty and Dave Dalquist started Nordic Ware in 1946 from their basement in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the 1950’s they introduced America to the Bundt pan, but it wasn’t until the 1966 Pillsbury Bake Off that made them a hot commodity.

Thanks to one Ella Helfrich who entered the Bake Off with her recipe for a Tunnel of Fudge Cake baked in a Bundt pan.

The saying that no one remembers who came second isn’t exactly true. If you look at the list of winners for the Pillsbury Bake Off you won’t see Ella’s name. Because she came second, but her recipe has become somewhat famous inspiring all sorts of molten chocolate cakes.

If you caught it above that Nordic Ware was started in Minneapolis, Minnesota then you will have probably guessed I managed a visit to their factory store while with my sister in the city.

It has been up graded from a basement into a massive factory.  The store was my kind of place. It was full of any and every kitchen appliance you could ever want. I would have happily moved in. I wish I had had a bigger weight allowance for my suitcase!

Even though I didn't pick up a Bundt pan, I did pick up a copy of Classic Bundt Recipe Book that has a lot of traditional recipes including one for the Tunnel of Fudge Cake.

Originally it was made with a Pillsbury chocolate frosting powder, but they discontinued it so a ‘from scratch’ recipe was created.

Aren't we glad it was?!

I used my new traditional Bundt pan that I have never used before! I felt that it was fitting that the first time in the oven was to bake the cake that made it famous! It turned out a little lighter then I expected. It seems a bit more milk chocolaty then dark chocolaty. However it still tastes delicious! 

I have adapted it to grams from cups. When cups are used it can vary by how the individual fills said cup. So, this is how I made it.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake:

370g (1 ¾ cups) granulated sugar

256.5g (1 ¾ cups) unsalted butter, softened

6 large eggs

310g (2 cups) icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar

395g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour/all purpose flour

70g ( ¾ cups) unsweetened cocoa powder

225g (2 cups) walnuts, toasted & chopped

Heat the oven to 180C/350F, then grease (butter) and flour a 10 inch or 12 cup Bundt pan. Or use a cake release spray.

Beat the granulated sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Gently beat the eggs together and add them little by little beating well in between each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until just combined.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together in a separate bowl. Add about a third to the batter and fold in with a spatula or wooden spoon. Then repeat until all the flour is folded in. Lastly fold in the walnuts until well mixed. Spoon the batter into the Bundt and smooth it down.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is set and the cake is starting to come away from the edges. Cool in the pan for about 1 ½ hours before gently turning it out onto a stand or serving plate. Cool for at least 2 more hours or more.

Chocolate Glaze:

115g (¾ cup) icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar

30g ( ¼ cup) unsweetened cocoa

1 ½ to 2 tbsp whole milk

Sift the dry ingredients together. Then whisk in the milk until the consistency allows it to be drizzled on top!

notes: Please note that it's the nuts that make this cake work, you can substitute another nut! Find out more about Nordic Ware here! There is more on the Pillsbury Bake Off here. My favorite blog to find bundt recipes is on The Food Librarian because I like big bundts as much as she does! Don't forget to mark your calendars for the 15th of November because it's National Bundt Day!

Cookie Butter Bundt {Clandestine Cake Club}

We had a bit of a rushed Cake Club at the end of April! I am also rushing this post a little as I have been doing loads of posts for the blog every day in May challenge.

At our last club meeting I suggested a bundt theme and that’s what we went with. 

It was a great excuse to ask my husband to buy me the new-ish Nordic Ware Jubilee Bundt pan!

It was my anniversary present! Which would have been more appropriate next year if we were following traditional anniversary gifts.

Anyway I made a Cookie Butter or Specaloo or Lotus Biscuit Spread Bundt.

I wanted to make something a bit different. When I saw the recipe for a Cookie Butter Bundt on A Beautiful Bite I knew I had to try it out.

I followed her recipe exactly, which I probably shouldn't have done. The recipe must be for a 12 cup bundt pan and I know this because mine over filled. I should have known better, but I always make my cake the day of. I didn't follow it exactly as I left off the ganache because I didn't want to wreck the fun design! 

Well, it gives me another excuse, to try it again!

It was a bit dry because it took a bit longer to bake and the taste wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. However it was edible and it looked amazing! 

Here’s what the rest of the gang created!

Louise – Chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting

Clara & Fiona – Sour cream & Blueberry

Joanna – Rhubarb & Cinnamon

Claire – Lemon and Poppyseed 

notes: This cake was made for Reading, Berkshire's Clandestine Cake Club. I received the Nordic Ware Bundt Pan as a gift from my husband, he paid for it. Cookie Butter goes by many names! This is my post for day 6 of Blog Every Day in May #BEDM! 

I like Big Bundts! {Strawberry & Champagne Bundt}

It’s National Bundt Day!!

Bundt cakes are the lazy decorators (ahem… me) dream. They are already gorgeous to look at, dust with a little icing sugar or a drizzle over a glaze and you have a masterpiece!

They are also great cakes for those who don’t like frosting/icing. A bundt cake could be frosted or iced, but it really doesn't need it.

They also can be a pain to get out of the tin.... The jam I used in this recipe was too close to the top and it made the cake stick to the top of the pan. That or the preserve added too much moisture to the cake.

It's also possible that I happened to turn off the new oven while setting the time and walked off and didn't realize until half way through that is what I did! O_o

Recently nothing I make turns out exactly how I'd like it too. Not sure what's going on? Here's how I made this cake. It was edible and very tasty, just doesn't look too good.

This is the first time I have ever had an issue getting my cake out of this pan and I've used it on various occasions! I didn't use the champagne glaze as the cake was a mess and I didn't want to waste the champagne, but I gave you what I would have done had it turned out right. I also re-wrote what I would do differently next time.

Strawberry & Champagne Bundt Cake

200g unsalted butter

500g golden caster sugar

60ml sunflower oil

4 large eggs

350g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

250ml full-fat strawberry yogurt

150-200g strawberries, hulled and chopped

½ jar of Mackays Strawberry and Champagne preserve

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas4. Prepare your Bundt, I lightly grease it with sunflower oil and leave it tipped upside down to let the oil run down the sides, before adding the batter I lightly flour it and tap out the excess flour.

Cream the butter, sugar, and oil together until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs together in a jug and add the eggs gradually (fully mix before adding more egg) Sift the flour and baking powder together before adding half with the batter, fold it in and add half of the yogurt and repeat until just combined and smooth. Fold in the chopped strawberries.

Spoon a third of the batter into the bottom of the bundt, swirl in 2-3 tablespoons of the preserve, and repeat once before top with remaining batter. Bake for an hour; use the skewer test to ensure it’s cooked through. Ovens vary so check it just before the hour is up and add more time if needed.

Spoon in half of the batter then swirl in 4-5 tablespoons of the preserve and then top with the rest of the batter.

Champagne Glaze

200-250g of icing sugar

2-3 tablespoons of champagne

Mix the icing sugar and champagne together, add more or less of either depending how thick or runny you want your glaze.

Serve with a glass of champagne! Is also great with cream or whipped cream and more preserve!

Bundt cakes are usually spiced pound cakes and make a great alternative to a Christmas cake or pudding. They are also low maintenance and pretty (if you manage to get it out of the pan) they would make a great table piece!   

notes: Mackays Strawberry and Champagne Preserve was provided for me as part of there Christmas with Mackays campaign. National Bundt Day! I bought my Nordic Ware Bundt pan. For more bundts visit Mary theFood Librarian (I like Big Bundts), she’s awesome she makes a bundt everyday in the month of November! Also if you made a bundt for National Bundt Day enter it on her site!  

Dear Blog,

Happy 1^st Birthday!! 

Today dear blog you are a year old!! We’ve been through a lot!! Here are a baker's dozen of posts from the past year that we've shared together:

1. The first post: a tale of two whoopies

2. An attempt in creating Irn Bru Cupcakes

3. Where I admit I have a problem and where I make excuses for my problem! 

4. I went on bakery tours of London! One in the fall and spring! 

5. I made my husband this awesome birthday cake!! 

6. I met The David's from Outsider Tart! 

7. Really really yummy Chocolate Orange Brownies!! 

8. Name change! 

9. I like Big Bundts!! My button (pin)!! 

10. Doughnut Wars. 

11. My big hit on Pinterest Magic Marshmallow Puffs! 

12. Gingernuts with Custard Cream Filling!! 

13. Brioche, it was really good! 

There were so many yummy things made this past year! I can’t wait to look back on where this year will take us!! Love always Lisa! 

PS I forgot to mention we also joined Twitter! (@unitedcakedom) something I thought we'd never do! I think I am actually enjoying it! 

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake Bundt

1 cup sour cream (can substitute fat free sour cream or plain yogurt)

3/4  cup butter
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup white or brown sugar

for the icing:
2 cup powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
4 tbsp milk (more or less to get desired consistency)
1 tsp vanilla

- Pre-heat oven to 350 deg.
- Grease bundt pan.  If desired, dust with flour or cinnamon and sugar blend.
- Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.  Add vanilla.
- In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder.
- Add flour mixture and sour cream alternatively starting and ending with the flour mixture.
- mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
- pour 1/3 batter into pan, cover with 1/2 cinn/sugar mixture, add 1/3 batter, cinn/sugar, top with remaining batter.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 15 min before flipping out of pan.  Combine ingredients for icing and drizzle icing over cake.

mini baker with bundt!!

the first attempt: broken bundt :0(



 ~Janet aka Indiana Baker

It's here!!!

the button!



the package/enevlope



the note



brown sugar bundt with slice missing

the slice



I had so much fun taking part and baking my first ever bundt!

Getting a cool button is just the icing (or the icing sugar) on the cake!

Brown Sugar Pound Cake for National Bundt Day!!!

It’s National Bundt Day!! Mary the Food Librarian has been baking bundts every day since October 17^th in anticipation for today!! It has inspired me to make my very first bundt cake! It might have also been because I was promised a button exclaiming “I Like Big Bundts”?Check out Mary@The Food Librarian to find out more and to see her great bundts!!** 

taken from All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray* 

2 sticks (1 cup or 228g) of unsalted butter at room temp

½ cup shortening

16oz (2 ¼ cups) of light or dark brown sugar

½ cup sugar

5 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour aka plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

The author notes that you should take out your butter and eggs at least 1 hour before you start making your cake.

Pre-heat the oven to 350*F or 180*C or gas mark 4

Line your 10 inch tube pan or cake pan or bundt pan like I did! I didn’t line my bundt pan I just sprayed and floured it!

1. Cream your butter and shortening on medium speed
2. Combine your sugars
3. Then add the sugars half a cup at a time, beating 1-2 minutes in between cups
4. Add the eggs one at a time and same as before beat 1-2 mins in between
5. Dry whisk your flour and baking powder together (easier then sifting)
6. Then alternate the flour and milk (Melissa notes add 1 cup of dry ingredients for every 1/3 cup wet) on a low speed. All of us bakers know that you don’t want to add flour then mix on med/high because flour will be everywhere!!
7. Once it’s all added speed up your mixing for about a minute.
8. Add the vanilla.
9. Fold in the pecans.
10. Bake for 70 minutes. I only needed 60 minutes but I used a bundt pan not a tube pan so might be why there is a difference.
11. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and carefully flip out! 

I sprinkled mine with icing sugar! It is very tasty!!  Oh and do not skip out on the pecans... in fact I’d add more!! :0)

*That’s right I told you I had an addiction in an earlier post and like most addicts I try to hide it. So, I hid this book on my shelf hoping no one would notice. ;0)

**Pun intended!!

Note: With day light fading my pictures have to resort to indoor lighting. Boo. I apologize for the just okay pictures!!

Resource: Bundt's and Nordic Ware and Home Sense and Amazon UK and Amazon USA