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.

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! 

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!

The Human Element

I’m not very good at choosing just one thing as a favorite. If I have to choose a favorite color, flower, tree, sweet, cake, or a decade I really can’t give just one answer.

Today’s topic for Blog Every Day in May is ‘Favorite Decade.’ Some might be able to answer that quickly having something that happened in a decade that make it stands out for them.

I don't have a favorite decade. Each decade has something special about it. 

So, I thought I would focus on retro desserts instead of music, movies, fashion, or political movements – all things that define a decade.

Then I just started thinking about what actually defines a decade. There are the things I listed just there types of music and fashion and wars and other political stuff. 

We get a lot of the facts. In the 1920’s women had won the right to vote. That’s a fact. It happened, but it takes away the human part of it. What did women have to do to get that vote? How did the people feel?

Upside Down Pineapple Cakes were popular in the mid 1920’s. Why were they popular? People then didn't have access to ovens like we do today and they made cakes in skillets. Fruit on the bottom cake batter on top and when you flip it over instant upside down cake. Who used pineapples first is still unclear.

I promise I have a point to all of this and it’s that facts don’t define a decade. I can read about what people wore, what they listened to, and what they ate. But I don’t know how those people felt.

I know how I feel when I wear my comfy jeans and novelty tees and I know how I feel when I hear Timber by Pitbull featuring Ke$ha, and how I feel about the desserts and cakes I make and eat. I know I feel about the economy and how it affects all of the above.

However, I can only guess how it would have felt to be a young woman in the 1920’s having fought or not fought for the right to vote. Depending on how I felt about woman voting would then determine how I felt when I had the right to vote. 

I am for equality in all shapes and forms so I would like to think that if that was my time, my decade that I would have been one of those woman who felt strongly about woman being equal to men. Heck, we're still fighting for it. 

I can dress in vintage clothing, but it will always feel like dressing up (to me) instead of my everyday clothes. I can listen to Elvis Presley but lets be honest his music is tame to the music I grew up listening to in the 90's and naughties. I can bake pineapple upside down cakes, but I have a choice of baking it in the oven or on the stove in a skillet or even in a novelty pan that has indents for the pineapple. I take the use of an oven for granted. 

I will never know how the people of the past felt about certain things. Because their feelings were based on their environment and the social society they were a part of.

Everything changes.Yet, nothing does. People will always be people and people will always love and hate or laugh and cry ... what makes one love and hate or laugh and cry changes. 

There is a human element to every decade, to the past, that we will never fully grasp unless we lived it. 

My favorite decade(s) are the ones I have lived in and the ones I will be a part of. 

notes: This post was written for day 17 of Blog Every Day in May. Photos are from here and here. The two pans are Nordic Ware they have not sponsored this post nor do I own either of them I just thought it fit with my post. 

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! 

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