Espresso Bundt Cake

I fell pretty quickly for the brand new The Model Bakery Cookbook of which I received a review copy. Right away, the book felt like one I’d want to settle in with to do lots of baking. The sight of the big, beautiful English Muffins that greet you at the start of the Breads chapter was the first sign that I was really going to like this book. Like most of the bread recipes in the book, this one includes a pre-ferment which results in great flavor. I can’t wait to try them. A few pages later, I jumped right in and baked the Toasted Walnut and Sage Pain au Levain which makes two sourdough boules and might just be the most perfect bread ever for a turkey sandwich. And, then I discovered the Yeasted Sweets chapter. There are croissants, Danishes, Bear Claws, and the Morning Buns made with croissant dough, rolled into swirls, and covered in cinnamon-sugar that look irresistible. The recipes are classics from experienced bakers who know what works, what’s delicious, and what people love. I’m looking at the Plum Galette recipe right now and hoping I can find some perfectly ripe, dark purple plums to use for it later this week, and then I want to bake the Carmelita Bars just to try this version with walnuts. In the Cakes chapter, there’s a Sunny Lemon Cake layered with lemon curd and topped with a lemon buttercream, a Coconut Cake with coconut in the batter as well as sprinkled on the frosting, and a Carrot Cake kept simple with just shredded carrots and walnuts and nothing extra. These are all familiar treats but made in particular ways that have proven to work well. As I looked over the recipe for the Espresso Bundt Cake, call me psychic, but I sensed it would be tasty given the cup of butter and two cups of sour cream in the batter. I was absolutely correct. 

The photo in the book shows a nicely layered cake in which the espresso batter is baked into the middle of the cake with plain batter above and below. Mine ended up more marbled, but regardless, this is one delightful Bundt cake. The batter is made with butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla into which sifted cake flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt is mixed alternately with sour cream. Next, you separate a third of the batter into a second bowl and whisk some cold espresso into it. You first place half of the plain batter in a prepared Bundt pan, then the espresso batter, then the remaining plain batter. The cake bakes for almost an hour and is left to cool. I always fear cakes sticking to the ridges of a Bundt pan and butter them excessively. Thankfully, the cake slipped right out. The glaze was made with confectioners’ sugar and more cold espresso and was poured over all those pretty, Bundt ridges. 

To say this cake was a winner is a huge understatement. I always go for espresso flavor in sweets, and it was insanely good in this tender-crumbed cake and glaze. Kurt agreed and at one point asked me to cut a piece for myself so he could have the rest of the cake. I have a feeling there will be similar experiences with everything else I bake from this book. 

Espresso Bundt Cake
Recipe reprinted with publisher’s permission from The Model Bakery Cookbook. 

MAKES 12 SERVINGS 

We have customers who can’t get enough coffee. Even though Karen is a tea lover, and is rarely without a glass of iced tea within reach, we pay a lot of attention to the quality of our coffee beans and their preparation. This caffeinated Bundt cake is great any time of day, but it is especially good with a morning cup of freshly brewed coffee. 

CAKE 
1 cup/225 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan 
Unbleached all-purpose flour for the pan 
3 cups/390 g cake flour (not self-rising) 
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
1 1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/2 tsp fine sea salt 
2 cups/400 g granulated sugar 
3 large eggs, at room temperature 
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 
2 cups/480 ml sour cream, at room temperature 
1/2 cup/120 ml cold brewed espresso or Italian roast coffee (or 1 Tbsp instant espresso dissolved in 1/2 cup/120 ml boiling water) 

GLAZE 
1 cup/115 g confectioners’ sugar, sifted 
3 Tbsp brewed espresso (or 1 tsp instant espresso dissolved in 3 Tbsp boiling water), as needed 

1. TO MAKE THE CAKE: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F/180°C/gas 4. Butter the inside of a 12-cup/2.8-L fluted tube pan. Dust with all-purpose flour and tap out the excess. 

2. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl. Beat the butter and granulated sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes (or beat by hand with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating them with two equal additions of the sour cream, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, mixing until smooth. 

3. Transfer one-third of the batter to a medium bowl. Whisk in the cold espresso. Spoon half of the plain batter into the prepared pan. Top with the espresso batter, and then the remaining plain batter. Smooth the batter with a spatula. 

4. Bake until a long bamboo skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes. 

5. Run a dinner knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert and unmold onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. 

6. TO MAKE THE GLAZE: Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in enough of the espresso to make a glaze about the thickness of heavy cream. 

7. Put the cake, while still on the cooling rack, over a large plate. Drizzle the glaze over the cake, letting the excess glaze drip down the sides. Let stand until the glaze sets. The cake can be stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 3 days. 

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Pumpkin-Walnut Cake

Remember last April when the Austin Bakes group organized a big bake sale benefitting recovery efforts in Japan? Well, we’re getting the band back together again, and this time, all proceeds will benefit the Austin Community Foundation's Central Texas Wildfire Fund. This fund is providing support to agencies working in Bastrop, Steiner Ranch, Spicewood, and other parts of Central Texas affected by wildfire. The bake sale is this Saturday, October 1, from 10 am until 2 pm at six locations in Austin and one location in Round Rock, and there’s also an online giving page. With the day of the bake sale approaching quickly, I needed to test a recipe for a cake that I thought might be worthy of the event. This is a cake from the book Miette, and it caught my eye when I read the book earlier this summer. It’s an easy, bundt cake, and in the book, made-from-scratch pumpkin puree is recommended. I cheated and used organic canned pumpkin puree, and the cake was lovely. With pumpkin and walnuts involved, I expected a deliciously dense crumb, but instead, this was one of the lightest and fluffiest cakes with nuts I’ve tasted. It’s adorned with just enough chocolate ganache to make it special, but just a dusting of confectioners' sugar or even leaving it plain wouldn’t have diminished this cake.

It's a good idea to generously butter a bundt pan. To be sure the cake pops out of the pan without issues, slather plenty of softened butter into all the grooves and curves of the pan. With a well-buttered and floured pan, the batter can be started. Dry ingredients including flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt were sifted into a bowl. I combined a little whole wheat flour with mostly all-purpose for the total flour quantity. Then, in a stand mixer, eggs and sugar were mixed, and vegetable oil was slowly drizzled in while still mixing. There is a note in the recipe explaining that if canned pumpkin puree is used, some water should be added. So, the puree was combined with a quarter cup of water, and that mixture was added to the mixing bowl and incorporated. The dry ingredients were slowly added, and toasted, chopped walnuts were folded into the batter. The cake baked for 50 minutes, and I waited impatiently.

As I said, this was a delightfully tender-crumbed cake. The pumpkin puree keeps it that way, and the walnuts added flavor and crunch. The chocolate ganache was completely optional, but it was such nice, subtle added touch on top, I’ll definitely include it again next time. Due to the unanimous thumbs-up review, I’ll be baking another one of these cakes for Saturday’s bake sale.

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Bermudian Rum Cake

I’ve actually had a Bermudian rum cake in Bermuda, but I’d never made my own until now. This one is from The Greyston Bakery Cookbook. It’s similar to a holiday cake that gets soaked in a liquor-filled glaze only this is much simpler. In this case, you only apply the glaze once rather than several times over days or weeks, and the cake batter is one of the easiest ever to whisk together. The rum and orange juice and zest in the cake and the finely chopped pecans that end up coating it give it fantastic flavor before the rum glaze is even applied. Rum cakes that are soaked multiple times can end up tasting very boozy and I do quite like the taste of rum, but it’s not overwhelming here. In the glaze, the rum melds with melted butter and brown sugar into a lovely butterscotch with just a hint of rum. Soaking the cake with the glaze also extends the life of the cake. It gets better as it sits, and it lasts a few days longer than it would otherwise. To gild each serving a bit more, I whipped cream with Grand Marnier to top the cut pieces.

This simple whisked batter started with flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt being combined in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, milk, orange juice, vegetable oil, eggs, orange zest, and rum were whisked together and then added to the dry ingredients. The batter was stirred to combine and then carefully poured into a bundt pan that had been buttered and sprinkled with toasted and chopped pecans. You want to pour the batter slowly to as not to dislodge the pecans. The cake baked for about an hour, was left to cool, and was placed on a serving platter, and that’s where I learned a lesson. You should place the cake on a rimmed platter. I somehow believed that the cake would absorb every single bit of the glaze, and I foolishly chose a flat platter. The glaze was made by melting butter in a saucepan, adding sugar and water and stirring while simmering for five minutes. The rum was added off the heat. The cooled cake, on a platter with a rim, is then pierced all over with a wooden skewer before you slowly spoon the glaze over top. Most of the glaze will be absorbed, but some does collect around the base of the cake and that could work its way to the edge of a platter without a rim and dribble all over your dining room table. Whip some cream with a little sugar and Grand Marnier to serve with the cake.

The finely chopped pecans held their place on the surface of the cake and gave it some crunch, and the Grand Marnier whipped cream added more orange flavor. Certainly, a rum cake in Bermuda comes with a much better view, but this homemade rum cake was fresher, lighter, and even more delicious. Obviously, the best solution would be to pack up a homemade cake and go back for another visit to Bermuda.

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Key Lime Bundt Cake with Margarita Frosting

I’m always mentioning my CSA, but what I currently receive isn’t a share from a single farm. I’ve been receiving a box every other week from Farmhouse Delivery, and they combine produce, meat, dairy, eggs, and local artisanal products in a flexible plan. The boxes are delivered to your door, and you can choose to receive one every week rather than every other, but that would be a little too much for a two-person household. Because the items are gathered from a few different local farms, each box is filled with varied and interesting things. There's always something exciting and unexpected. A couple of weeks ago, our delivery included some key limes, and a few ideas came to mind immediately. I knew I’d seen a key lime cake I really wanted to try. After a little searching, I found it again on Cookie Madness. This is a great summer cake. It’s a sturdy but tender bundt with lots of flavor from the key lime juice and zest in the batter, and the frosting has all the basic ingredients of a good margarita.

The cake is made with cake flour which gives it a velvety texture. The dry ingredients were sifted together, and then eggs were separated. The egg whites were beaten to soft peaks in a separate bowl and set aside. The yolks were combined with softened butter, sugar, and lime zest. As usual, I used all butter here rather than a mix of butter and shortening. The dry ingredients were added to the butter mixture alternately with lime juice and sour cream. You know a cake is going to be good when sour cream’s involved. Last, the egg whites were folded into the batter, and it was poured into a prepared bundt pan. For the frosting, softened cream cheese, butter, and confectioner’s sugar were mixed, and tequila, Grand Marnier, and lime juice were added. The frosting should be thin enough to run down the sides of the cake but thick enough to hold some shape. Tasting and testing the frosting is a fun process as you can add additional lime juice, tequila, or confectioner’s sugar to achieve the margarita taste you want and the thickness that seems right.

Bundt cakes are so low-maintenance with their built-in good looks from the pan in which they’re baked and their need for just a simple drizzly frosting at the most. Add to that great flavor like key lime, and you’ve got a fantastic dessert. Getting to use some locally grown citrus in this delicious cake was a bonus for me, and well, the familiar flavor of a margarita was, you know, icing on the cake.

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