Archive for: bundt cake
All kinds of citrus are in season during the winter, and my orange trees seem to be producing a bumper crop this year. I don’t usually need any excuses to bake with citrus, but all those fresh oranges are giving me many reasons to do so! This Orange Bundt Cake is a great way to put a bunch of oranges to good use. The cake has a simple name, but it has a lot of orange flavor to it thanks to fresh orange juice, orange zest and a topping of a little orange glaze that finishes it off.
This Orange Bundt Cake is for anyone who loves citrus, but if you are a fan of oranges in general, it just might become a new favorite. All of that orange gives the cake a bright, sweet flavor that will be a bright spot on a cold winter day. It also makes a very nice change of pace from lemon baked goods, since lemons are a citrus fruit that get a little more use in cakes than oranges usually do. Fresh oranges and fresh orange juice are definitely going to give you the best flavor in this cake (the fresh orange zest is particularly important), so take advantage of citrus in season – although you can certainly find oranges all year round – to use the real thing to bake this cake. I used a mixture of blood oranges and navel oranges in this particular cake, but any sweet, ripe oranges will do the trick.
The cake has a very soft, tight crumb and has a texture that is similar to pound cake, although this cake is a little lighter and less dense than a typical pound cake might be. I used a combination of butter and oil, which gives the cake a great flavor and really keeps it moist. The cake stores very well and will stay fresh for quite a few days after baking, especially if it is stored well-wrapped or in an airtight container.
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While I never tire of making banana bread when I have too many bananas ripening in my kitchen, there are times when I want something a little more dessert-like from my bananas. Banana cakes are just as easy to make as banana breads are, but typically have a finer texture and end up being a little bit sweeter than their quickbread counterparts. This Banana Buttermilk Pound Cake is one of my new go-to banana cake recipes. It’s a beautiful bundt cake that is packed with plenty of mashed bananas, but is a little bit lighter and sweeter than your average banana bread
Pound cakes are known for being dense, buttery cakes that have a tight, tender crumb and, unlike other cakes, need no frosting to finish them off because they are perfect on their own. This cake is no exception, though I will definitely say that the banana flavor is stronger than the flavor of butter! The cake is super-moist and has a very fine, tight crumb. The banana is definitely the dominant flavor in the cake, with hints of butter and cinnamon to go along with it. It is sweet, but not overly sweet, and the flavors are so balanced that the cake stands very well on its own without the addition of frosting or glaze. That said, you could definitely finish the cake with a little powdered sugar or even a drizzle of glaze if you want to dress it up before bringing it out for company.
Serve this cake for brunch or for dessert, it is an all-occasion cake and the bananas make it versatile enough to make an appearance at breakfast. For a little variety, you could mix some chocolate chips or pecans into this cake (about 1 cup into the batter). You could also increase the spices for a more distinct spice cake-flavor, which gives the cake a warmer feeling that is perfect in fall or winter.
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This Applesauce Oatmeal Bundt Cake is a favorite cake of mine when the weather is still a little bit chilly, because the cake seems very homey and satisfying, the perfect thing for enjoying on a cool morning without any fuss or fanfare. The cake contains applesauce, rolled oats and honey – all of which work well together – as well as some cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg that serve to highlight the fruity applesauce.
Applesauce adds both moisture and flavor to this cake, and stands as its own ingredient (not a replacement for something else). Applesauce is easy to work with because it doesn’t need to be chopped, blended or grated, but it delivers a lot of fresh apple flavor. I recommend using plain applesauce, although a chunky applesauce with big pieces of apple in it can be a very nice addition to the cake, too. The oatmeal also adds a lot of flavor to this cake, just as it does to a batch of oatmeal cookies. You can use whole rolled oats for the most distinct oat flavor, but quick cooking oats will give the cake a slightly finer texture if you have that type of oatmeal and prefer to use it. Both will give you a great cake, and I tend to use what I have on hand (the cake pictured uses rolled oats).
This cake is not too sweet and, while it could be topped with some cream cheese frosting and served for dessert, it is an excellent breakfast or snack cake. If you leave off the frosting, you can even toast a slice and serve it spread with a little bit of butter or some confectioners’ sugar. The cake keeps well when stored in an airtight container, but the fact that it holds up to toasting means that you can “refresh” a slice of cake to enjoy with a cup of tea even many days after baking.
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Bananas and rum are a great combination, evidenced by the popularity of Bananas Foster for more than a half century since its invention. There is something about banana that brings out the sweetness of rum, and something about rum that really brings out the complexity of a simple banana. You don’t need much to make the most of this pairing, so I added just a splash of rum into this bundt cake and a splash of rum into the glaze and got a delicious finished dessert.
This Banana Rum Cake is a straightforward cake that is perfect for almost any occasion. You need about three ripe bananas to make it, but as long as you have those, you probably already have everything else you need on hand. The cake is moist and sweet – thanks to all of those bananas – and has a beautiful tight, soft crumb to it. You can really taste the bananas and you definitely get a hint of the rum, but you also get a bit of buttery flavor from the butter and buttermilk in the recipe. The glaze is where most of the rum flavor comes in, as the simple frosting really allows the rum flavor to stand out.
This cake keeps very well when stored in an airtight container and will last for several days. It is a great cake to serve with after dinner coffee or drinks, but it is also excellent as a mid-afternoon snack. It goes well with rum raisin and butter pecan ice creams (as well as many other flavors, I’m sure). There isn’t enough rum in here to even give you the slightest buzz, but if you really don’t want to use rum, you could substitute in milk and make a plainer (but still tasty) variation on this recipe.
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Some recipes look intimidating because they’re long. Sometimes, recipes are long because they are very complex and involve a lot of totally different elements. Sometimes, they’re long because the involve a lot of the same elements. Good spice cakes are like this because they often have a half-dozen more ingredients than a plainer version of the same cake. Luckily for those of us who like spice cakes, that long ingredient list is deceptive and it is still very easy to put a spice cake together.
This cake is infused with some of the flavors that are found in chai tea. I love using these spices in cakes and desserts because it’s such a great blend and makes for a finished product with a great depth of flavor. The cake includes cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and black pepper, as well as vanilla and almond extracts. I mixed in some finely chopped candied ginger to spice things up even further. Aside from the spices, this recipe uses both butter and buttermilk and has a hint of buttery flavor and a tight, tender crumb.
The cake has a sturdy feel to it, which I like because it gives the impression that you can simply cut off a big chunk and take it with you, eating it straight out of a napkin or paper towel without having to fuss with a fork and plate. That said, this cake has such a great variety of spices to it that it goes very well with a drizzle of pastry cream or whipped cream, and can be turned into an elegant plated dessert if you slice it thinly. If you’re going for the more casual version, simply sprinkle your cake with some cinnamon sugar before serving.
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