Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt for National Bundt Day

Today is National Bundt Day.  Duty calls.  I made a bundt.  I am trying to stay seasonal, so what would make the most sense?  You guessed it, pumpkin!  When I want to make a bundt, my first stop on the internet is always Mary's blog.  She could be considered the queen of bundts and boy does she love pretty much all things bundt related.

She recently posted this recipe for Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt which she got off of the Libby's website.  I would never in a million years think to pull something off of a branded website.  Since reading Mary's post, I have actually perused a few of the sites, just to see what their ideas are for the holidays.  Some interesting, some not so interesting.  Yet, none the less, good info and always inspires new ideas.

Regardless, this cake is a winner.  And as I have mentioned in the past, bundts are easy and they are always a crowd pleaser.  This one certainly pleased a crowd.  I made three minor alterations to the recipe.  I added dried cranberries to the streusel, cut back a little on the streusel ingredients, and replaced sucanat with white sugar.

We are having friends for brunch Thanksgiving weekend.  I may just have to make this again!

Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt
adapted from here

ingredients:
streusel
2 tsp. butter, cold
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped

cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbls. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar (I used sucanat)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
4 large eggs, room temp.
1 cup pumpkin puree
8 oz. sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract

instructions:
• preheat oven to 350*.  butter & flour a 12 cup bundt pan
for the streusel
• combine all dry ingredients and whisk.  cut butter into dry mixture until crumbly.  add dried cranberries. set aside.
for the cake
• whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. set aside
• cream sugar and butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy.
• add eggs one at a time.
• add pumpkin, sour cream, and vanilla.  scrape sides of bowl and mix again until incorporated.
• spoon half the batter into the prepared pan
• top with streusel mixture. don't let streusel hit the side of the pan.
• cover with remaining batter.
• bake 55-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• cool for 30 minutes in pan, then remove from the pan and cool completely.
for the glaze
• combine 1 1/2 - 2 cups sifted powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons of milk.  mix completely.
• spoon over cake and let drip down the sides.

Enjoy!

Coconut Cake

Miguel loves coconut everything.  He especially loves a good coconut cake.  Last year, one of my donna hay magazines had a whole section on "queen of cakes". I made the cinnamon coated maple apple cakes (here) and they were out of control.  I am almost positive I made one of the chocolate cakes, but I can't remember when?  Last week I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs and Patricia from Technicolor Kitchen ( see her post here ) had made the coconut cake from this same issue. I was inspired to make this cake.

Friday nights we sit down together, as a family and eat dinner.  We like to share our Friday night dinners with family and friends.  This past week our cousin, Jackie came to dinner.  It was a beautiful night, we ate outside, we laughed, told stories and enjoyed.  The coconut cake was the perfect ending to a meal of seared tuna with a citrus ginger sauce, orzo with peas, feta + basil, and sauteed string beans.

Coconut Cake
adapted from donna hay magazine #44
inspired by Technicolor Kitchen

ingredients:
cake
250g butter, room temperature
275g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
300g self-rising flour, sifted*
80g unsweetened coconut
250ml milk

icing
640g confectioners sugar, sifted
1/3 cup boiling water

instructions:

for the cake
• preheat oven to 325*.  butter and flour a 10-cup capacity bundt or ring pan.
• place butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of your electric mixer until light and creamy.  gradually add the eggs and beat well.  add the flour, coconut and the milk, mix until well combined.
• spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.  bake for 1 hour or until a skewer tested in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• cool in pan for about 30 minutes.  turn out onto wire rack to cool completely
for the icing
• whisk together the sugar and the water until smooth.  spoon the icing over the cake and allow to set.

the cake was so good that when I went to take more photos of it, it was pretty much gone.  I think it was breakfast the next morning!

* to make self-rising flour; combine 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.  I usually make the equivalent of 4 cups at a time and store in a glass jar in my pantry.  just use when needed.

Mini Lemon Bundts

As I have said in the past, I have been collecting Cooks Illustrated Magazines since my U.C. Berkeley days.  I have 17 years worth of magazines to prove it as well as a splattering of miscellaneous issues from 1980 through 1992.  The earlier issues have these really beautiful covers. They are all hand done water colors.  I just can't get rid of them.  They are as much a part of me as they are a part of my cook book library.

a few old cooks covers

the actual covers are so beautiful

I have made this particular pound cake in the past and it never fails.  Rather than making one big cake, I made little mini bundts.  These were one of three desserts (pecan tassies, and mini cheesecakes) I made for last weekends fund raiser.  They came out perfectly.  They were light, moist, tart, and sweet.  Isaac ate 6 of them.  And asked for more.

ingredients
cake
3 lemons, zest grated + saved, then juiced
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs, room temp.
1 large egg yolk, room temp.
18 Tbls. unsalted butter, room temp.
2 cups sugar


glaze
2-3 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 Tbls. buttermilk


instructions
cake
• preheat oven to 350*. spray mini bundt pans with spray.
• mince lemon zest to fine paste.  combine lemon zest + lemon juice in small bowl; set aside to soften
• whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, + salt in a small bowl.  combine lemon juice mixture, vanilla, + buttermilk in medium bowl.  in another bowl whisk the eggs and the egg yolk. in a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  reduce speed and add half the eggs, mixing until combined.  add the other half of the eggs.
• add the 1/3 of the flour mixture and then 1/2 of the buttermilk and then repeat ending with the flour mixture
• scrape the side of the bowl and scoop into the mini bundt pans
• bake until the tops are golden, around 15 - 20 minutes.
• let cool 10 minutes and then invert it onto a plate.

glaze
• whisk the ingredients together
• while cake is still warm, pour half the glaze over the cakelettes.  let cool one hour and pour the remaining glaze over the cakelettes.  let sit for 2 hours.

Quick Chocolate Cake

I had to make something in a hurry. Tonight is back to school night for Isaac's school (it is no longer both Eli and Isaac's school as Eli has moved on to middle school - boo hoo!) and of course, I offered to bake for his class. And of course his teacher said "yes".

My day today is nuts, and I knew I had to squeeze a lot of stuff into to a very small window of time. I woke up early and prepped all my ingredients, fed the kids and left the house for 7:30 a.m. yoga class (mitch graciously gets the kids to school two mornings a week).

When I got home from yoga all I had to do was mix the ingredients and get it into the oven. While it was baking I did my morning routine.

I had had a completely different dessert in mind when I committed to baking for this evening. However, when I had stumbled upon an old Cook's Illustrated magazine and turned the page to this cake, I knew I had to make it. Mainly because I had everything in the house to make it, it was easy and it is the perfect crowd pleaser.

INGREDIENTS

Cake Release
1	tablespoon butter , melted
1	tablespoon cocoa
Cake
3/4	cup natural cocoa (2 1/4 ounces)
6	ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped
1	teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
3/4	cup water (boiling)
1	cup sour cream , room temperature
1 3/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
1	teaspoon table salt
1	teaspoon baking soda
12	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
2	cups packed light brown sugar (14 ounces)
1	tablespoon vanilla extract
5	large eggs , room temperature
	confectioners' sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. FOR THE PAN: Stir together butter and cocoa in small bowl until paste forms; using a pastry brush, coat all interior surfaces of standard 12-cup Bundt pan, see illustration below. (If mixture becomes too thick to brush on, microwave it for 10 to 20 seconds, or until warm and softened.) Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. 2. FOR THE CAKE: Combine cocoa, chocolate, and espresso powder (if using) in medium heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Cool to room temperature; then whisk in sour cream. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in second bowl to combine.

3. 3. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs one at a time, mixing about 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down bowl with rubber spatula after first 2 additions. Reduce to medium-low speed (batter may appear separated); add about one third of flour mixture and half of chocolate/sour cream mixture and mix until just incorporated, about 20 seconds. Scrape bowl and repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining chocolate mixture; add remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 10 seconds. Scrape bowl and mix on medium-low until batter is thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan, being careful not to pour batter on sides of pan. Bake until wooden skewer inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto parchment-lined wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 3 hours. Dust with confectioners' sugar, transfer to serving platter, and cut into wedges; serve with Tangy Whipped Cream and raspberries, if desired.