Cider Spice Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This cider spice Bundt cake will fill your house with the most wonderful aroma as it bakes. The tender crumb lives up to that promise. Delicious!

If you’ve ever perused New York Times Cooking, you know that one of the most useful features of having a subscription is access to the notes people leave when they’ve made a recipe. “Did it work as written?” being the most important. 

In the case of this cake, many agreed it did not! The most frequent comment said that the batter was thick, not thin as described in the instructions. Also, the cake didn’t rise and was very dense. Well, most people would step away quickly and scroll on to another recipe. But I am not most people! I decided that the “bones” were good and those were problems I could fix. 

I’m pleased to tell you that I did. By adding extra liquid in the form of orange juice and another egg, along with baking powder and more baking soda, this cake turns out light yet moist. It’s the kind of cake you keep on the countertop in the kitchen and it just disappears because your family keeps cutting themselves a small slice as they pass by. So good! It would be perfect for the holidays.

Cider Spice Bundt Cake

For this recipe, I used Strongbow Original, a traditional dry English cider, which contains alcohol. Substitute another dry alcoholic or non-alcoholic cider if you can’t get Strongbow in your neck of the woods. Here in Houston, we buy it at Total Wine. This recipe was adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. 

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups or 281g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for the pan, if desired

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup or 227g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the pan

1 cup, packed, or 200g light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

1/4 cup or 60ml orange juice

1/2 cup or 120ml unsulfured molasses (not blackstrap)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup or 180ml dry apple cider (I used Strongbow Original.)

Optional: icing sugar to dust

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 9- or 10-cup Bundt by brushing it generously with melted butter and flouring it liberally. Sometimes I dust with a little extra ground cinnamon as well after the flour, putting it in a tiny strainer to distribute it evenly. I did that for this cake because more cinnamon is a good thing.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer), cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium until smooth. 

Add eggs, orange zest and juice, and beat on medium-high speed, about 1 minute.

In a separate large bowl or liquid measuring cup, add the molasses and baking soda. 

In a small saucepan, bring the apple cider to a boil over high; pour it very slowly over the molasses and baking soda and whisk until combined. The mixture will froth up a lot so make sure you use a big enough vessel to contain it! 

Beat in half of the flour half the cider mixture to the butter mixture on low until combined. When it’s blended, scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the rest of the flour and cider, beating again till it's well combined. 

Carefully pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Once cool, dust with some icing sugar, if desired. 

 

Enjoy! (With a glass of cider, if you'd like. Someone's got to drink the rest of that can, after all.)

It's time for Bundt Bakers and this month we are sharing recipes with spice! Check out all the links below!

• Apple Bundt Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Carrot Cake Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cider Spice Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Leftover Cake Spiced Bundt Pudding from Sneha's Recipe
• Kiss of Cherries Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Cider Spice Bundt Cake!

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Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes #BundtBakers

With just four ingredients you can turn coffee ice cream into these delicious Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes. Or use your favorite flavor.

Since it’s so dang hot outside, it’s a challenge to serve ice cream firm so for this month’s Bundt Bakers, we are making the best of melted ice cream and turning it into cake!

I’ve made homemade ice cream in the past so I know it often starts with a custard, which means it’s made with eggs and milk and butter. But before our Bundt Bakers host proposed this theme, I had never really considered that those ingredients are a shortcut to cake batter. 

A little googling revealed a plethora of cake recipes made with melted ice cream! Who knew? Most of them called for two ingredients: ice cream and cake mix. Not that I have anything against cake mix but we all know that when one of your ingredients is cake mix, that’s kind of cheating on the whole two ingredient thing since cake mix is just paying someone else to measure out flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, etc. 

Fortunately there were also quite a few recipes made from scratch! Seriously google it. So many melted ice cream cakes! Now you know what to do next time the freezer quits on you. Or it's just summertime.

Coffee Ice Cream Bundlettes

This cake can be made with any flavor of ice cream you have on hand, as long as it is full cream and not low fat or non-fat. This is cake, after all! This recipe is adapted from one on Hebbar’s Kitchen. 

Ingredients

2 cups or 370g full cream coffee ice cream

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour, plus a little extra for the pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Butter, to grease the pan

Optional for decoration and extra coffee flavor:  

1/2 cup or 90g espresso chips

Optional to serve: 6 scoops of coffee ice cream 

Method

Set your oven to preheat at 350°F or 180°C and prepare your Bundtlette pan by buttering and flouring it. Set it aside. (As you will see in photos to come, I used my mini 6 1/2 cup Nordic Ware Classic Bundtlette pan that makes six small Bundt cakes.)

In a large mixing bowl, use your stand mixer or electric beaters to beat the ice cream briefly. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Beat until thoroughly mixed to form a thick batter without any little lumps. 

Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and smooth out the top. 

Bake the bundtlettes in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. (If you use one larger capacity Bundt pan, your cake could take a bit longer to bake.) 

Leave to cool in the pan for about five minutes, then loosen the sides of the little bundtlettes with your wooden skewer and turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

When the little cakes are cool, melt the espresso chips in a microwave-safe vessel with a couple of quick zaps in the microwave. I do 10 seconds, then stir. Another 10 seconds, then stir. Depending on your microwave you may need a few seconds more.

Drizzle the melted chips or use a piping bag to decorate the cooled cakes. 

I served these with a scoop of coffee ice cream on top! You might want to do the same. No pictures of that because it was late and dark after dinner. Sorry!

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month and that means it’s time for Bundt Bakers. Check out the delicious melted ice cream cakes we are sharing below! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime for this fun theme! 

• Melted Ice Cream Bundt Cake by Palatable Pastime
• Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes by Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Ice Cream with Cream Bundt Cake by patyco candybar
• Melted Blueberry Ice Cream Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin these Coffee Ice Cream Bundtlettes! 

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Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts are baked with Oreos and sour cream, then topped with cream glaze and more Oreos, a sweet treat your family will love!

 

I don’t remember when cookies and cream became a thing. It seems like I have loved the flavor forever. 

According to several sources, it was first created by a couple of dairy science students at South Dakota State University in 1979 at the instigation of Shirley Seas, a manager at their campus dairy plant. While they didn’t patent their invention, originally called Oreo ice cream, there were witnesses.

A little research (thanks, Wikipedia!) reveals that it probably came to my notice in 1980 when Blue Bell Creameries in Brenham, a small town about 75 miles from Houston began mass production of cookies and cream ice cream in Texas. It’s still one of top three flavors nationwide from any manufacturer. And right after seriously strong coffee ice cream, it’s mine.

And for the curious, it wasn’t until 1985 and 1997 respectively when Dairy Queen and McDonald’s started serving their soft serve ice cream treats (Blizzards and McFlurries) with Oreos mixed in.

Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts

The pan I used is from Nordic Ware called 65th Anniversary Bundt-lettes <affiliate link - that has a volume of five cups. For the Oreos, I used part of a bag of mini Oreos because they fit perfectly in the baked hole of the mini Bundts, allowing me to add the cream glaze and pop another one on top for decoration. You could also bake this batter as cupcakes, of course. They just wouldn't be as cute. 

Ingredients

For the cake batter:

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

3/4 cup or 180ml sour cream

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups or 156g all purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup or 85g chopped Oreos (I used the minis and cut them each in quarters.)

For the cream glaze:

3/4 cup or 94g powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Optional for decoration:

12 whole mini Oreos

Method

Preheat the oven to 350ºF or 180°C. Butter and flour your Bundt-lettes pan. 

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. 

 

In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, for 1-2 minutes. Add in the egg and beat again till combined. 

Measure the sour cream and milk together in a measuring cup. Add in the vanilla extract and stir.

Add half of the sour cream mixture and half of the flour mixture to the main mixing bowl, beating until combined, 

Add the balance of both and beat again. 

Fold in the chopped Oreos. 

Divide the batter between the holes in your mini Bundt pan. 

Bake for about 25-30 minutes in your preheated oven or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top and edges are golden. My oven heats unevenly so I turned my pan around at about 22 minutes so it could brown more evenly. Mine took 30 minutes to bake. 

Remove the mini Bundts from the oven and leave them to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes. Run a toothpick around the edges of the pan to make sure the mini Bundts will release then invert the pan to turn the them out onto the wire rack. Cool completely before decorating with the cream glaze. 

To make the cream glaze, combine all of the ingredients and mix well. 

When the mini Bundt are completely cool, put a mini Oreo in each hole. Already so cute, right? I was sorely tempted to leave them just like that but I had already made the cream glaze and glaze is always a good thing. 

Decorate them with the cream glaze - I used a baggie with the corner cut off - and add one more mini Oreo on top. 

Enjoy! 

 

This month my Bundt Baker friends are sharing Bundts baked with nostalgic flavors from their childhoods. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla for the fun theme and her behind the scenes work. Check out the Bundts below: 

• All Too Sweet Mini Bundts by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Apple Bundt Cake by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts by Food Lust People Love
• Eggless Tutti Fruity Rawa/Semolina Bundt Cake by Sneha's Recipe
• Honey Cake Inspired Bundt Cake by Magical Ingredients
• Monster B'zert Bundt Cake by Making Miracles
• Strawberry Bundt Cake with Marshmallow Cream Filling by Patyco Candybar
• Sweet Potato Bundt with Cream Cheese Glaze by Sweet Sensations

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin these Cookies and Cream Mini Bundts!

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Lemon Honey Olive Oil Bundt #BundtBakers

With a rich and almost sticky crumb, this lemon honey olive Bundt cake is made with tart yogurt, then drizzled with a definitely sticky honey glaze, for a sweet treat lemon (and honey!) lovers will devour.

Finally, it’s the first season of the Great British Bake Off that I don’t have to keep mum on social media about since it’s showing in the US (Netflix) as well as in the UK on Channel 4. Not that I have taken advantage, though, because I’d hate to be a spoiler for anyone who has missed an episode.

I will say this, I was super excited to see this week’s show when the first challenge was cake with a cultured dairy product, like yogurt or buttermilk. I LOVE baking with both. Somehow, even without the addition of butter, baked goods with yogurt, buttermilk or even sour cream, taste buttery to me. And the cultures are healthy for us to eat. Win-win.

Lemon Honey Olive Oil Bundt
This recipe is adapted from one on the now-defunct blog, Sixteen Beans, which I found quoted on several other sites. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original post, even on the Wayback Machine, but if you have a few hours to go down an internet rabbit hole, the author, Kyleen has some beautiful recipes and photographs on there. She’s very talented and I only wish I knew what she was doing now!

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups or 368g plain whole milk yogurt
2/3 cup or 156ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing the pan
1 cup or 240ml (340g) honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest from 1 large lemon
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for flouring the pan
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

For the glaze:
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 10-cup Bundt pan by greasing and flouring it.

In a large bowl whisk eggs lightly. Add yogurt, olive oil, honey, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, whisking till combined.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger.

Sift the dry ingredients into the other bowl and whisk till just smooth and no lumps remain – do not over whisk.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan. (In case you are curious, mine is the
Nordic Ware Chrysanthemum Bundt Pan - apparently discontinued now.)

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a tester comes out clean or your internal temperature reads 210°F or 98.8°C on an instant read thermometer. Cover the cake with foil if the top is getting too dark toward the end. I should have covered mine sooner!

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan and let cool completely.

To make the glaze, bring honey, brown sugar, and butter to low boil in a pan.

Cook 1 minute or until the glaze thickens slightly. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Enjoy!

For this month’s Bundt Baker group event, our lovely host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm, challenged us to bake a Bundt sweetened with honey. Check out all the other honeyed Bundts in the list below.

Honey Apple Dessert Bundt from Sneha's Recipe

Honey Babka from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Honey Elderflower and Marmalade Bundt Cake from Nunca es demasiado dulce

Honey Flower Bundt with Coconut and Spelt from PatyCoCandyBar

Honeyed Apple Bundt Cake from Making Miracles

Jolly Holiday Spice Bundt Cake from Simply Inspired Meals

Lemon Honey Olive Oil Bundt from Food Lust People Love

Pear Honey Rosemary Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs

Sweet Honey Cornbread Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Lemon Honey Olive Oil Bundt! 

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Kalo Prama - Cypriot Semolina Cake #BakingBloggers

Kalo prama, καλό πράγμα in the original Greek, translates as “good stuff.” I can assure you that this Cypriot semolina cake is indeed very good stuff! The batter is easy and a lemon syrup adds even more flavor and a delightful stickiness that makes it hard to stop with just one slice.

Years and years ago, when I was in university, one of my best friends was a brilliant dark-haired girl with the widest smile and a wicked laugh. She was from Cyprus, a place I was completely unfamiliar with. Her small island nation was in still in upheaval after being invaded by Turkish forces in the mid-1970s, so she had been sent to study in the United States.

I’ve thought about her often over the years, especially just a couple of years ago when I planned a trip to Cyprus for a family holiday. I searched the student records at the University of Texas to see if I could find her whole name but without much luck. It is one of my deepest regrets that we lost touch.

While there is still a physical border between the Turkish held northeast and the Greek southwest, Cyprus is finally safe to visit. It is possible to cross over but we stayed on the Greek side in a gorgeous multilevel house built into a cliff, with a fabulous view of the sea. By day we explored the tourist sites, visited grocery stores and roadside stands (my favorite thing to do no matter where I go!) and in the evening we cooked tasty local ingredients for suppers at home and enjoyed the pool and view.

This special cake was on all the lunch menus, in all the local restaurants.

Kalo Prama or Cypriot Semolina Cake

I must confess: The pistachios are not traditional. Most recipes call for blanched almonds to decorate kalo prama. I’ve been trying to use the contents of my freezer and I could not resist adding the colorful pistachios instead of plain white almonds that I would have had to go out and buy. By all means use almonds if you have them. My recipe is adapted from one at SBS.au.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup or 185g fine semolina
1 cup or 125g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten

For the syrup:
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/3 cup or 90ml water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Optional to decorate: blanched almonds or pistachio slivers

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a loaf pan with baking parchment.

To make the cake batter, whisk the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.

Add in the semolina, flour, vanilla and salt. Mix well. Finally, beat in the eggs until completely combined.

Spoon the batter into your prepared baking pan and smooth out the top.

Top with almonds or slivered pistachios, if desired.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into middle of cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup by warming all of the ingredients in a small pot, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

As I was researching recipes, I came across this piece of advice from the Greek Food Alchemist: “Another big tip when adding syrup to a Greek or Cypriot dessert is to always have one cold. So if your cake is hot your syrup should be cold and vice versa. If both are hot then the dessert will crumble before your eyes beyond salvation (based on personal experience!)”

When your cake is finished baking, pour a little cool syrup over the hot cake. Once it has soaked in, add a bit more and wait for it to soak in. Repeat until all of the syrup is absorbed.

Leave to cool completely, then slice to serve.

Enjoy!

This month my Baking Blogger friends are sharing Greek, Cypriot or Turkish recipes. Make sure you check them all out! Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm.

• Alevropita (Greek Thin-Batter Feta Pie) from Tara's Multicultural Table 
• Apricot Sekerpare (Turkish Thumbprint Cookies) from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Baked Kabak Mücver from Sneha's Recipe 
• Bougatsa from Simply Inspired Meals 
• Cypriot Lamb Tavas from Pandemonium Noshery 
• Flaounes (Cypriot Cheese Pastries) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Kalo Prama - Cypriot Semolina Cake from Food Lust People Love 
• Kreatopita from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Sekerpare from The Schizo Chef  
• Simit (Turkish Sesame Bagels) from Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Tiropita (Greek cheese pastries) from Caroline's Cooking

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

Pin this Kalo Prama - Cypriot Semolina Cake! 

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