Lemon and Prosecco Bundt #BundtBakers

This Lemon and Prosecco Bundt is perfect for any celebration where you want the guest of honor to feel special. After all, there is nothing like the pop of a cork to herald the beginning of a party.

The fact of the matter is that everyone has a birthday. That is part of the human condition. We are born. We have a birthday. So right here at the beginning of a new calendar year, our Bundt Bakers host Sue from Palatable Pastime proposed that we share birthday cakes to celebrate. Thanks, Sue! What an excellent idea!

I immediately put my thinking cap on. Birthday cake, birthday cake. I know I bake a lot but not being much of a sweet eater, it's never for me. (My birthday is four days from now. There will not be cake. If you wanna bake me something, make it something savory!)

I drew a blank. Then I thought, what makes a party more festive? Well, sparkling wine, of course. A quick Google search for Champagne cake recipes turned up 5,300,000 results! Clearly this was not a new idea.

To make it my own, I added a little lemon to the mix. And because a good Prosecco is usually cheaper than a good Champagne, I switched that up too. Despite the cheesy cut glass bottle, this one comes highly recommended and we usually buy a decent stock at an end of the year sale.

Today just happens to be the birthday of someone very special to me, my friend, Jane. She is sweet and kind and more generous than anyone I know. She also has a wickedly delightful sense of humor. But what I love most about her is her loyalty and faithfulness and courage. It's been a rough few years for her and her family and she has managed to keep the faith and make the rest of us still smile through her tears. If you happen to read this, Jane, I love you! I wish I could send you this cake, or better yet, be there to bake it for you for your special day. Happy Birthday!

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1 cup or 200g granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for pan
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup or 120ml Prosecco

For the soaking syrup:
1/2 cup or 120ml Prosecco
2 tablespoons or 25g sugar

For the glaze:
1 cup or 125g powdered sugar
3-4 teaspoons Prosecco

To decorate - optional, but, hey, it's a birthday party!
Sparkling sugar
Tiny pearl sprinkles

Bundt pan: 10-cup or 2.4L Nordic Ware Blossom <affiliate link

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease the Bundt pan liberally with butter and shake in some flour to coat.

Zest your lemon into the sugar and mix it around thoroughly so the zest will flavor the sugar. Set the bowl aside.

Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. This aerates the flour and eliminates the need to sift.

Put the butter, lemon sugar and lemon juice into a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated, scraping the bowl down in between additions.

Add half of your flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Scrape the side of the bowl down, then add half of the Prosecco. Beat again until thoroughly mixed.

Repeat with the rest of the flour and the rest of the Prosecco.

Spoon the batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

Bake on the middle rack of your preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until golden on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While the cake bakes, make the soaking syrup by combining the sugar and the Prosecco. Stir till the sugar dissolves.

When you remove the cake from the oven, drizzle the bottom with a few teaspoons of the soaking syrup. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes then invert and remove the cake from the pan.

Gently brush or spoon the rest of the soaking syrup on the cake. Leave to cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze, put your powdered sugar in a bowl and add Prosecco a teaspoon at a time, stirring with each addition, until you have a good drizzling consistency.

Use a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with a tiny corner cut off to make drizzling easier. If you are using sprinkles to decorate, have them at the ready because the surface of this glaze dries quickly. If you don’t sprinkle them on immediately, the sprinkles will just bounce off.

Pour everyone a glass of the Prosecco, cut the cake and enjoy!

What is your favorite birthday cake? Are you committed to the same one every year or do you mix it up? Perhaps you'll find a new favorite in the ones we are sharing today.

• Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze from All That’s Left Are the Crumbs
• Birthday Buttered Rum Cake from Faith Hope Love and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Bundt Cake de Bollo, Canela y Nutella from La Mejor Manera de Hacer
• Confetti Birthday Bundt Cake fromPalatable Pastime
• Confetti Lime and Cheese Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Cookies and Cream Sprinkle Bundt Cake from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Kids and Chic">>Doughnut Funfetti Bundt Cake from Kids and Chic
• Eggnog Bundt with Hot Buttered Rum Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm >Lemon and Prosecco Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Piñata Birthday Bundt Cake from Patty’s Cake
• Piñata Bundt Cake from I Love Bundt Cakes
• Sugar Cookie Bundt Cake from Cookaholic Wife
• Tropical Birthday Bundt Cake from Basic N Delicious

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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ANZAC Biscuits #CreativeCookieExchange

ANZAC biscuits are a traditional cookie Down Under made with oats, coconut and golden syrup. These biscuits – always biscuits and never cookies – can be baked chewy or crispy and that’s a point that divides families.

This month our Creative Cookie Exchange group theme is Healthy Cookies. My younger daughter and I were brainstorming ideas – I was pushing for a homemade Hobnob (a crispy oat cookie) when she suggested ANZAC biscuits. When we lived in Kuala Lumpur the first time, we enjoyed home baked ANZAC biscuits at least once a year, when one of our Australian friends made them for ANZAC Day. Happily, she also shared her recipe.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a joint outfit that fought together during World War I. ANZAC Day, which falls on April 25th every year, is a national holiday in Australia that has grown from its original intent in 1916 to honor the more than 8,000 Australians who died in the campaign to take Gallipoli, to a day to honor all who have fallen in military and peacekeeping missions.

There are several stories about the origin of ANZAC biscuits. One says that they were baked to send overseas in care packages to soldiers. More likely, say historians, they were created and baked to sell at fundraisers to collect money for the war effort. Original ANZAC biscuits were made only of flour, oats, and butter with syrup as the binding agent. They had a long shelf life and were full of energy and nutrition. Coconut has become a popular, later addition.

First, a word about the units of measure. Australian cups and tablespoons are not the same volume as American cups and tablespoons.

1 Australian cup = 8.45 fl oz
1 US cup = 8 fl oz
1 Australian tablespoon = 4 teaspoons
1 US tablespoon = 3 teaspoons

Mercifully, the teaspoons are equal. To make this the least complicated as possible, I’m going to leave the cups the same, since they are 1:1 anyway, but add the gram measurements of an Australian cup of rolled oats, flour, sugar and butter, if you want to use a scale.

Ingredients
1 cup or 120g rolled oats (Don’t use the quick cook oats.)
1 cup or 132g plain flour
1 cup or 237g caster sugar
3/4 cup or 75g coconut
1/2 cup or 125g butter
8 teaspoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda (baking soda, not baking powder)
8 teaspoons boiling water

Method
Preheat your oven to 300°F or 150°C and line two cookie sheets with baking parchment or silicone liners.

Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl.

Combine butter and golden syrup in a saucepan (or microwaveable bowl) and use your heat source to warm them gently until the butter is melted.

Mix the soda with the boiling water and add it to the butter mixture (it should froth up) and then add the whole lot to the oat mixture. Stir well.

Use a cookie dough scoop or a couple of spoons to divide the dough into about 24 pieces, placing them on your prepared pans.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pans mid way through baking time so they will brown evenly. If they are undercooked, they will be soft in the middle. If they’ve run together a little bit, just use a knife to gently separate them.

Remove the biscuits from the pan while warm and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week. If they last that long.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to my dear friend Glenys, for being the kind of friend who not only shares her recipes, but one whose friendship over the years has helped me stop questioning my sanity. Knowing she chose this same nomadic life means I must not be nuts, but if I’m crazy at least we are both crazy together. Everyone should be blessed with a friend like Glenys.

A big thank you also to Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories and Holly of A Baker’s House for stepping up to create and update the link list. Want to see the rest of our healthy cookies? Check out the list below.

• ANZAC Biscuits from Food Lust People Love
• Avocado Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from 2 Cookin Mamas
• Banana Oatmeal Cookies from A Baker's House
• Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies from All That's Left are the Crumbs
• Four Ingredient Healthy Cookies from Spiceroots
• Multigrain Snickerdoodles from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Whole Wheat Digestives from Flours and Frostings

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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Honey Oatmeal Bread #BreadBakers

This honey oatmeal bread is baked with all-purpose flour, wholemeal flour and oats, with just enough honey to slightly sweeten it. It has a tender crumb and a crunchy golden crust.

This month my Bread Bakers are here to support your efforts to eat healthier, if indeed, you are making an effort. I know there are a lot of people who make resolutions of such things this time of year. You might well be one of them. Here’s what I can promise you, even if you are not: The Bread Bakers are a talented, creative group. The breads they bake will be delicious, whatever the theme.

Our host today is Pavani from Cook’s Hideout and so "healthy breads" for January is her chosen theme. Since my co-creator of Bread Bakers stepped down a few months ago, Pavani has been a big help behind the scenes and I am grateful to her for stepping forward to take the first month of 2017. In fact, thanks to lots of members volunteering to host, we’ve got some great themes coming up for you this year! Stay tuned for February when we will take on pancakes.

Perhaps this could be the year you start baking homemade bread! Think about it. This may be a much easier resolution to keep than most. You can start with this easy honey oatmeal bread.

Ingredients
1/4 cup or 60ml warm water
2 teaspoons active dried yeast
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1 cup or 240ml milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the bowl/pan
2 - 2 1/2 cups or 250- 312g flour
1 cup or 120g wholemeal bread flour
3/4 cups or 70g oats - quick cooking, but not instant
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Optional - to decorate before baking:
2 tablespoons runny honey
2 tablespoons rolled oats

Method
Honey has antibacterial properties and, depending on how the honey was processed, these might kill your yeast. So we start this bread by proofing our yeast in a bowl with the warm water and a generous heaping teaspoon of the honey. If it bubbles and foams after a few minutes, you are good to go. (And you don’t have to do this step with that particular jar of honey again. It’s safe for future baking.)

Note: This recipe can be made by hand, however, the dough is fairly slack so kneading it will be a sticky challenge.

In a microwave-proof measuring jug, heat your milk and butter until the butter just melts. Allow to cool until warm. Pour in the rest of the honey. It will sink to the bottom so stir until the honey has dissolved into the milk.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the yeast mixture to 2 cups or 250g of the all-purpose flour, the wholemeal flour, the oatmeal and salt.

Pour in the milk/butter/honey liquid and mix until it comes together as a soft dough.

Switch to the bread hook and knead for about 5-7 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Add the extra flour, as needed, by the teaspoonful as it kneads. I ended up using about half of the additional flour for this particular loaf.

Form the dough into a ball. Use a little butter to grease the bowl, moving the dough ball around the bowl as you butter. Cover, put in a warm place and leave to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes or one hour.

Line a standard bread pan with parchment paper or grease it liberally with more butter. My pan is not in the best condition so I always choose the parchment paper route.

Punch the dough down and give it a few more turns of kneading. Form it into a log and put it in your prepared loaf pan.

Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled again, another 45 minutes or 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C, placing an iron skillet or other heavy cooking pan on the bottom shelf.

Boil your kettle with about 2 cups or 480ml water.

Once the dough has risen sufficiently, drizzle it with the extra honey and sprinkle on the rolled oats.

Put the loaf pan on the middle shelf in the oven and pour the hot water into the heated skillet or baking pan on the bottom shelf. Quickly close the oven so the steam does not escape.

Bake the loaf for about 40-45 minutes or until it’s brown all over and cooked through. If you have a instant read thermometer, the internal temperature should be 200°F or 93°C for an enriched bread made with milk and butter. If your loaf is browning too fast, cover it lightly with a tent of foil.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing.

Enjoy!

Check out the Healthy Breads that our fellow Bread Bakers have baked this month:

• Amaranth Flatbread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Beet Rye Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Blueberry Almond Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Brain Booster Pancakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Banana Flax Almond Meal Muffins from Spill the Spices
• Eggless Whole Wheat Brioche Buns from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Grain-free Nutty Carrot Flatbread from A Baker's House
• Healthier Applesauce Spice Bread from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Healthy Whole Grain Bread from The Bread She Bakes
• Honey Almond Brioche from Kidsandchic
• Honey Oatmeal Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Multigrain Pesto Swirl Bread from Herbivore Cucina
• Oatmeal Crispbread (Oatmeal Knäckebröd) from Baking Sense
• Organic Honey Whole Grain Bread from Hostess At Heart
• Quick Whole Wheat Bread from Ambrosia
• Spiced Besani Paratha from Sneha's Recipe
• Sprouted Wheat Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Sweet Potato Bread with Honey from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Sweet Potato Millet Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Ten Grain No Knead Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Whole Wheat Carrot Apple Walnut Quickbread from A Salad For All Seasons
• Whole Wheat White Bean Bread from Cooks Hideout

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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