Best Bundts

[mig (you can call me mig)]

I’m so pleased you enjoyed it. Love that cake. Keeps really well, too.

As for the oil, I use it whenever I want to amp up lemon flavor in a batter. Mostly cakes. (I admit I haven’t used it for non-cake applications like pies or crumbles, and have never used it in a non-sweet context.) So if a recipe calls for lemon juice and/or zest, sometimes I supplement with a very small amount of oil to get it more lemony. If I am baking something and find I don’t have enough lemons for the recipe, I use the oil to bridge the gap. Since the oil is so strong, you only have to use a little, which means you don’t have to guess/figure out how to adjust the other liquids in a recipe. There’s no impact on the proportion of butter to sugar to flour, and no textural changes (unlike adding, say, lemon zest.) And if I have a batter that’s a different flavor altogether, like almond, I simply leave out the almond extract and add a small amount of the lemon oil, and that’s it- no other mental gymnastics required.

I have a small bottle of lemon oil, and I also at one point bought a “variety” sampler of lemon, orange and lime oils made by the same company. I love them all. I keep them all in the fridge once they’ve been opened.

[mts]

Here is the recipe written, typed out since I can’t upload the copy I made for you.

White Chocolate Bundt Cake:

Makes 1 - 10" Bundt, 10-16 servings, alternately will make a 9x13 " (not shallow pan) and cupcakes, too (do not use cupcake papers, but use a non-stick cupcake pan. Would be cute in mini Bundts.
Liberally butter and flour pans or spray well with bakers release.

Bake 325° 1 hour or so, test for doneness with toothpick or other.

Melt 4 oz. coarse chopped white chocolate (not candy melts) with 1 cup evaporated milk until thoroughly melted. Cool completely.

Cream 1 c. of softened butter with 1-2/3 c. sugar, add 5 eggs, 1 at a time until well creamed. Add in cooled chocolate mixture.

Separately, whisk together 2-3/4 c. a p flour with, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix dry into soft chocolate mixture, alternately and mix until well blended. Add in 2 T. white chocolate liqueur. Pour into prepared pan, level top and bake.

Cool on rack 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack until thoroughly cool.

Icing: To be drizzled over Bundt cake, it can be spread when it has thickened up onto the 9x13" or to ice cupcakes.

Melt 3 oz. coarse chopped white baking chocolate and 1/4 c. butter in heavy saucepan, stirring often and mix until velvety smooth. Remove from heat and add in 1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional) and 2 T. white chocolate liqueur. Have on hand a bit of milk for thinning if necessary. Whisk into melted chocolate mixture 2 c. triple sifted powdered sugar until consistency is thick enough to pour/drizzle over cake. Drizzle icing over cooled cake.

We’ve made this for holiday celebrations decorating with sprinkles, nonpareils and dragees. We’ve also have tinted the icing and even have added some citrus zests.

This cake works well with fresh fruit and whipped toppings in the 9x13" pan.

Enjoy!

[adawks]

Thank you! I am making the CC poundcake Saregama shared today and will try this during the week! The bride and groom are appreciative of everyone’s input (as am I!).

[CaitlinM]

The vanilla bundt from the book Cake Simple is a nice moist cake that could easily becime a confetti cake if you fold sprinkles into the batter and top with a glaze and more sprinkles. (In the book, it’s actually a vanilla-pink peppercorn cake, but without the pink peppercorn it’s just a nice, vanilla-forward bundt cake.) Here’s a paraphrase, though unfortunately without weights:

Vanilla Bundt Cake

3 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In mixer bowl with paddle, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Mix in flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk in two editions, until fully combined. Spray bundt pan with baking spray and pour in batter. Smooth top and bake 45–60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan, then invert onto rack to cool.

It doesn’t sound as if you have a chocolate cake in mind, but there’s a recipe from a former Chowhound poster named Candy for a chocolate pound cake that’s moist and long-keeping, and like many such cakes, is better a couple of days after baking. I can dig up the recipe if you are interested.

[mts]

So many cakes! What joy!