Chocolate and vanilla marble madeira bundt

  

I’ve had my square bundt tin for a while now and have frequently stopped to admire it, even giving it an appreciative pat every now and then (you think I’m joking……!).  What I haven’t done with it is bake.  Realising that this could not continue I decided to pick a simple cake that required no icing as I wanted to showcase the beauty of the tin.

The cake is based on the madeira cake recipe on the BBC Good Food website.  I find denser crumbed sponges work better in bundt tins than lighter ones and also retain better definition when baked, which is important when using a finely detailed tin.

Like a more domesticated Sir Mix-A-Lot, I like big bundts and I cannot lie (I may have made this joke before, apologies if I have, but it still made me laugh).  This is a 10 cup capacity bundt...it’s a big one!

I decided to make the sponges separately as it’s a big cake and wanted to avoid worrying about whether I’d divided the creamed mixture evenly; I know you can weigh it to ensure evenness but I couldn’t be bothered.  When the batter is quick to make like this one, there is no detriment to one batter sitting to one side and waiting for its compadre to be born.

For those who watch the Great British Bake Off, I am pleased to report that I got a crack on the top of my Madeira.  Sadly, being a bundt, this became the bottom on turning out so the world at large never got to see my glorious crack!

Ingredients

For the chocolate sponge:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon chocolate extract - optional
170g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
50g ground almonds

For the vanilla sponge:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
50g ground almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/fan oven 150C/340F/gas mark 3.

Generously grease a large bundt tin – I used cake release spray.

Start by making the chocolate sponge: beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy.  Don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the chocolate extract, if using.

Beat in the flour, cocoa powder and ground almonds.

Put to one side.

Now make the vanilla sponge following the same method but using vanilla extract instead of chocolate, and the adjusted amount of flour (it will be more in the vanilla cake – per the ingredients above – as there is no cocoa).

Spoon the batters alternately into the tin, then use a skewer to swirl them together.

Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before taking a bread knife (or other big knife) and levelling the top – I use the tin as a guide. This will ensure the base will be level when you turn it out.

Turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve in generous slices.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Jam and custard bundt cake

I’ve had this gorgeous bundt cake for a while but not used it.  I wanted to save it for a special cake and this is it!  It was important that the outside of the cake was left simple and not over-iced so as to hide the intricacy of the mould.  Therefore, all the goodies are stashed away inside the cake and only revealed on cutting.

I hummed and hawed for a while over whether to put some glace icing over the top.  I do love glace icing but didn’t want to cover the cake, so I compromised – I went for a slightly thinner consistency of icing so it would cover but not hide the pattern.  Yes, I know it looked better without the icing but in my defence I truly love white icing! 

To stop the custard or jam seeping to the edge of the batter and possibly burning during baking I came up with a method to make channels in the batter and spoon the fillings into it.  Use a spoon or knife to make a channel like this:

Take care to spoon the custard and jam into the channel, making sure there is batter protecting it from the edges of the tin:

Cover with batter and spread carefully so as not to squidge the custard and jam out to the edge.

You get a lovely big slice from a bundt cake like this; the batter was the perfect quantity to fill the tin and, when baked, the cake only needed a thin trim to cut off the crust and make it stand nicely on a plate.

The sponge is lovely – soft and springy, and would be nice on its own with a buttercream or full covering of icing.  Definitely a keeper!

Ingredients:

For the custard:
2 tablespoons custard powder
1 tablespoon caster sugar
280ml milk

For the cake batter:
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
450g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml natural/Greek style  yogurt
4-5 teaspoons jam – I used strawberry

For the glaze:
150g icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons warm water

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan oven 160°C/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Spray the bundt tin with cake release spray – my bundt tin was a N0rdicware 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch.

Make up the custard according to the instructions on the packet and leave to set.  You want the custard cold before you add it to the batter.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy; don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, add a little of the flour if it looks like the batter might curdle.

Beat in the vanilla.

Weigh out the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Measure out the yoghurt.

Stir in a third of the flour mixture followed by half the yogurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. Don’t over-beat the batter at this stage.

Spoon about a third of the batter into the prepared tin and ensure it is evenly spread out.   (NB.  I did this and my jam and custard sank during baking, so I think next time I’d put half the batter in first, then a layer of jam/custard, then half the remaining batter, layer of jam/custard, final bit of batter)

Take a blunt knife or teaspoon and bank the batter up the sides of the tin a little, to make a channel for the custard and jam.

Spread out half the custard onto the batter, taking care that it doesn’t reach the edges – you want it enclosed in the cake batter.

Dot some jam on top.

Spoon a further third of batter over the jam and custard, taking care not to squidge it out to the edges.

Bank the sponge again to make a channel.

Repeat the process with the remaining custard, jam and cake batter.  The final layer of cake batter should be spread smooth – no need to make a channel.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes, then de-tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Now make the glace icing:  mix the icing sugar with a little warm water until you have a thick, glossy icing that’s runny but not watery.   If in doubt, keep the icing on the thick side.

Spoon it over the cake and allow to drizzle down the sides.

Leave to set.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

Individual marble bundt cakes with ganache glaze

I watch an awful lot of cookery shows on television.  A frightening amount.  At risk of sounding grouchy and non-trendy (oh, the very thought!) I am getting increasingly fed up with British television’s (and my finger is pointing mostly at you, BBC) mania for blurry shots where perhaps just one item might be in focus, swooping shots that make you feel ill and focussing the camera on the presenter’s face so they can smile at us when we’d rather be watching what’s happening in the saucepan or bowl.   Don’t even get me started on the deafening background music, the fake little tableaux of ‘friends’ arriving for supper or travelling around town on a scooter.  It’s a cookery show – show us cooking!  Is it just me?  Am I the only one who longs for a return to the school ma’am-ish presentation of Delia Smith?  Am I so uncool and out of touch??? (NB.  I also have a spin-off rant about cookbooks with more photos of the cook/chef than the actual recipes.)

Anyway, what I’m building to is saying how much more ‘instructional’ I find North American cookery shows.  My current favourite is Anna Olson whose shows are perfect little master classes in baking.  No blurry shots, no flirting and coyness, no catering for gatherings.  Just common sense and good clear instructions.  Bravo!

It is from ‘Bake with Anna Olson’ shown on the Food Network that this recipe comes.  I think I’ve only used my Wilton individual bundt pan once before so this looked a good opportunity to dig it out!

I converted the recipe from the original cups (there is a link for the original recipe below) but please note that I added two tablespoons of milk to the chocolate batter as it was so thick it was like a truffle filling and I worried it might bake a bit hard.  I used my own ganache recipe, and I also added some cream cheese frosting on a whim...as you do!  I’m glad I added the frosting as the cakes might have been a little heavy going without it.

I didn’t wait long enough for my ganache to cool so had to do a double-dip.  I like how the chocolate layers came to rest at different levels; very pretty:

If you would prefer the original recipe in its original cup measurements it can be found here. 

Ingredients

For the cakes:

85g dark chocolate
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
160ml sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
190g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cocoa powder, sifted
1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed

For the ganache glaze:

70ml whipping cream
1 tablespoon caster sugar
65g dark chocolate

For the cream cheese frosting:

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia
50g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

If you would prefer the original recipe in its original cup measurements it can be found here.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Take a 12 hole mini bundt pan and spray with cake release or grease with butter and then dust with flour.

Break the chocolate into chunks and place either in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water (but not touching it) to melt, or in a covered bowl in the microwave giving it 30 second bursts until melted.  Leave to cool.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the sour cream and vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat until combined.

Spoon about 1/3 of the batter into a separate bowl – I did this by eye, because there’s no need for it to be exact.

Into this 1/3 of batter, stir in the melted chocolate and the cocoa powder.  At this point, I found the chocolate batter a little dry so stirred in some milk to slacken it.  It will be firmed than the vanilla batter, so don’t panic.

Spoon a heaped tablespoon of vanilla batter into each bundt hole – I used a knife to make it into 2 blobs which I dropped on opposite sides of the bundt.

Take a level tablespoon of chocolate batter and, again, drop in two separate blobs in the pan, filling the gaps left by the vanilla.

If there’s any batter left of either colour add it to any bundt holes that look like they have some spare capacity.  You can fill the moulds almost to the top as they don’t rise greatly.

Use a skewer or toothpick to swirl the two colours of batter together.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.  Mine took exactly 20 minutes.

Leave to cool in the moulds for 30 minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

If your cakes are uneven you can trim a layer off the bottom to ‘smarten’ them up.  I rather liked leaving them as they were as I like how the edges went crispy.

When the cakes are cool you can make the ganache: Place the cream and sugar in a saucepan and bring to almost boiling point.

Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.

Leave it to stand for a minute before stirring and bringing the chocolate and cream together.  At first it will look runny but keep stirring and it will become thick and glossy.

Leave to cool for five minutes or the glaze might be too runny to hold on the cakes.  I learned this to my cost and had to dip them all again once the ganache had cooled down more.

Dip the top of the cakes into the glaze and then put them back on the cooling tray to set.  The glaze will cover the top of the cake but the sides should remain clean so you can see the sponge....of course, the odd drip or spill is not going to offend anyone!

When the glaze has set you can make the frosting: beat the butter in a bowl until smooth and soft.

Add all the other ingredients and beat together until smooth and light.

Pipe or spoon into the well in the centre of each bundt cake.

If you will be serving the cakes more than four hours after completing them, put them in the refrigerator where they will keep for up to 2 days. (Remove from the fridge at least 1 hour before serving)

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.