Gingerbread House Bundt Cake

 

November came and went by in a flash with very little baking on my end.  To be honest I just didn't have the motivation after returning from a holiday in Europe.  Perhaps subconsciously I was also storing my energy in preparation for the whirlwind of holiday baking and candy making that awaited me in December?

 

My first real bake for the holiday season is this super cute Gingerbread House Bundt Cake using this Nordic Ware pan.   For the cake itself I used White Lily Flour's recipe for a cream cheese pound cake.  I need another bundt pan like a fish needs a bicycle but I couldn't help myself.  The design on this pan was too cute to pass up and will be added to my growing bundt collection.  

 

 

What I especially love about a bundt cake is how easily you can achieve fantastic results with very little effort.  Especially ideal for you novice bakers out there.  Let the cake pan do all the work for you!  But, whenever making a bundt cake the golden rule you have to follow is to grease the pan well.  I swear by Baker's Joy cooking spray (with flour) and 99% of the time my cakes release without any issues.

Let the holiday baking extravaganza begin!

   

Zebra Bundt Cake

If you peeked in to my pantry you'd think I was trying to set up my own kitchen housewares shop.  I can't help it - I'm the first to admit I'm a total addict.  Call me a sucker for the latest cake pan or baking equipment out there.  

The inspiration for this Zebra Bundt Cake stemmed from my recent acquisition of NordicWare's Kugelhopf pan.  I'm a huge fan of this company and love all their bundt pans.  Over the years I've amassed quite a collection because they never seem to fail in terms of quality and aesthetic.  I call it effortless baking when the pan does all the cake decorating work for you.   

My intention was to make a marble cake and when I happened upon Bakers Royale's Zebra Bundt on Pinterest it immediately caught my eye.  I just love how the alternating stripes of vanilla and chocolate batter make the cake look so interesting and inviting.  When I took a closer look at the recipe I was even more pleased because it was based on one from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book.   Tish's cookbook is one of my favorites so I knew it was going to be a winner.  I wasn't wrong.

The crumb on this cake is really incredible, so tender, moist and melt in your mouth.  I was a tad bit concerned that the depth of the bundt pan would require extra baking time, leading to a drier cake, but this was not the case at all.  I'll definitely be making this recipe again!

Elvis & The Easter Bunny Pound Cake

I tell you this cake was long overdue.  Last year I snagged this awesome Nordic Ware pan in a Williams-Sonoma sale and couldn't wait to use it...now I FINALLY can!  Unfortunately it's no longer available but hopefully you can find something similar.

In trying to choose which cake recipe to use for the Easter Bunny I first searched my blog.  How surprised was I to discover that one of my favorites, Elvis Presley Pound Cake, was no where to be found.   I've made this Saveur recipe so often that I was guilty of taking it for granted.  Well, no more!   Apparently this cake was one of the King's favorites and I can easily see why - a moist and rich with a "love me" tender crumb.  

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake

You know those pound cake slices they sell at Starbucks?  You've seen them, right along side the croissants and scones?  Well, this is my attempt at replicating one of them.  Specifically the raspberry swirl pound cake with cream cheese icing.

I love any kind of marbled cake so when I initially saw a pound cake recipe posted on Gretchen's Bakery I knew I had to make it.  But in homage to Starbucks I swapped out the chocolate for raspberry.  To do this was super simple; just mix in raspberry jam to half of the cake batter.   To gild the lily even further I frosted the baked and cooled pound cake with cream cheese icing.  

While the cake is tender and moist, I found the raspberry flavor was a bit too subtle.  Next time I'm going to ribbon some raspberry jam in the cake batter so you get a burst of fruity flavor.  A slice (or two) of this cake with some coffee or tea and you're all set!

Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake (adapted from Gretchen's Bakery)

10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup (170 grams) cake flour

5 teaspoons (20 grams) cornstarch

1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt

1/4 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a standard loaf pan.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy approximately 5 minutes. 

Combine the eggs and vanilla extract together and sift together the flour, salt, baking powder & cornstarch~ reserve.

Add ⅓ of the egg mixture to the creaming mixture and blend well.

Add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and blend well.

Repeat this process with the remaining egg and flour in 3 total additions until all is blended in well.

Scoop about half of the cake batter in a separate bowl.  Add in raspberry jam and whisk to combine thoroughly.

Spoon the cake batter in to the pan, alternating the vanilla batter and raspberry batter.  Use a wooden skewer or butter knife to swirl the batter.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.   Turn cake out of pan and let cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing (from Giada de Laurentiis)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3 tablespoons water, plus extra as needed 

In a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream, cream cheese, 3 tablespoons water, and vanilla. Process until smooth, adding more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing is pourable.

Spoon the icing over the cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before slicing.

 

Pistachio Pound Cake

Pistachio has to be one of my all-time favorite flavors so when I saw this version of Tish Boyle's marble pound cake on Kokken69's blog I instantly wanted to replicate it, with just a few tweaks.  I recently bought a bavarian bundt pan but had yet to use it and thought this cake would be the perfect inauguration.  Furthermore I wanted to take another crack at making a cake with a zebra stripe pattern.

Kokken69's adaption calls for using pistachio paste instead of a cocoa mixture to achieve the marble effect.   After finishing a massive macaron order for my brother my supply of pistachio paste was completely exhausted.   Necessity is the mother of invention so I found the next best thing I could, Jell-O instant pistachio pudding mix.  I sifted out the pistachio nut bits before mixing the powder with 3 cups of the vanilla cake batter.

Unfortunately the zebra pattern I was after wasn't happening.  Rather than creating stripes, the two colors of batter blended together.   But, the cake itself was really delicious with a moist, tender crumb.   The pudding mix didn't provide nearly enough pistachio flavor so next time I'm going to use paste and also stick with the marble design!

TWD Lemon Loaf Cake

When I submitted my blog in the drawing to host this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe I was really hoping it would be chosen.   I love all things citrus and Lemon Loaf Cake was right up my alley.   

As soon as I found out Treats was one of the two blogs that were randomly chosen I immediately called my sister-in-law to ask for lemons.  A massive meyer lemon bush divides her driveway from the next door neighbor's so an abundance of fruit is literally at her fingertips.

 

As I read through the cake recipe I was pleasantly surprised to learn that its texture was similar to a pound cake but that preparation was all done by hand.  Any recipe where I don't have to bust out the KitchenAid stand mixer is an ideal one to me.

I took a little detour from the cookbook by brushing the baked loafs with a meyer lemon syrup and then topping with a meyer lemon glaze and candied meyer lemon slices - a triple citrus threat if I ever saw one.   Even with the addition of the lemon syrup I found the cake itself to be a tad bit dry but still delicious nonetheless.

Michelle from the blog The Beauty of Life is my fellow co-host for this week's recipe.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pound cake...hmmm...my first memories are of the Sara Lee variety.   Remember those?  They were pretty much the only pre-made cakes that my mom would buy for us when we were kids.   The great thing about them was since they were sold frozen there usually was one in the house at any given time.

I've been meaning to make a pound cake made with cream cheese for some time now.   Additional motivation were the eight packages of cream cheese sitting in my fridge - the spoils of a 2-for-1 offer at Safeway and my recent infatuation with icebox cheesecake. 

Several family members raved about this cake after having a sample.  Given that they're my most honest, i.e., toughest, critics I take that as a positive review.  The cake is a bit crunchy on the outside, but moist, dense and tender on the inside...delicious!  Perhaps it could even given ol' Sara a run for her money.

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Had a bunch of blueberries in my fridge that I didn't want to go to waste so I decided to add them to a lemon pound cake. Lemons and blueberries are always a great flavor combination. Used a butter pound cake recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's fantastic book The Cake Bible.

Followed Rose's recipe and added finely grated lemon zest and blueberries just at the end. I tossed the berries lightly in some flour before adding them to the batter so that they didn't sink to the bottom, but as you can see, it didn't really help. The blueberries were much heavier than the cake batter.

The glaze is really simple; freshly squeezed lemon juice whisked with powdered sugar until it has a consistency similar to condensed milk.