You other brothers can’t deny, That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist, And a round thing in your face . . . oh, sorry, it had to be done. Apologies to Sir Mix-a-Lot. But he does. And I do. In fact, I’m so in love with this particular bundt cake that I’ve made it three times since Christmas. And the spellchecker keeps changing bundt to burnt. So if I say burnt cake at some point, know I mean bundt. No one likes a burnt cake.
This is the perfect cake to go with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee, or a light midnight snack! It makes a generous sized bundt so you can take half to a friend, neighbor, or hairdresser.
Serves 18. Calories 249, Fat, 8.7g
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light
- 13 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups) plus several tablespoons for flouring the pan
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 12 tablespoons butter, softened + extra for greasing the pan
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1 cup sweetened, dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons grated orange rind
Combine 1c sweetened , dried cranberries and 1/2 c fresh squeezed orange juice in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 1 minute, let stand for 10.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large bundt pan with softened butter. Heavily. Generously. Thickly. Make sure to get into every crack and crevice. When you think you have enough butter on there, put on a little more. Generosity in this step will ensure an easy release later. I use cheap paint brushes for tasks like these then pop them in the dishwasher. Don’t have a brush? Use a knob of butter and a paper towel. After you’ve buttered, dump a tablespoon or two of flour in the pan and shake it around. Coat every buttered surface. Do this over the sink and you can tap out the excess. See? Looks like snow.
Weigh your flour or lightly spoon it into measuring cups. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
In a bowl, mix granulated sugar, and 12 tablespoons of butter on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Fold the cranberry mixture into the batter. Notice that I’ve given up the mixer for a soft spatula. Folding is simply using the motion of a J (Go ahead, draw a J in the air in front of you, get the idea?) to carefully incorporate the ingredients.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, but start checking for doneness at 30 minutes. It’s also nice if you can rotate your pan halfway through cooking. Most ovens have hot spots and this will keep your cake cooking evenly.
Once the cake is done, cool on a wire rack for five minutes, then turn the rack over onto the top of the bundt pan and flip to release cake onto rack and continue to cool. Do not pull a Mr. Bundt and pick the pan up and beat it against the rack. This will not get you a pretty cake. I am not making this up.
Now for the best part! Glaze!
Zest your orange. I use the same orange that I used for juice. No reason to waste any. Do not zest your fingers. Trust me. It will not add to the flavor. Also, don’t zest into the white part of the peel called the pith. It’s bitter and also won’t add to the flavor.
Combine the powdered sugar, 1/4c fresh orange juice, 1T melted butter, and orange rind. Stir until smooth. Glaze will be loose.
Now, here’s what I think. And since I’ve made this cake three times I’m an expert so listen up. This glaze is GOOOOOOD. You could just pour it over the warm cake, let it run off, and eat. But that seems to be a waste to me. You can see from the photos that I put a sheet of Cut-rite in the bottom of a sheet pan, sat the rack with the cake on top, and poured on my glaze. This catches the excess glaze but it also keep you from sticking your tongue in there and lapping up the glaze like a crazy person. Not that I’d know anything about that. Then, as the glaze ran off and cooled, I scooped it up with my spatula and poured it over again and again until I had coated the entire cake and used up almost all the glaze. Much messier and a little more time-consuming, but SO worth it.
Either way, it’s a beautiful, light cake.
Any foods you’re addicted to lately? What’s your favorite snack cake? Is there a food that helps you get through winter?
The Secret Life of Mrs. Bundt 