Bake-Along's Anniversary and Farewell Bake : Lady Bird Lemon Bundt Cake

It's Bake-Along 5th Anniversary! And Bake-Along is saying goodbye! 

It seems like only yesterday when we, Lena, Zoe and myself, started Bake-Along. I remember how excited we were, with dozens of ideas and suggestions on how to make Bake-Along a fun event. We did not expect that it would last for 5 years. Well, this month of May, marks Bake-Along's 5th Anniversary, five full years of baking together with friends. And now, a farewell post as well. It has been a great, wonderful, fabulous 5 baking years. We have done some bakes that we would never have thought of making on our own. My heartful thanks to everyone, for the support and encouragement, particularly to Lena and Zoe, my wonderful baking buddies, for the glorious 5 years of Bake-Along. We have done well indeed!  

I've made a lemony bundt cake, Lady Bird Lemon Bundt Cake. This cake is the recipe of Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. Her recipe is so popular that it has been passed around thousands of time over the decades, and there are many versions of it.  If you google for info from the web, you would find many similar recipes to this.

Thank you, Bake-Along for 5 delicious years !

A moist, lemony cake with close tight crumbs. Do not skip the lemony frosting, it is good with the cake. Don't forget that pot of tea!

The recipe below is my measurement for half a recipe. I've used a small bundt pan with a 6-cup capacity. For the full recipe to make in a 10-inch Bundt pan, please refer here.

Lady Bird Lemon Bundt Cake
(adapted from "Cake Simple", Christie Matheson)
100gm butter, at room temperature, plus melted butter for greasing the pan
160gm cake flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
120gm sugar
4 egg yolks
90ml whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 325F (165C/gas 3). Brush the inside of a 10-cup Bundt pan thoroughly with the melted butter and dust it lightly with flour. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the flour and tap out any excess).

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are light and lemon-coloured, then add them to the butter-sugar mixture and beat until just blended.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three increments) alternately with the milk (in two increments), beginning and ending with the flour and beating until thoroughly incorporated after each addition. Add the vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice, beat for 2 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely. Pour the icing over the cooled cake and serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. (The un-iced cake will keep, wrapped well in a layer of plastic and a layer of foil, in the freezer for up to 2 weeks).

Lemon Icing
1 cup (90gm) confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup (28gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon heavy cream, plus more as needed

Combine the confectioners' sugar with the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cream in a small bowl and stir vigorously until the mixture is smooth, thick, and pourable. Add more cream if needed to obtain the desired consistency.

If you would like to join Bake-Along's last bake, you may bake any Bundt Cake, leave a comment below and we shall mention the link to your post. Thank you!

Please visit the following links for more bundt cakes!

Veronica of Peng's Kitchen has made a lovely Rainbow Bundt Cake

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake

It has been ages since I last baked a bundt cake. A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking of having plain butter cake, not just any butter cake, but one that is baked in a bundt pan! LOL! Why is it that sometimes the pan that is used to bake the cake is so important? I have no idea, really, except that I want a plain bundt cake! 

I took one of my cookbooks off my bookshelf, "Cake Simple" by Christie Matheson, who is the co-author behind the famous cookbook "Flour" by Joanne Chang, and several other cookbooks. Cake Simple is a lovely book, all on bundt cakes, big and minis, and this is the fourth recipe that I've tried so far, and all are wonderful.

This cake uses vanilla bean pod and a little bourbon, which I've replaced with rum, to soak the vanilla seeds before mixing into the batter. Other changes I've made was to replace the buttermilk with a mixture of homemade yoghurt and milk. Both brown and caster sugar are used for this cake. As usual, I have reduced the sugar, for the caster sugar from 1 cup to 1/2 cup ; and for the brown sugar, from packed 1/2 cup to loosely packed scant 1/2 cup. And the sweetness turns out just right.

The cake is very moist, tender and absolutely delicious! It has a soft dense crumbs and the taste of the rum is lightly visible in each bite.

This is one lovely cake. Another winner recipe from this book. I did not make the glaze as it does not need it, already good on its own. 

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake
(adapted from "Cake Simple", Christie Matheson)
Serves 10-12
1 cup (230gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I use 250gm salted butter)
plus melted butter for greasing the pan
2-1/4 cups (270gm) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 teaspoon bourbon (I use rum)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit this)
1 cup (200gm) granulated sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup (110gm) packed light brown sugar (I use scant 1/2 cup)
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk (I use 2/3 cup homemade yoghurt mixed with 1/3 cup milk)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F (165C/Gas 3). Brush the inside of a 10-cup (2.4-L) bundt pan thoroughly with the melted butter and dust it lightly with flour. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the flour and tap out any excess).
2. Pour the bourbon into a small bowl. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the bourbon and stir to blend well. (reserve the scraped vanilla pod for making the glaze).
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the egg yolk, beating well after each addition until incorporated. Beat in the bourbon-vanilla mixture.
5. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in two increments) alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake, let the glaze set for a few minutes, and serve. The cake can be made 1 day in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Vanilla Glaze

1/4 cup (60ml) milk

scraped vanilla bean pod (reserved from making the cake)

1-1/2 cups (140gm) confectioners' sugar

pinch of salt

In a very small nonreactive saucepan over low heat, combine the milk and the vanilla bean pod and heat to scalding (when small bubbles form around the edge of the milk but before it begins to boil). Remove the milk from the heat and let steep with the vanilla bean pod until the milk is cool.

Meanwhile, combine the confectioners' sugar with the salt in a small bowl. Remove the pod from the cooled milk. Add 2 tablespoons of the vanilla-infused milk to the sugar-salt mixture, and whisk until smooth and pourable, adding more milk as needed to obtain the desired consistency.

I am submitting this post to "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipe Collection 2013" event hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.

Cook-Your-Books #7 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

Mint Chocolate Bundt Cake for National Bundt Day

Today is National Bundt Day! Did you know that? Well, I certainly was not aware of that, until Yummy Chunklet mentioned about National Bundt Day, and The Food Librarian! Thank you, Yummy Chunklet! So I'm baking this cake to celebrate National Bundt Day which falls on 15th November. Mary from The Food Librarian is organizing a Round-Up for only Bundts! A perfect excuse for me to bake another bundt and to use my new cookbook! (wink!)

This is another lovely recipe from the book "Cake Simple". Chocolate and Mint, they are certainly meant for each other!

I love bundt cakes, as they are simple and elegant, and since I do not like overly sweet desserts, I seldom iced or glaze my cakes, and mostly bundt cakes do not need any "dressing" to make them taste good! Well... sometimes there is an exception, like this cake, tastes extra delicious with the ganache!

My daughter has been asking for mint chocolate cake a number of times. So I made this, and it is really, really good! The cake is moist, soft with lovely texture, the mint and the chocolate all comes together in each spoonful. I made the ganache, using some mint leaves from my garden. Though, I think that if you do not have any mint leaves, you can just omit them out, since the cake itself is full of the mint flavour, you would not miss out on the mint! As you can see from the first picture above, I did not pour all the ganache on the cake, reserving it for individual serving instead! And as usual, I reduced the sugar for the cake! 

This is a cake to bake for chocolate and mint lovers! If you are not, then you will be after having this!

Yum!

I took a peek at The Food Librarian and was amazed that Mary is baking a bundt cake each day for the month of November! That will be 30 Bundt Cakes! Wow! Go take a look! You will be amazed! And drool! And will want to get your bundt pan out to start baking!  :o)

To view my other bundt cake bakes, please click on the recipes for the link;
Apple Butterscotch Bundt Cake
Brown Sugar Bundt Cake
Chocolate, Walnut and Prune Cake
Citrilicious Cake
Coconut Cake
Cranberry Creme Fraiche Bundt Cake
Lemon Bliss Cake
Lemon Soaked Ginger Pound Cake
Marble Cake
Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Whipping Cream Cake

Mint Chocolate Bundt Cake

(adapted from "Cake Simple" by Christie Matheson)

Serves 10-12

Melted butter for greasing the pan

3/4 cup (75gm) cocoa powder, plus more for dusting the pan

1 ounce (28gm) semisweet chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup (180ml) boiling water

1 cup (200gm) granulated sugar (I use 140gm)

1 cup (220gm) packed dark brown sugar (I use 150gm)

1-3/4 cups (210gm) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (240ml) buttermilk (I substitute with 3/4 cup homemade yoghurt mix with 1/4 cup milk)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil

mint chocolate ganache

fresh mint leaves for garnishing

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C/Gas 4). Brush the inside of a 10-cup (2.4L) Bundt pan thoroughly with the melted butter and dust it lightly with cocoa powder. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the cocoa powder and tap out any excess).

Put the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Whisk until the chocolate is thoroughly melted and the mixture is uniform. Let cool to room temperature.

Whisk the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, peppermint extract, vegetable oil, and melted chocolate mixture on low speed until thoroughly combined.

With the mixer still on low, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until all the dry  ingredients have been incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-low, and mix for another 3 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely. Spread the cooled cake with the ganache and garnish with fresh mint leaves. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Mint Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces (115gm) semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream

15 to 20 fresh mint leaves

pinch of fleur de sel

Put the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. In a small nonreactive saucepan over very low heat, combine the cream with the mint leaves and heat for about 10 minutes. Do not let the cream boil. Strain the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for about 3 minutes, until the chocolate has melted. Add the fleur de sel and whisk until the mixture is smooth uniform. The ganache will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before using.

Cranberry Creme Fraiche Bundt Cake

I have a can of Whole-Cranberry Sauce sitting in my pantry for months, and it is about to expire in three months' time. Got to use it quick! Found the perfect recipe in my new cookbook, "Cake Simple". In this recipe, Christie Matheson recommended to use homemade cranberry sauce, but we do not have fresh cranberries here, and even if I do find it, is gonna cost a bundle! 

Don't you just love bundt cakes? I do! 

Christie has even included the recipe for homemade Creme Fraiche if you can't find any. Which is great, as trying to find Creme Fraiche over here can be pretty frustating. So her substitute recipe definitely comes in handy!

The cranberry sauce is added in the middle of the batter and at the top before baking. And as usual, I reduced a little sugar from the original recipe, which works out just right for me.

The lovely cranberry sauce in the centre and at the top, (now the bottom!) I did not add on the almonds nor glaze the cake, but from the picture in the book, the glaze is a lovely shade of  dark pink.

This is a lovely cake, delightfully delicious!

The cranberry sauce is wonderful with the buttery cake.

The cake is moist, soft with tender crumbs, thanks to the Creme Fraiche.  This is definitely a keeper recipe!

I'm sharing this with 

Cookbook Sunday at by Mom's Sunday Cafe

Sweets For A Saturday at Sweet As Sugar Cookies

Bake With Bizzy at Bizzy Bakes
Sweet Thursday at The Coffee Shop

Cranberry-Creme Fraiche Bundt Cake
(adapted from "Cake Simple" by Christie Matheson)
1/2 cup (115gm) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus melted butter for greasing the pan
2 cups (240gm) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (200gm) sugar (I use 170gm)
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240ml) creme fraiche **
Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce ** or 2 cups (450gm) canned Whole-Berry-Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup (45gm) chopped toasted almonds 
Cranberry glaze **


Preheat the oven to 350F (180C/Gas 4). Brush the inside of a 10-cup (2.4L) Bundt pan with the melted butter and dust it lightly with flour. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the flour and tap out the excess).
Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each additon. Beat in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three increments), alternately with the creme fraiche (in two increments), beginning and ending with the flour and beating after each addition until just combined.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Swirl half of the cranberry sauce over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the cranberry sauce, and then swirl the remaining cranberry sauce over the batter. Sprinkle the almonds over the top. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely. Transfer the cake to a serving plate and drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.


**Creme Fraiche
2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk (I use yoghurt)
Combine the heavy cream with buttermilk, cover tightly, and let sit at room temperature (in a warm room) for at least 8 hours. Stir the mixture - it should be thick and creamy. If it hasn't thickened completely, cover the mixture again and let it sit in a warm place for another 2 to 3 hours and check it again. When it has a nice, thick consistency, it will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
(I made half the recipe, enough for one cake)


**Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce
12 ounces (340gm) fresh cranberies
3/4 cup (180ml) water
2/3 cup (147gm) brown sugar
1/3 cup (70gm) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cranberries with the water, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt and cook for about 15 minutes (after about 10 minutes, remove about 1 tablespoon of the liquid for the cranberry glaze), or until the sauce has thickened and most of the liquid has reduced. Let the sauce cool completely before using it in the cake. The sauce keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.


**Cranberry Glaze
1 cup (93gm) confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 tablespoon cranberry juice (reserved from making the cranberry sauce)
Mix the confectioners' sugar, almond extract, and cranberry juice in a small bowl until smooth.

Apple Butterscotch Bundt Cake

Another addition to my ever increasing collection of cookbooks, "Cake Simple" recently released, is now on my bookshelf. Authored by Christie Matheson, who co-authored together with Joanne Chang in best selling cookbook "Flour". The first thing that caught my attention is that this book is all about bundt cakes. I love baking bundt cakes, as it looks pretty elegant either plain or frosted. Mostly I prefer them plain as most frostings are sweet. As soon as I received this book a few days ago, this recipe was bookmarked. It is not a very big book, but it is a beautiful book, about 42 recipes printed on thick glossy paper with beautiful photograhps every few pages of so.

There's a whole lot of apples in one cake, 4 cups. I use a mixture of Granny Smith and Red Delicious Apples. When I mixed them into the batter, looks like the batter is barely enough to cover the cake. But not to worry, it bakes up rather nicely. 

While the cake is baking, "cinnamon is in the air!".  Your neighbour would know that you are definitely baking something!  

Overall, this is a nice cake. If you love apples and cinnamon, then you would like this. The butterscotch icing is nice, even though it is very sweet as most icing are, it makes a good icing for this cake. I did reduce the sugar in the cake and when eaten on it's own, the sweetness is just right, but really sweet with the butterscotch icing.

The texture is moist, soft and there's apple chunks in every bite!

I'm sharing this with
Bake with Bizzy at Bizzy B Bakes
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage


And I'm bringing this to a Cookbook Party, hosted by Louise of Months of Edible Celebrations. Louise is celebrating her Blogoversary by throwing a Cookbook Party, and October being the National Cookbook Month! There's a whole list of food celebrations just for the month of October! For full details, hop over to Months of Edible Celebrations. I'm submitting this cake under the list "Apple Month"!



Apple Butterscotch Bundt Cake
(adapted from "Cake Simple" by Christie Matheson)
Serves 12-14
Melted butter for greasing the pan
3 cups (360gm) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I use 1 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups (360ml) canola oil
1 cup (200gm) granulated sugar (I use 140gm)
1/2 cup (110gm) packed brown sugar (I use 80gm)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups (500gm) diced peeled apples
1 cup (100gm) walnuts, toasted and chopped


Preheat the oven to 325F (165C/gas 3). Brush the inside of a 12-cup (2.8L) Bundt pan thoroughly with the melted butter and dust it lightly with flour. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the flour and tap out any excess).
Whisk the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the canola oil with the granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-low speed until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the oil mixture, whisking until blended. Stir in the apples and walnuts by hand.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack and let it cool completely. Drizzle the cooled cake with the icing and serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.




Butterscotch Icing :
1/2 cup (110gm) packed brown sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
1/4 cup (57gm) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (93gm) confectioners' sugar (I use 60gm)


In a small nonreactive saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the brown sugar with the cream, butter, and salt, and heat gently, stirring until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Transfer the butterscotch mixture to a small bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar until the icing is smooth.