Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake

This cake was chosen for Club: BAKED as our first October recipe! I haven't baked along with Club: BAKED for a while (actually I have baked along on quite a few, just hadn't blogged about them) so this was a nice recipe to jump back in with.

Thank you to Stephanie at Ice Cream Before Dinner for picking this recipe, you can click on the link to her website for the recipe for this cake.  

I am a fan of bundt cakes and love the specialty shaped pans, but decided to go with my traditional bundt pan for this recipe because of the frosting, didn't want it to clash with the cake design.

This cake has a fun optional topping, caramel candy "shards" that you make to decorate the top with.  They really made this cake an attention grabber.  All in all, the Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake was a nice subtle dessert, it had a mellow flavor with a hint of caramel and a pound-cake like texture. The scent while baking filled the house and seemed to say "welcome to fall baking"  :)

Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Our treat of the week for Tuesdays with Dorie is Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake, picked for us to try by Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort, thank you Jennifer!

Orange zest mixed with sugar above, about to whip in the butter.


Before baking shot above, I used my Wilton Queen of Hearts bundt pan that I've had for almost eight years. I got it shortly after picky husband and I got married -- it was my first bundt pan and is still baking strong :)

After baking shot above, after baking 60 minutes exactly and testing done.

I did not have enough batter to do a second swirl and be able to cover it with batter so I just did the one swirl with about 75% of the swirl ingredients. It didn't swirl too much, but I was just happy the cake didn't break apart after unmolding, which I was nervous about after reading the P&Q section on this cake.

I used all of the swirl ingredients, even the raisins, we are all raisin fans in our house. My youngest and I were the only taste testers so far and we loved it. My favorite part was the aroma while it was baking, thanks to the fresh orange zest, which added so much flavor to this cake! Another delicious bundt cake from Baking From My Home to Yours :)

Classic Banana Bundt

Today for TWD we are doing a "rewind" -- this is one of my favorite recipes from Dorie's Baking From My Home To Yours. It was first picked for us at Tuesdays with Dorie to try by Mary at The Food Librarian, and you can find the recipe here at Mary's site if you do not have the book and are looking for an amazing banana cake / bread / bundt recipe.

I say banana cake or bread because this banana cake tastes like banana bread to my husband and ever since we made it with TWD back in August 2009 it has become "our" banana bread recipe. It is probably the most baked recipe from BFMHTY at our house, and it is picky husband's favorite banana bread.

He likes it plain, full banana flavor with no add-ins, which is delicious. I like it plain as well, but love it with add-ins, my favorites being coconut and chopped macadamias, which were add-ins in my previous favorite Hawaiian Banana Bread recipe. Don't tell that recipe, but this one with the add-ins is even better!

Before and after baking shots...

Sometime I switch out the sour cream for buttermilk, I've even used whole milk once before in place of the sour cream and this bread / cake still came out perfectly. I also like to add extra vanilla. If you are making minis this recipe is perfect as well, I think it would also work great in a plain old muffin tin or loaf pan -- although I haven't tried it yet, because a bundt is just so much more fun :)

Cranberry Shortbread Cake

Today's Tuesdays with Dorie treat is Not Just for Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake picked for us to try by Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen, thank you Jessica! This is a simple and delicious dessert that I absolutely loved. My only little change was to crumble the top layer of the shortbread crust on instead of rolling it out. This was such a nice pick and just perfect for this time of the year.

My four year old son came into the kitchen while this was baking and said, "thanks for making pancakes for dinner" and I had to explain that there were no pancakes and I was baking a Cranberry Shortbread Cake. About fifteen minutes later my five year old daughter came downstairs and peeked into the kitchen, "mmm" she said, "I smell waffles and bacon" -- so apparently this cake smells like various breakfast foods :) Silly kids, they always keep my laughing.

And because we had our first dusting of snow last week, I felt it was appropriate (okay, I guess I'm just excited about the holidays, give a girl a break) to get out my new snowman cake plate, you can't see the base in the whole cake photo but here is a close up of the adorable little snowman on the pedestal, isn't he cute?

Double Apple Bundt Cake Minis

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Today's selection is Double Apple Bundt Cake, picked for us to try by Lynne of Honey Muffin, thank you Lynne. You can find the recipe here at Lynne's site if you do not have Dorie's book, Baking From My Home To Yours.

This cake, featuring apple butter and shredded apples and studded with raisins and walnuts sounded like the perfect fall treat to me!

I was happy to be able to use some of the crock pot apple butter I made for a previous TWD dessert, Apple Apple Bread Pudding, back in May -- I had made a huge batch and had this container in my freezer since then. Now that this delicious stuff is thawed out and readily available in the fridge, I'm sure it will get used up quickly.

I ended up making minis and a small half bundt (mostly to use up the leftover batter after I filled the mini bundt pan).

The mini bundts baked for 30 minutes at 350 and they were perfectly done. I was a bit nervous about unmolding them since I had read a few people had trouble with their cakes crumbling, but for whatever reason, luck maybe, mine slid right out of their pans. Whew!

I did not use the suggested icing but made a similar version with 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons apple cider, yum!

These look so cute, they will be our dessert tonight so no reviews yet, but I'm sure they'll be wonderful. I can't wait to give them a try :)

Lots of Ways Banana Cake -- Tuesdays with Dorie

- above photo is before baking -

It's Tuesdays night and I'm finally posting Dorie's absolutely delicious banana cake! This has got to be my new favorite banana cake ever. I baked this recipe in my new KitchenAid bundt pan and added chopped macadamia nuts (one cup) to accentuate the coconut and rum flavors -- absolutely perfect...so perfect that I could barely snap a decent photo before it was all gone :)


Please click here for the Lots of Ways Banana Cake recipe or find it in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home To Yours.

Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Today's treat, Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes, was picked for us to try by Wendy of Pink Stripes -- thank you, Wendy! I was really excited to get back in the swing of baking with these cakes. These are a treat that really caught my eye in Dorie's book and probably a recipe I would have picked to bake even if they weren't a TWD pick. They just sound so delicious.

The recipe uses two loaf pans and I decided to switch things up a bit by using a silicone mini bundt-ish pan for most of the batter and a mini loaf pan for the remainder.

I thought the mini cakes would be so cute, but after baking, I think this cake is actually prettier as a loaf cake.

Either way, they were delicious! I used vanilla bean paste and doubled the amount, since vanilla is one of my favorite flavors. As for the rum, I used spiced instead of dark, since we only had spiced or light available in our liquor cabinet.

Two out of three kids enjoyed these (sans glaze) and picky husband said they were pretty good. I would have loved to serve these with some sugared strawberries, mmm! Maybe next time...

Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Rum Orange Glaze -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

This week for Sweet Melissa Sundays, Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets picked Melissa's Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon Rum Orange Glaze from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book for us to bake. You can find the recipe here online -- if you do not have the book. The recipe calls for two 15 ounce cans of sweet potato, and after reading that I knew I would love to sub in pumpkin since I had a big 29 ounce can of pumpkin that had been waiting to be used in my pantry for way too long :)

I do love sweet potato, but am not a fan of the canned version and would have probably went with a fresh sweet potato, baked and then pureed. Anyway, this was an easy to put together recipe, and makes a huge batch, that bakes in a bundt pan.

I used my Wilton Queen of Hearts pan, this is sentimental favorite of mine because I got it when my husband and I got married seven years ago, wow, has it really been that long?!?

The glaze is delicious, it calls for freshly squeezed orange juice, sugar, rum, and two cinnamon sticks. I didn't have any cinnamon sticks so used 1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon instead and the flavor was perfect.

Picky husband said this reminded him of pumpkin pie but would only have one bite...must have been the pecans I snuck in there. The kids were fan of this one, and I thought it was pretty tasty as well. It is great as a snack or breakfast treat, and the house smelled amazing while it was baking, thanks to the cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, mmm.

Mocha Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Thank you to Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350, who picked this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection of Mocha Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake. I thought this cake was absolutely delicious! Husband was not a fan, too much coffee flavor for him, which sounded funny to me because I thought the coffee flavor was very light.


Followed the recipe pretty much exactly, I think I left my walnut pieces a touch bigger than finely ground though, and also used skim milk instead of whole. Baked in a traditional bundt pan for about 55 minutes. I really loved this cake and think it would be great to serve at a brunch buffet! Have to keep this post short, feeling miserable with some kind of cold or allergies :( See you next week with Swedish Visisting Cake!

Coconut Tea Cake -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Our treat today is Coconut Tea Cake, picked for us to try by Carmen of Carmen Cooks, thank you Carmen. I adore coconut and also love tea cakes, slightly dryer than your traditional cake, with a dense crumb and soft but not too moist texture. Just perfect for snacking on a slice with a cup of your favorite tea.

I decided to bake this in my Nordic Ware Chrysanthemum Bundt Pan. I've only baked a few other cakes in this pan, and have to admit it is usually a little tough for me to judge how much batter goes in. You want to be able to see the details after baking but not overflow while baking. Dorie takes care of that guessing problem with this recipe and specifically calls for a 10-12 cup bundt pan, this is a 10 cup pan (it says so right on it) so even though it was on the smaller side of the suggested pans, I put the whole amount of batter in and hoped for the best.

Success! No overflow, yay! As you can see I did bake this on an insulated baking sheet, I know in the directions Dorie says not to bake this on a sheet because you want the hot air to circulate through the center of the cake, I went against the directions because I know that these darker pans tend to bake faster and I do not like my cake edges extra dark and dry. Also because this is a black pan I turned the oven temperature down to 325, and set my oven timer to check the cake right at one hour, and right at one hour this cake was perfectly done.

It released nicely from the pan, which I sprayed with Pam for Baking, any little imperfections were from the way it baked, not from sticking. It looked like the perfect springtime cake for sipping tea with. I let if cool for about 4 hours before slicing and the inside was perfectly done, a nice tender and close-knit crumb. The first flavor I noticed was the coconut milk, followed by a nice little crunch of coconut. I couldn't detect the rum right away but I'm sure it helped to balance the other flavors.

Two out of three little taste testers liked this one, husband was a no try because of the coconut, and I personally thought it was great and fit the title of Tea Cake perfectly. I'm looking forward to some with some strawberry compote and whipped cream later, yum :)

Carrot Cake -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

I have three Sweet Melissa Sunday treats to share, I had been trying to bake along and just got too swamped to blog about them! First up is carrot cake, this was our pick for today, chosen for us by Julie at Little Bit of Everything, thank you Julie! You can find the recipe for this delicious carrot cake here at Julie's site if you do not have The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

~ mountain of shredded carrots ~

I changed up this cake a little bit, mainly by baking it in a bundt pan instead of the traditional layer cake as written in the recipe. I saw fellow SMS Baker Nina mention she was using a bundt pan in the P&Q section for this recipe and thought that was such a great idea, I hope she doesn't mind I baked this cake in a bundt also :) My second change to this recipe was to swap out the walnuts for raisins, we were out of walnuts and even though we have just about every other nut on hand, I didn't want to use pecans or macadamias because then my picky husband wouldn't have even tried this cake. I added in the raisins because we all like raisins, especially the kids, and we just bought four pounds of raisins at Sam's Club -- what better way to start using 'em up than carrot cake?

Lastly, I left off the frosting. The cake was supposed to be frosted with a delicious sounding orange cream cheese frosting, but picky husband hates cream cheese, and even though I love it, I figured I wanted to make this cake to his liking, especially since I had already omitted the nuts for his tastes. End result? An amazing carrot bundt cake! I dusted it with powdered sugar, and everyone eagerly clamored around for a taste, and yes, even picky husband liked it! This cake reminds me of a sweet quick bread taste and texture, which I love, and I'm betting it will be great with a cup of tea :)

Next up to share is a pitcher of Strawberry Lemonade, picked for us to try by Jessica at My Baking Heart -- you can find the recipe for this delicious drink, and a cute picture of her special birthday glass here at her site.

We love strawberries and lemonade so this was a huge hit for the whole family. Will be making this one again for sure!

One more late SMS treat to share, Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake, picked for us to try back in January by Raeann of Basically, Baby Boots -- this was a delicious pound cake, I loved the lemon and walnut combo! You can find the recipe here at her site.