Bundt Heaven

A few days before Christmas I found myself walking through the baking section of Bed, Bath & Beyond searching for a very specific sized casserole dish in which to serve my creamed onions.  My eyes scanned the aisles for the right-sized dish and were struck by a very unusual looking bundt pan.  This bundt pan was so beautiful it took my breath away.  The pan was architectural in nature, with sharp, high art deco arches instead of low curves, and reminded me of the movie Metropolis.

I then stood there staring at it for a crazy long time having an internal debate about whether or not I should buy it.  I really wanted it but in no way needed it, it would inspire my baking but I already had a long list of “inspirations” I needed to bake my way through, it was super unique but I already had too many “unique” baking pans that only got used once and then stuck in a cabinet.  Ultimately reality set in and won because I still needed to pick up the casserole dish and really couldn’t manage carrying another heavy item on top of it.  So I decided to leave the fabulous pan and ask Santa to bring me a bundt pan for Christmas, hoping that he would pick the right one.

A Bundt Miracle

Santa came through and did bring me a bundt pan as I’d been hoping, now all I had to do was find a recipe to make.  Usually finding a recipe is easy because whenever I come across something I like I save it in a folder, so when I’m looking I can find what I need there.  But when I checked my folder it quickly dawned on me that bundt cakes aren’t particularly popular anymore because I didn’t have a single saved recipe – and my folder goes back many, many years.  I did have about 20 recipes for naked cakes but that’s a subject for another post.  Anyway it was okay because I like to do research and more than anything I like to do research about new things to bake.

A Recipe for All Seasons

After flipping through old magazines and lots of recipe collection books I found myself with another problem – too many recipes from which to choose!  The sheer volume of options paralyzed me because of course I wanted to bake them all.  That’s when I decided things had gone on too long and I brought in the big guns – my daughter – and asked her to pick one for me.  After giving her all of the options I’d found it took her about 2 minutes to make a choice and I’m pretty sure she did it based on the recipe that seemed the most “chocolatey” out of all of them.  And that brings us to the Chocolate Almond Bundt Cake, which turned out amazing – all family members approved – and is without a doubt a keeper!

Chocolate Almond Bundt Heaven

This recipe combines a very moist, chocolatey cake with a creamy chocolate glaze and a layer of toasted almonds nestled in between.  As always, read through the entire recipe and make sure you have all of your ingredients out and ready to go before you get started.  The cake itself calls for Dutch Processed Cocoa while the glaze calls for regular unsweetened cocoa and it’s important to note THEY ARE NOT THEY SAME THING, it is important that you use exactly what the recipe calls for or it won’t turn out right.  If you aren’t finding Dutch Process in the regular baking aisle try the Organic or Natural aisle, some grocers will have it there but not in the actual baking section of the store.

 

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUNDT CAKE – THE RECIPE

Ingredients

3/4 cup of butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs at room temperature

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare your bundt pan for baking, either with butter and flour or baking spray.

Step 2

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated, and wiping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix in.  In a separate bowl combine flour, dutch process cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Working in 1/3’s, mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then mix in 1/3 of the buttermilk.  Repeat until everything is mixed in.

Step 3

Heat a skillet over medium heat, then add sliced almonds and stir occasionally until lightly toasted and fragrant (about 3 minutes).  Spread almonds over bottom of the prepared bunt pan, then spoon batter into pan and smooth so even.

Step 4

Bake cake for 45-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow cake to rest in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then turn out and allow to cool completely.  Once cool top with Chocolate Glaze.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE – THE RECIPE

Ingredients

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Step 1

Sift confectioners sugar and cocoa into a mixing bowl.

Step 2

Add vanilla and milk and whisk until smooth.  If too stiff add a bit more milk, a teaspoon at a time.  Alternatively if too runny add a bit more confectioners sugar, a teaspoon at a time.

Tell us what you think!

Please comment below if you try the Chocolate Almond Bundt Cake recipe and let us know how it goes!  Find all of Brooklyn to the Catskills‘ recipes in the Food section of our website.  We’d love to hear what you think about our other recipes too!