Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

My fetish with lemons has yet to recede or fade to the background. But it is sadly digressing fast. And I’m blaming my supplier. My supplier who has created a habit that will be hard to break, and who is breaking it for me, against my will.

Think of me as the Lindsay Lohan of the lemon world. Rehab, here I come.

I’m so sad to see my Meyer lemon train making it’s final stop at my beloved Costco. Costco has been the key ingredient in keeping my overwhelming love and sense of tartness in the front seat of my recipe list that has included both savory —Meyer Lemon Fettuccine—and sweet—Meyer Lemon Tart.

Lemons are making way for sweet strawberries and skinny asparagus, which will soon enough pass the favorite ingredient hat to home-grown tomatoes, jalapeños and the plethora of zucchini.

I’ve had this recipe for Lemon Mini Bundt Cakes for what seems like eons. It’s not like I was trying to keep it to myself, the timing just never seemed to work out. I’ve made it but never photographed it. I’ve made it with booze and I’ve delivered it to friends.

But now the time is here, it is time to end my dalliance with this lemon hybrid. Oh Mr. Meyer, I can’t quit you.

Some recipe notes:

1. This time around I’ve added chopped, dried cherries that have been soaked and plumped to give a nicely subtle chew. If you’re looking for an extra kick may I suggest recipe note #2.

2. Since I was out of Amaretto, these babies didn’t get the boozey dunk, but it is a great option if you’re looking for a little swig a ling.

3. No rosemary in the fridge, or perhaps you’re simply not a fan? Add in other aromatics like lavender or even sage to give the glaze a distinctively different taste.

4. These would be equally delicious with orange. Try it and let me know what you think.

5. Poppyseeds, craisins and even a topping with toasted almonds would kick up the flavor jets. Did I hear dunked in dark chocolate? Oh, why didn’t I think of that?

Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

Ingredients

12 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butterInstructions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a non-stick12-cake mini bundt pan and tap out any excess flour. Place dried cherries in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let steep for 5 minutes or until cherries soften and plump up. Drain, squeezing out excess water. Chop the cherries into small pieces and set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Combine the lemon zest and sugar in a small bowl. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar becomes moist and yellow. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, for about 1 or 2 minutes. Add the lemon sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy or for about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time and mix for about 1 minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the sifted flour mixture to the bowl in three batches, blending each until just mixed in and scraping the sides as needed. With the last batch of flour, also add the chopped cherries and incorporate, taking care not to over mix. Using a large cookie scoop or spoon, add the batter into the wells of the prepared pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean. As the cakes are baking, prepare the syrup glaze. Add the lemon juice and zest, water, sugar, almond extract, sprig of rosemary and butter. Heat over low heat just until the sugar dissolves then raise the heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat and let the glaze cool completely. When the cakes are ready to come out of the oven, transfer the pan to a cooling rack to rest upright in the pan for about 10 minutes, then gently tap the pan to loosen the cakes. Carefully pop the cakes out of the pan. While they cakes are still warm, brush them with the syrup. After they are completely cool, drizzle cakes with the glaze, dividing the glaze evenly among the cakes. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired. adapted from Williams-Sonoma catalog

http://www.foodiecrush.com/2013/04/lemon-and-cherry-mini-bundt-cakes/

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of the Meyer juice, hop over to see Kim’s comprehensive list of over 125 Meyer Lemon Recipes over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

Cheers to my fellow lemonheads.

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Tagged as: bundt, cake, cherry, lemon, recipe

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Devil’s Food Bundt Cake with Chocolate Espresso Ganache

We all know January is a month of renewal. But in my world it’s also a month of birthdays. Including my own.

One of my treasured birthday traditions comes from my sweet friend Laura, who for every birthday would give me a card with my “If you were born on this day…” horoscope cut out from the newspaper or printed out from online. I’ve never been an avid follower of horoscopes, life signs and the like, but I do get a kick of foretelling what might be in my future for the coming year. As the years have progressed, I’ve actually discovered some real similarities in my astrological sign, my life and personality. It’s somewhat thrilling and eerie at the same time.

Oddly enough, four friends who are some of my closest comrades at this time of my life—Kim, Susie, Sherrie and Angie—are also January babies, each of them sharing a birthday within one week of mine. Somehow our Capricorn earth sign/Aquarius air sign are oddly compatible. I read it is a union of opposites, resulting in prolific relationships. Well, that part must be true, because I sure do like these ladies…

Me? I’m a Capricornian, born on the Capricorn/Aquarius cusp between January 16 and January 22, and scarily close to the personality description those star-followers have deemed me to be, both the good and the bad.

I’m stubborn but creative with lots of ideas and fantasies of what could be. Traditional but offbeat. Security craving but independent. And I have a tendency to see both sides of things, which can be good and bad, thanks to the Aquarian pulling me one way and the Capricorn pulling me in another. Just don’t make me order first at a restaurant because inevitably I change my mind.

But as Paula Abdul is quick to say, “You own that, girl.” And I do, as I try to relish in the good and improve on what I can.

In the past two weeks I’ve baked this cake twice already. Once for Angie’s birthday dinner and again for my own. Sherrie’s birthday is this week so she might just be finding one in her kitchen too. It’s that good. Too good not to share. I better get baking for my Kim & Susie, wouldn’t want anyone to be left out of all of this goodness.

The original devil’s food cake recipe is from my go-to Cook’s Illustrated The New Best Recipe and is usually baked in the traditional style, 3-tier cake. My tiered cakes usually end in a fail, and the first time I made this cake wasn’t for a test, it was for a real life dinner so I went the tried and true route of using my trusty bundt pan.

Do you know how to tell if the cake is going to turn out delicious? When the batter tastes too good to quit sampling. But I had to put my foot down at some point or we were going to end up with a pint sized bundt.

The crumb on this cake is one of the best I’ve ever tasted, amazingly light and airy, thanks to the combination of cake flour and regular flour and the recipe didn’t call for much in relation to the size of the cake. It’s pure chocolate decadence, if you’re into that sort of thing. Of which, I am.

I toyed around with making a buttercream frosting but that would mean making the swirls look all pretty and nice and it would hide the trademark ridges of a bundt. So I decided to go with a simple (yes, that is one of my mantras) ganache. Since I had leftover coffee in the coffee maker (when will I ever figure out that I don’t drink 6 cups in the morning?) I figured a little bitterness to all that sweet chocolate would be an amazing combo. To give it a little more oomph I added in some instant espresso.

Oh my. Oh my. It was like the stars aligned. And I was more than happy to be part of this cake’s rising moon.

Okay, you tell me: Is this coincidence? I’m writing this post and I casually clicked on my daily horoscope for today. I may become a believer afterall. Here is what it says:

Daily Horoscope, Wednesday, January 23, 2013 
“Today you may discover that you have a previously untapped talent for the occult sciences, Aquarius. This might involve astrology, numerology, alchemy, or using oracles. (WHOA, I AM AT THIS MOMENT WRITING A POST ABOUT HOROSCOPES, NEVER HAVE THOUGHT TO BEFORE.) A class or workshop could be involved. (I AM ATTENDING ALTITUDE DESIGN SUMMIT TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY.) You tend to be intuitive by nature, and studying these fields may offer an opportunity to train that ability to a higher level of accuracy. Find an expert in one of those areas.” (I WILL, I WILL, I PROMISE!)

Devil’s Food Bundt Cake with Chocolate Espresso Ganache

Ingredients

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 sticks, softened to room temperature for espresso chocolate ganache ¼ cup brewed coffee, at room temperature Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a non-stick bundt pan with butter then coat with a light dusting of flour, getting into all of the crevices. Shake out excess flour and set aside. Place unsweetened chocolate squares in a large ziploc bag, seal bag then firmly but gently pound chocolate into chunks with the flat edge of a meat tenderizer. Remove from bag and place in a small bowl with the dutch-processed cocoa and pour boiling water over chocolate. Mix well to combine and set aside. In a large bowl or on a piece of parchment paper, sift the flours, baking soda and salt and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and cream for another 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of mixing bowl. At medium-high speed, add eggs one at a time, mixing for about 30 seconds in between each addition. Scrape sides of bowl again then add sour cream and vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds or until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add ? of the flour mixture, then add half of the chocolate mixture and mix to combine. Repeat ending with the flour mixture being careful not to overbeat. Remove the bowl from the mixer, scrape sides and mix well by hand until incorporated. Pour the batter into bundt pan, evening out the top of the batter. Bake on the middle rack for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven, rest in pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely. While cake is cooling, make the ganache. In a double boiler or a small pan filled with 1-inch of water topped with a glass or metal bowl, melt butter and chocolate together, stirring every minute or so until melted. Remove from heat or from bottom boiler and stir in brewed coffee, instant espresso and vanilla. Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl to avoid lumps and whisk well. If you prefer a stiffer ganache, add more powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Let cool to room temperature. If ganache becomes too stiff to drizzle on cake, add a bit of hot water or hot coffee to thin. Once cake is cooled, place on a cake platter and drizzle with ganache. Serve and enjoy. Cake will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. http://www.foodiecrush.com/2013/01/devils-food-bundt-cake-chocolate-espresso-ganache/

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Pin It Tagged as: bundt cake, cake, desserts and sweets, devils food cake, espresso, ganache, recipe

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