Making a Bundt Cake
Bundt cakes are wonderful for parties because they offer imaginative ways to decorate the cake. The ring shape allows you fill the centre with a range of fun items. Many cake recipes can be adapted to a ring mould, or you can use a specialist recipe like those below.
Depending on the age of your child try one of the following decoration ideas:
Cake Train
For very small children, especially boys, a train decorated cake is always exciting. The easiest way to decorate a bundt cake is to buy a small plastic train and carriages, Thomas the Tank Engine is a favourite choice, and use them as part of the décor. Make your chosen cake, and ice it with fondant icing. Once the icing is in place and has been left to harden for six or eight hours, you can lay a ‘track’ the top of it using black liquorice strips and then set the train on it.Cake Garland
If your child has a December birthday, make an Angel Food Cake and cover it with green fondant icing. Then cut holly leaves and berries from red and green moulding icing and decorate the cake to look like a Christmas wreath.Angel Food Cake
This is the most famous, and most complex, cake that is usually made in a ring mould. It’s an American favourite and when you’ve cooked it you’ll know why – it has a light but luscious texture that is utterly delicious.Ingredients
- 150 grams plain flour
- 100 grams icing sugar
- 9 medium egg whites (you can freeze the egg yolks for later use)
- A quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar
- 400 grams caster sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C and sieve the plain flour and icing sugar into a bowl together, lifting the sieve to get plenty of air into the dry ingredients. Grease your ring mould or bundt pan lightly and then sprinkle some flour inside and tip out any excess.With a metal whisk, in a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together until stiff.
Now whisk in the caster sugar, adding only a tablespoon at a time and finally add the flour and sugar mixture, sifting it over the eggs, in four or five batches, folding it into the eggs in a figure of eight movement, using a large metal spoon.
Using the same spoon, transfer the mixture to the bundt pan, ensuring that you don’t knock any of the air out of it when you level the surface. Set the pan on a metal baking tray and bake for around forty minutes, until firm but springy to the fingertips.
Remove the pan from the oven, and turn the mould over onto a wire rack to cool. Only when it is totally cold should you ease it out of the mould and decorate it.
Ultimate Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 225 grams unsalted butter
- 400 grams caster Sugar
- Zest of three lemons
- 4 medium sized eggs
- 375 grams plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 235 ml milk
Decoration
- Juice of three lemons
- 150 grams granulated sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and flour a ring mould. While the oven heats, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until light-coloured and creamy, then stir in the beaten eggs, one at a time. The lemon gives this cake an increased risk of curdling so if it threatens to do so, immediately add a tablespoon of the flour to help soak up the curdling and restore the consistency.Now add alternate batches of flour and milk until all the ingredients are mixed – adding the dry ingredients alternately with the liquid means the cake retains all the air you creamed into the mixture.
Transfer to a ring mould, level the surface and cook for around an hour or until a skewer inserted into it comes out clean. Allow to stand in the ring for ten minutes before turning over onto a wire rack and removing the pan. At this point, skewer the domed tope of the cake to allow the drizzle to penetrate.
Simply stir the lemon juice and sugar together briefly – you don’t want the sugar to dissolve – then pour it slowly over the cake, allowing it to seep into the skewer holes so that it will leave deliciously brittle sugar crust on the surface. This cake can be decorated with edible flowers like nasturtiums for maximum effect.
