Bready or Not: Cardamom Bundt Cake with Coffee Glaze
It’s June and hey, let’s eat cake! Cardamom Cake with Coffee Glaze. A bundt cake full of sugar and glory and cardamom-y goodness.
I read a lot of books. I also read a lot of magazines. One of my favorite things to do is hit up a good used book store or library book sale and buy stacks of older food magazines to raid for recipes.
That’s how I found the original recipe for this in an October 2013 issue of Country Living. I modified it, removing pistachios and tweaking here and there, and created a cake that earned the utter adoration of my husband’s co-workers.
Coffee and cardamom is a fantastic flavor combination. You might remember the Cardamom Coffee Pound cake I posted last fall. This bundt cake is like that awesome loaf cake, and so much more.
It’s bigger, for one, being a full-size cake. It has a kinda pound cake thing going, too. The sour cream does miraculous thing for cake texture, creating crumb that is dense, not crumbly.
This is a cake you can eat out of hand, no saucer required. And you’ll want to lick your fingers clean, too, because the glaze includes espresso powder (one of my favorite ingredients to keep around) and sugar.
If the caffeine doesn’t boost your day, you know the sugar will!
Bready or Not: Cardamom Bundt Cake with Coffee Glaze
Ingredients
Bundt cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature, plus more to grease pan
- dried breadcrumbs fine texture, to dust pan
- cooking spray
- 2 1/3 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream 8 ounces
Coffee glaze
- 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon milk or half & half, plus more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Generously butter a 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan. Dust the pan with fine bread crumbs; a toasted and pulverized half heel of bread will do. Apply cooking spray over the bread crumbs.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, use a mixer on medium to beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla extract, beating until very pale yellow.
- Reduce the mixer speed and alternate between adding the flour mix and the sour cream into the butter blend.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, using a rubber spatula. Bake cake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the cake comes out dry with only a few moist crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, then invert cake onto rack to completely cool. Once cool, move cake to cake plate and prepare glaze.
- Whisk together sugar, espresso powder, and cocoa powder. Add milk and stir, adding more milk as needed until glaze is just thin enough to drizzle. Dribble over cake.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Hunter’s Cake
It’s April. We’re overdue for a cake recipe, yes? How about some Hunter’s Cake?
This is a cake that’s designed for some fantasy-style questing. The crumb is tender to eat but dense, so it doesn’t crumble much.
There’s no frosting, no fussiness. Wrap up slices of this cake to go in a lunch box, a picnic basket, a backpack, or Hobbit’s leather pouch.
Use whatever kind of chocolate you want. I used milk chocolate, because that’s what I tend to keep around. Whatever kind you use, be sure to coat the chocolate chips in flour before you add them to the batter. That will prevent them from sinking.
This cake is perfect to eat right out of hand. No fork required.
Modified from Rescued Recipes by Jan D’Atri in the Arizona Republic.
Bready or Not: Hunter's Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 8 ounces chocolate chips any kind
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan, tube pan, or angel food cake pan.
- In a large bowl, beat together the shortening, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add eggs one at a time until smooth, followed by most of the flour.
- In a small bowl, stir together the chocolate chips and remaining flour; this is important, as it will keep the chips from sinking in the batter as it bakes.
- Stir the floured chocolate and walnuts into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 55 minutes and use the toothpick test to check for doneness; bake longer if necessary. The top of the cake will be golden brown and will likely develop cracks.
- Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then invert onto a rack to completely cool. Store covered at room temperature. Cake is great to slice and pack for adventures!
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cake created something of a sensation at my husband’s work. Imagine profanity-laden joyful proclamations about this being the best cake ever.
The thing that surprised me most about their feedback was that they didn’t even realize there was pumpkin in the cake. It was all about the chocolate and the sheer moistness of the cake itself.
Well, the secret to that tender crumb: canned pumpkin puree. Ta-da!
The chocolate IS the star here. I mean, there’s a reason the name starts with “triple chocolate.” You have cocoa and chocolate chips in the cake, and a chocolate glaze that is also topped with chocolate chips.
Does that mean this should really be called a “quadruple chocolate pumpkin cake?” Dang it. I’m a writer. Don’t expect me to do math.
Modified from A Dash of Sanity.
Bready or Not: Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
To Coat Pan
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa sifted
Cake
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup cocoa sifted
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup milk almondmilk works
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Glaze
- 3 Tablespoons butter diced
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet
- 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
- 2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips for topping
Instructions
- Prepare the bundt pan. In the microwave, melt the tablespoon of butter. Stir in the tablespoon of sifted cocoa to make a paste. Use a pastry brush to completely coat the inside of the pan. Set aside.
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and eggs.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, sifted cocoa, and cinnamon. Gradually add the flour mix to the sugar mix.
- Mix in the milk and pumpkin puree. Once everything is just combined, stir in the chocolate chips. Pour thick batter into the ready bundt pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test.
- Set pan on rack for about ten minutes and remove pan by upending the cake onto the rack. Let it completely cool.
- Once the cake is cool, make the glaze. In a small microwave-safe bowl, place the butter, chocolate chips, and corn syrup. Heat for 30 seconds or so and stir thoroughly, then briefly heat again if needed to finish melting.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze onto the cake, spreading it around as needed. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top to finish it off. Set in fridge to set for several hours or overnight--chocolate cakes are better after a day (if you can restrain yourself that long)!
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze
CAKE + PIE MONTH continues with another dose of maple–this time in the glaze atop this tender cinnamon-filled bundt cake!
If you don’t have maple flavor around, worry not. This cake will be just fine if you use vanilla extract instead. You could always add more cinnamon into the glaze, too, just for a spicy boost.
I love using sour cream in cake batter like this. It creates such a tender, moist texture. You can always substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream, too.
I spied the original version of this recipe in the Arizona Republic one morning. I knew I had to make it… but I also knew it needed some modifications. How could it be called a cinnamon coffee cake if it only had one teaspoon of cinnamon? Nope, nope. And of course, I had to give it a maple glaze.
If you’re getting burned out on maple (*cough*blasphemy*cough*), worry not. Next week, I finish off Cake + Pie Month with Cardamom Coffee Pound Cake! Unlike this week’s recipe, the pound cake actually includes coffee in the batter and in the glaze.
But, you know, I think this week’s recipe has a mighty fine glaze as it is.
Modified from Sour Cream Cinnamon Coffee Cake in the Arizona Republic, March 16, 2016.
Bready or Not: Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the glaze:
- 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 Tablespoon milk or half and half
- 1/2 teaspoon maple flavor or substitute vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Use nonstick spray with flour to thoroughly coat a 9 or 10-inch bundt pan, or use extra butter and a liberal dusting of flour. Discard any excess flour.
- In a large bowl, beat together the 1 cup butter and the sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla and sour cream.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly combine the two bowls; don't overmix. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread so the top is even.
- Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick deeply inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on wire rack, then flip the cake out of the pan to completely cool on the rack.
- When the cake is completely cool, make the glaze. In a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and maple flavor (or vanilla extract). Add more milk, if needed, for desired textured. Set cake on a serving plate and dribble glaze all over top of cake.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Limed-Up Cream Cheese Pound Cake
For our second installment of CAKE/PIE MONTH, I present a tender, moist pound cake that’s embodied with a fresh lime flavor!
To glaze this cake, I tested out a technique I saw on the Great British Baking Show. It worked like a charm, and it’s something I’ll do with all of my poke cakes in a bundt pan from here onward.
If you haven’t seen the Great British Baking Show (known in the UK by its original moniker of Great British Bake Off), GO SEE IT. It’s on Netflix, YouTube, and the PBS website. This is the show that helped me to survive my edits for Breath of Earth and to write Call of Fire in one month. Not only is it about creating lovely baked goods, it’s about achieving technical, chemical perfection in a reality show environment that is completely positive. No back-stabbing, no contrived drama.
The bakers work under an extraordinary time crunch. In one episode, a baker needed to glaze a bundt cake very quickly. They poked the cake all over and put it back in the pan to pour the glaze. This way, most of the glaze went INSIDE the cake, as intended for a poke cake, and did not puddle the plate.
I watched. Mind. Blown.
The technique totally works. My bundt cake was perfectly moist all the way through because the glaze had a chance to soak in from all angles.
This bundt cake has such a lovely flavor to go along with the moist texture, too. This is the kind of cake that is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert, and is great with fruit, ice cream, or a simple cup of coffee.
It would be great to eat while watching the Great British Baking Show.
Modified from Relish Magazine.
Bready or Not: Limed-Up Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter 3 sticks, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese 1 box, room temperature
- 3 cups white sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 limes zested and juiced
Glaze:
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick
- 3 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar optional for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. Thoroughly grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs alternately with flour, mixing well after each addition. Add salt, vanilla extract, almond extract, and the zest and juice of both limes. Mix until combined, taking care not to overbeat. That could dry out the cake.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes and then plop it onto a rack to cool some more. Don't wash the pan yet!
- While the cake is still warm, use skewers or chopsticks to poke holes all over the top.
- Mix the glaze ingredients (sugar, butter, lime juice) in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil for about one minute, then remove from heat.
- Set the cake back inside the pan; poke more holes in the base of the cake. Slowly pour or ladle glaze over the holes. Let that soak in. Use over half the glaze, then carefully tip the cake onto a cake plate. Slowly drizzle the rest of the glaze into the holes.
- Let the cake cool completely. Add dusting of powdered sugar before serving
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Maple Sour Cream Bundt Cake
IT IS BOOK RELEASE MONTH. IT IS CAKE AND PIE MONTH. Oddly enough, the emphasis will be on maple. Gee, you might think I like the stuff.
I am starting out with what might be the best bundt cake recipe I have ever made. Yes, it even rivals the infamous Tunnel of Fudge Cake.
This recipe is extremely close in flavor and texture to the holy-moley-amazing Maple Walnut Cake, minus the walnuts. The Maple Walnut Cake is stunning to eat but it’s also very time-consuming to make because it’s a layer cake.
This bundt cake is EASY. It whips together in no time.
The cake itself is like a moist pound cake–soft, tender, and sweet with maple.
I opted for a glaze rather than a frosting. Tweak the liquids to make that as thick as you want, but really, the cake is sweet on its own so you don’t need a big layer here.
Some of these pictures look almost pornographic, don’t they?
Yes, the glaze is as good as it looks. You can’t go wrong with powdered sugar, cinnamon, butter, and maple flavor. Well. I guess you can go wrong if you’re diabetic.
CONSUME AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Modified from Overtime Cook.
Bready or Not: Maple Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 5 eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple flavor optional but recommended
- 1 cup pure maple syrup NOT flavored pancake syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tb unsalted butter melted
- 3/4 tsp maple flavor or vanilla extract
- 1 Tb water more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick spray with added flour, or grease well and sift flour over the surface.
- In large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour in the vanilla extract, maple flavor, and maple syrup.
- In a small bowl, sift together the baking powder and flour. Add some of the flour mix to the big bowl, followed by sour cream, going back and forth until all of the cake ingredients are mixed together.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for about ten minutes in the pan and then carefully plop the cake onto a wire rack to completely cool down. Once it is room temperature, it's time to glaze.
- Mix together all of the glaze ingredients together EXCEPT the water. Dribble in the water. Stir well. Add more water if needed to achieve desired consistency.
- OM NOM NOM!
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