Maple and Walnut Bundt Cake

The last cake I baked for the Legion Cake raffle was this Maple and Walnut Bundt Cake.
And it was delicious.

I did go online and look for recipes, saw this one, and it looked amazing, and then I found this one,   and it looked good as well.

Then I decided to go with a my tried and true bundt cake recipe with a few changes.  I added maple syrup and walnuts.

And it was good, not too sweet, but had a lovely maple flavor.   I loved the addition of the walnuts.

But where this cake really went over top, taste wise, in my opinion was the Candied Walnuts and the frosting.

There was a major YUM factor there.

So much so, I had to share how to make the Candied Maple Walnuts, however the cake also deserves its own moment of glory.

Maple and Walnut Bundt Cake

Yield: 12-16 servings

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - adapted from a couple of recipes

prep time: 15 Mcook time: 55 Mtotal time: 70 M

Maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore, you can use it in cakes as well. And this cake hits all the right notes for a festive cake.

ingredients:

Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups self rising flour
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or brandy.
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting

• 3 cups confectioner sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• 1 oz butter

instructions:

How to cook Walnut and Maple Bundt Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and grease and flour a bundt pan.
2. Cream butter and sugar together for several minutes, until almost white in color.  Add one egg and mix well. Add the second egg and mix in.  Then add a tablespoon or so of the flour and finally the third egg.  Mix the milk and maple syrup together.    Add one third of the flour, mix in, add half the milk mixture.  Mix well, then add another third of the flour and then the remainder of the milk. Finish off with the final third of the flour.    Take the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chopped walnuts and the vanilla extract or brandy.   Pour mixture into the prepared bundt pan and bake for about 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Invert onto a cooling rack and remove the pan.  Let cool.

Frosting

1. Whisk together all the ingredients and put into a piping bag.  Pipe a generous amount around the top of the cooled cake in a pleasing manner.  Decorate with the candied walnuts and serve. 
2. Note: if the frosting is too runny, you can always add more sugar.  The butter and cream cheese help it to set up nicely.  

Created using The Recipes Generator

Triple Lemon and Dried Cranberry Bundt Cake

I love to bake cakes and do so every couple of weeks for the Legion Cake Raffle, as well as baking cakes to order.
They raffle off chances on the cake and the winner usually shares the cake with everyone at the time.
Although, they've been known to take them home as well.
The money raised from the raffle goes towards community projects, and is my small way of giving back to the community.

When I bake a bundt cake it always seems to go over well,  and this week was no exception.
I had received several lemons at Farmshare and decided that with all that I should make a lemon themed cake.
I danced with making a Lemon Chiffon Cake, but I've made one of those in the past.   And it was good.
I wanted to candy some of the lemon slices, but ended up putting way too much sugar on the lemon slices to candy them, and they didn't turn out that well, but they taste good.   I've candied Orange and Lemon slices before.
I did reserve the sugar syrup I cooked the lemon slices in,  and set that aside.

My take on this?  It was about perfect.  There was a lovely lemony flavor without it being overbearing.  

Triple Lemon and Dried Cranberry Bundt Cake

Yield: 12-15 Servings

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from my mother's recipe

prep time: 15 Mcook time: 55 Mtotal time: 70 M

This light, bright bundt cake is almost the perfect ratio of lemon flavor to cake.

ingredients:

Cake

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups Self Rising Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup milk ( add a tablespoon or two more if the batter seems too thick)
• Zest from 2 lemons, reserve a 1/4 of the zest for the glaze
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

Candied Lemon Syrup

• 1 thinly sliced lemon
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water

Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon water (if needed)

Topping

• zest from 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar (more if desired)
• 1-2 tablespoons finely minced dried cranberries

instructions:

How to cook Triple Lemon and Dried Cranberry Bundt Cake

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan
2. Sift flour and baking powder together, if desired. Add the lemon zest and stir together. Set aside.
3. Roughly chop the dried cranberries and toss with 1- 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until white or the sugar has mainly dissolved. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix in. The mixture will look a little curdled. Add a couple tablespoons of flour and mix in. Then add 1/2 the flour and mix, add the milk, mix, and finish off with the remaining flour.
5. Fold in the floured cranberries, and pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes, checking for doneness after 50 minutes.

Candied Lemon Syrup

1. Heat water to boiling, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the lemon slices and simmer over low heat for one hour, minimum.
2. Take the lemon slices out of the syrup, dip in sugar, place on silpat or nonstick parchment paper and bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes, turn the lemon slices over and bake an additional 20 minutes or until dry.
3. Keep the lemon slices to decorate the cake or place in a covered container for snacking on.

Glaze

1. Mix 1 -1 1/2 cups confections sugar with the juice of one lemon, and drizzle that evenly over the cake. You can make it thinner with the addition of a teaspoon of water or thicker by adding more confectioners sugar.

Topping

1. Using the reserved lemon zest, add it to a 1/4 cup sugar along with 1-2 tablespoons finely minced dried Cranberries. Mix together and sprinkle over the top of the cake to decorate it a little.

Assembly of cake

1. When the cake comes out of the oven, let rest in the bundt pan for 2-3 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack.
2. Place a plate under the cooling rack and cake. Take 1/2-3/4 cup of the lemon sugar syrup and drizzle evenly over the hot cake. The sugar syrup will soak into the cake. You can also take skewer and poke holes in the cake if you wish. The excess sugar syrup will collect on the plate. I use the plate I'm going to serve the cake on, as the excess syrup will just soak into the cake later on. Let the cake cool for at least 2 hours, then top with a glaze.
3. Mix 1 -1 1/2 cups confections sugar with the juice of one lemon, and drizzle that evenly over the cake. You can make it thinner with the addition of a teaspoon of water or thicker by adding more confectioners sugar.
4. Drizzle that evenly over the cake, in a pleasing manner. Picking up the cake, carefully transfer to the serving platter.
5. Topping- optional
6. Using the reserved lemon zest, add it to a 1/4 cup sugar along with 1-2 tablespoons finely minced dried Cranberries. Mix together and sprinkle over the top of the cake to decorate it a little.
7. Serve with a smile.

All recipes and their respective images are either original or adapted and credited, and are all the sole property of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking © 2011-2019, with all rights reserved thereof.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Banana Peanut Butter Chip Bundt with Peanut Butter Glaze

I admit to almost doing a repeat of a cake, shock, surprise!!! for the Legion Cake Raffle.  
I like doing something different each time I bake a cake for them, with the exception of the chocolate cake, cause that's always popular.

I had made a Banana Bundt Cake last year, and while it was good, it wasn't quite right.

 So I played with the recipe.

 I changed it up a lot, well, a little.  I thought the other cake was a touch too sweet, and then there was that package of peanut butter chips I found hiding, in the corner, in the pantry.
 I had some bananas in the freezer as well. 


So...
 
I did make a couple of changes to the original recipe, but that's mainly because one of the bananas went splat onto the kitchen floor.

I swear those over ripe bananas are escape artists, but that one escaped right into the garbage can.

I also thought the original cake, while good, was a touch sweet.   So I cut down the sugar a bit, subbed out some brown sugar for part of it, and rather than top it with the toffee sauce which was good, I wanted a slightly lighter touch.  I got my inspiration here for the sauce.  Her's was vegan, mine, not so much, because I love butter.  Also I forgot to add any vanilla extract.  Next time though, I might have to try adding maybe a touch of brandy or?
I also had some real Maple Syrup a friend had given me awhile back, and there was just enough to make the sauce.

The recipe does make a large bundt cake with enough batter for a 4 inch sampler cake.

 You can see the Peanut butter chips in the crust here.

 My sampler cake, with just a drizzle of the peanut sauce on top.

I had to try some, how else can I make sure that the whole thing is edible?

 Here it is.

Yield: 12 servingsAuthor: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking (Adapted from several recipes)

Banana Peanut Butter Chip Bundt Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

prep time: 15 minscook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 hours and 15 mins

This cake is nothing like regular Banana Bread. It's not that dense and holds up beautifully.

ingredients:

Cake

3 cups Self-Rising Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 cup Salted Butter
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp. Brandy

3 large eggs, separated

2 large bananas, mashed ( 3 would be better)

1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup or 2 Peanut Butter Chips

Peanut Butter Sauce

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

1/4 cup Smooth Peanut Butter

instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 12 cup bundt pan.  Set aside.

Separate the eggs, and beat the egg whites until stiff.  Set aside while you prepare the rest.   Mix the dry ingredients together, set aside  while you cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks together, until the sugar has broken down a little.  Add the mashed bananas and mix well.  Then add the buttermilk and flour in two parts, alternating each one. Add the Peanut Butter chips, fold in.   At the end, fold in the egg whites, carefully but making sure to blend them without leaving any little bits of egg.   Pour the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top a little. 

Bake for 55 minutes and check for doneness after 50 minutes, increasing the baking time by 5 minutes at a time.  
Turn out onto a wire rack and remove the pan.  Let cool. 

 Make the peanut butter sauce while the cake is baking.    In a sauce pan or pot, add the butter, peanut butter and maple syrup together. Heat just until the butter is melted, and whisk together.  Take off of the heat and allow to cool.       

As soon as the cake is cooled, spoong the peanut butte sauce over the cake in a pleasing pattern and serve. 

Note: This makes enough batter for a large bundt cake, as well as a 4 inch 'sampler' cake.  You can cut the flour back to 2 1/2 cups and the buttermilk back to 3/4 cup to make just enough batter to fill the bundt pan.  It will still be good.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Loquat Tiramisu Cake

I love it when friends gift me produce from their gardens.  My eyes lit up when a friend told me to come pick some Loquats, as their tree had a major bumper crop this year, but then she brought me a bag of fresh picked Loquats.
I sat and looked at them, and my mind immediately flew to making some preserves.  And then... the lightbulb went on and I knew I could use them in a cake.

This was my week to make a cake for the Legion Cake Raffle.  I bake a cake for them every other week, and it's raffled off, with the proceeds going into the community for various causes.   My little way of giving back, and best of all, I get to bake a cake.

I toyed with adding the preserves directly into the cake batter, but honestly, I'm not crazy about the taste or texture adding fruit preserves to cake batter.
Then I got another 'AHA' moment after tasting the fresh preserves I'd made, and I knew what I was going to do with them.

I'll share how I made the preserves in another post.
I had Mascarpone cheese in the fridge, as well as some cream cheese and I thought that maybe the creaminess of the cheese would contrast nicely with the preserves.
And I was totally and completely on point with that. 
I did taste test, cause ummm, just cause I thought it would taste good, didn't mean it would. 

My mouth went "ERMAGARD!!!!!" give me more,  and I had to stop the taste testing, cause I wanted to leave some of each for the cake.
TMI?
Here's the process, with the full recipe at the bottom.

The bottom layer with the holes poked into.

Brushed with Loquat Syrup

The Loquat preserves with the Mascarpone piped into a circle on top.
 

Second Layer with a light layer (almost naked cake) of Mascarpone on the sides and Loquat Preserves on top.

And this is how it looked after being cut.  This was so totally delicious. 

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking (adapted from many recipes)

prep time: 30 Mcook time: 30 Mtotal time: 60 M

ingredients:

Sponge

• 6 eggs
• 150 gram sugar
• 150 gram self rising flour

Filling and topping

• 256 gram Mascarpone
• 8 oz. Full fat cream cheese
• 6 tablespoons confectioner sugar
• 3 tablespoon. Heavy cream
• 3/4-1 cup Loquat Preserves

Wash

• 1/2 cup Loquat Syrup  (from the loquat preserves, or use a simple syrup with lemon or orange extract)

instructions:

Sponge

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees ( or 160C convection).
2. Prepare 2 9" round pans , by greasing the bottom and laying a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom and greasing that as well. I use my Baker's Touch spray for this.
3. Whisk the 6 eggs and sugar together for about 5-7 minutes, until foamy, light colored and almost doubled in size. It should leave a trail on top when the whisk is lifted. Sift the self rising flour over it and cut in lightly, using a spatula or large spoon. Pour into greased and parchment covered pans, and tilt it a little so that it is even, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the sponge has risen, is lightly browned and springy to the touch.
4. Take out of oven, let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes or so and flip out sponges onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Remove the parchment paper.

Filling

1. Beat the Mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, confectioners sugar and cream together until smooth. You will get a creamy spread able frosting. Spoon it into a ziploc bag or a frosting bag for the next step.
2. Place a cake round onto the serving plate when the cake is cooled. Poke holes into the surface of the cake with the smaller end of a chopstick. Brush with loquat syrup.
3. Spread 1/2-3/4 cup of the Loquat preserves evenly over the cake. 
4. Then using the bag with the mascarpone filling, pipe one quarter of the filling in strips 1/2 an inch apart on the sponge on top of the preserves.  Place the second sponge on top, and brush with some more of the loquat syrup if desired. Pipe another third of the Mascarpone on top,  Spread evenly.  Using the final third of the mascarpone filling, spread a thin layer on the outside of the cake.   You can then decorate the top with some more of the Loquat preserves if desired.   

Created using The Recipes Generator

Spice Bundt Cake with Lemon Cream

I made such a good cake last week for the Legion Cake Raffle.

I know I've mentioned that I do this a bunch of times already, so I won't bore you with the details.

I also like to make something different every time, and this week was no exception.

However, I had a fail cake, something that rarely happens to me.    This cake barely rose, and in fact, it may have risen a little, but it sure wasn't by much.
So... I did what any self respecting baker would do, I made another one, and threw it gently into the freezer to cool.
The top one was the final cake, the bottom one, the fail.

I'd also had the idea that I could put a layer of homemade Lemon Curd in the middle, and so I made some.
While I don't want to call it a total mistake, it was a trifle strong.
OK, so my taste buds puckered up and went into hiding when I taste tested it.  Gee...
But I wasn't down for the count yet.
I grabbed some whipping cream out of the fridge, whipped it up and then folded the lemon curd into it.
WOW, is all I can say, it tempered the sharpness of the lemon curd, and well, let me just say, I have an idea that I want to play with for the future.  But for today, I just cut the cooled bundt cake in half, added some of what I'm now calling lemon cream, and then added more to the outside of the cake.
I'd had enough batter from the second cake that I also baked a little mini cake, so I taste tested it. 
Dang, it was good.
However, I did feel that there needed to be something more, and then the light bulb lit up.  I'd made some Peanut Brittle for a friend, and had made two batches, so I had some on hand.  I chopped it up and sprinkled it on top. 
And that was the crowning touch.
Perfection... even if I say so myself.

Yield: 12 ServingsAuthor: Sidsel Munkholm

Spice Bundt Cake with Lemon Cream

This Spice Bundt cake goes so well with the Lemon Cream topping and is perfect for any special occasion.

ingredients:

Cake

• 3/4 Cup Butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Spice Mixture (recipe follows)
• 2 3/4 cups sifted self rising flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Spice Mixture

•  2 tablespoons Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons whole allspice - ground or 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Lemon Cream

• 2 cups Lemon Curd
• 2 cups lightly whipped cream
• Optional:  2 teaspoons sugar added to the cream.
• You can add more sugar to this if you like.  Just whip it into the cream.

instructions:

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan/.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together for at least 5 minutes, until it is lighter in color. While it is creaming, sift the flour, potato starch and spices together.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix together and add half the milk.
5. Alternate adding the flour and milk together, finishing off with the flour. I like to add the vanilla to the milk when mixing the cake.
6. Pour the batter into the bundt pan, and bake for 55 minutes, testing for doneness by using a toothpick and also by touching the top of the cake lightly and seeing if it springs back.

Lemon Cream

1. Lemon cream - Whip the cream lightly, not stiff. Fold the Lemon curd into the cream, refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Let cool and then cut the cake in half, spread 1 3/4 cups of the Lemon Cream in the middle. You can use less, but aim for a good layer.
3. Frost the outside with the remainder of the Lemon Cream. I find that if I pipe it onto the sides with a star tip, it's easy to spread out. Decorate the top with the remainder of the Lemon Cream
4. You can also dress it with some crushed and chopped peanut brittle if desired.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Created using The Recipes Generator