Desserts

honey glazed blackberry cornmeal bundt cake #bundtbakers

Well guys, another month, another bundt cake!

This month’s theme, chosen by our amazing host Laura of Baking in Pyjamas, is “Honey”! I could not have chosen a more perfect flavor to pair with the last bundt cake of the summer if I’d tried. Thanks Laura!

I’m really excited to see what everyone comes up with to pair with this amazing ingredient. Make sure you keep reading past the recipe for all the drool-inducing cakes the #bundtbakers are sharing this month.

honey glazed blackberry cornmeal bundt cake | Brooklyn Homemaker

I’m fortunate enough to have locally produced raw honey at my disposal, so I was thrilled to have a good way to put it to use. At Whisk We sell honey that comes from Brooklyn rooftop hives, and the flavor is amazingly fresh. Each batch of honey produced by the bees has a slightly different color and flavor because they collect nectar from different flowers in different areas depending on the time of year. An unexpected benefit of buying locally produced honey is that since it’s unpasteurized it can help fight against seasonal allergies. The nectar contains traces of seasonal pollens and ingesting them with the honey helps your body build up a sort of immunity to these airborne irritants.

Buying raw unpasteurized honey that comes from a single bee keeper means that you can also be confident that it’s 100% pure honey, with no fillers or added flavors or syrups. The absolute best part of local honey though, is the flavor! It’s bright, light, and summery with subtle hints of herbs and green plants, and smells super floral, clean and fresh.

I could go on and on about raw single hive honey and how it will ruin grocery store honey for you for the rest of your days, but I won’t. Today is about cake, lest we forget. Sweet glorious bundt cake.

I recently made a cornmeal skillet cake that was so simple and homey and unfussy that I couldn’t get it out of my head. When it came time to think of a recipe that would highlight and compliment honey in all of it’s glory, I knew I had to revisit and re-imagine a combination of cornmeal and cake. Since cornmeal has such an earthy rustic flavor I thought it would marry really well with honey, and I was sure that the addition of fresh summer blackberries wouldn’t be unwelcome. Don’t fret if you cant find local honey though. While I’d highly recommend looking for some, I’m sure any honey you have will be completely delicious.

This cake has a double dose of honey, as it’s mixed into the batter and then used to make a glaze that’s poured over after baking. Blackberries and cornmeal are both assertive enough to stand up to the honey so that, while you can certainly taste it, it doesn’t overpower the cake or bring it into the realm of cloying or syrupy.

The cornmeal gives this cake an earthy, rustic flavor and a bite thats somehow both delicate and firm, with just a hint of folksy coarseness. A combination of unsalted butter and cultured buttermilk make sure that the cake is perfectly moist and tender, but I’d recommend serving this the day it’s baked or keeping it well covered for no more than two or three days. The blackberries pair really well with these homey rustic flavors and do their part to make this the perfect dessert for late summer. If you wanted to make this in the spring you could easily substitute tart wild strawberries or fresh blueberries, and in the fall I think diced pears or apples would be amazing.

Honey Glazed Blackberry Cornmeal Bundt Cake

Servings: 12 to 16-ish
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2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided (plus more for the pan)
1 cup fine cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (plus more for the pan)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
12 oz fresh blackberries

Preheat oven to 350. Generously flour and butter a 10 cup (+) non-stick bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat butter, sugar and honey together until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add vanilla, and then the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Slowly stir in 1/3 flour mixture until just combined, followed by 1/2 of the buttermilk, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Continue until all flour and buttermilk is combined. Do not over mix.

In a small bowl toss blackberries in remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold berries into batter by hand. Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze:

1/4 cup Honey
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Combine honey, confectioners sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and thin out to desired texture with milk, 1 tsp at a time. Drizzle evenly over cooled bundt.

Check out all of these delicious honey bundts! What a perfect theme to celebrate the final sunny days of summer.

A Taste of Honey by Margaret at Tea and Scones
Hipy Papy Bthuthdth Thuthda Bthuthdy Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Honey Almond Bundt Cake by Terri at Love and Confections
Honey Baba au Rhum by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
Honey Banana Bundt by Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Honey Bundt Cake with Lemon Honey Glaze by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
Honey Bunny Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
Honey Caramel Apple Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
Honey Glazed Blackberry Cornmeal Bundt Cake by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
Honey Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake by Lauren at From Gate to Plate
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
Honey Whiskey Mini Bundt Cakes with Honey Whiskey Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
Orange Hazelnut Bundt Cake by Zainab at Blahnik Baker
Whole Wheat Honey Spiced Apple Breakfast Bundtlettes by Laura at The Spiced Life

Interested in learning more about us?? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

peach, tomato, & thyme galette with vanilla yogurt

So, suddenly it’s the middle of August. How did that happen?

I feel like the last time I looked at a calendar it was early June and I had the whole summer in front of me, just waiting to unfold. But time marches on, days come and go, and suddenly we’re half way through the last full month of summer. I’m not ready to let go yet, so I’m going to do everything in my power to make the most of what’s left this sultry season.

Next week I’m heading upstate for a much needed vacation. I’m going to stay with family, get some R&R, and help my mom work on her new house. I’m also going to steal away for a few days to go camping with my sister and niece and nephews. I cannot wait. Fresh air, fresh water, clear skies, starry nights, & bug bites. Waking up in a hot tent and hearing the sound of birds chirping. Food cooked over an open fire. It really doesn’t get any better. Can you tell that I’m excited?

For now though, I’m content to eat the best of what summer has to offer. Camping trip or no camping trip, I need to make sure I get my fix of fresh produce before it’s too late. Some of the best, freshest, juiciest, most quintessentially summery things to eat are peaches and tomatoes. Especially in the late summer, these are the foods that I crave more than anything.

While I’m sure that a lot of people also love peaches and tomatoes this time of year, I would venture to guess that they think those two things should be eaten separately. Peaches are to be eaten as a sweet snack or as dessert, and tomatoes are for salads and savory dishes. Well, guess what… Those people would be dead wrong. It is possible to put a peach in a salad. It is. Try it. I dare you.

Similarly, tomatoes can be used in sweet dishes. Think about it. Tomatoes are, technically, a fruit. They’re sweet. While they are biting and acidic, and lend themselves perfectly to savory dishes and sauces, they can be so much more than marinara. At their peak in the late summer, tomatoes are sweet and bright and fruity, with a lemony acidity that works really well for desserts.

So, guess what happened…

I got the sweetest brightest little yellow cherry tomatoes the farmers market had to offer, and picked up a couple pounds of juicy ripe peaches while I was there. Then I did something totally crazy. Totally off the wall. Totally unbelievable.

I went ahead and tossed the tomatoes and the peaches together, added some sugar and lemon juice, and baked them into one big rustic galette.

I’m a madman. I know.

This dessert is crazy summery. The baked fruit is juicy and soft and thick, and the galette crust is tender and crisp, and super flaky. The filling is bursting with bright, sunny, crisp, sweet & acidic fruitiness. There’s enough sweetness to prevent the tomatoes from reading as savory, but it’s not overly sweet or cloying at all. While the tomatoes and thyme add a certain earthiness, the acidity from the lemon ties everything together and I can’t even begin to describe how well they marry with the peaches. I’m surprised that this isn’t something more people do already. Tomatoes and peaches just work so well together. I’m sure I’m not the first person to pair these flavors together, so it seems strange that it hasn’t caught on.

I could go on, but there’s a plate of this in front of me and it’s rude to type with your mouth full. Unless you hate summer, you have to make this.

Peach, Tomato, & Thyme Galette with Vanilla Yogurt

Servings: 12-ish
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Crust:
2 1/2 cups AP flour, plus more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup ice cold water

Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl, and add butter. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until the butter is in pea or pebble sized pieces. This can also be done by pulsing in a food processor.

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, lemon juice, and water, and pour this over the butter-flour mixture. Stir with a spoon or a rubber spatula until a dough forms, kneading it once or twice on the counter if needed to bring it together. Pat the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and chill it in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Filling:
2 lbs peaches, skinned and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
3/4 lb sweet cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons demerara (or any coarse raw) sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Combine peaches, tomatoes, thyme, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, & salt in a large bowl. Gently stir until well combined.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 16–inch round. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the border over the filling, pleating it as necessary, leaving the center open. Brush the outside of the crust with the egg wash, and sprinkle coarse sugar over the whole thing, crust and center.

Bake until golden brown and bubbling in center, about an hour and 10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet 10 minutes, then slide galette on parchment onto a wire rack. Let cool completely (or almost completely) before serving. Top with vanilla yogurt.

Vanilla Yogurt:
1 cup greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Spoon a hearty dollop over each slice of galette.

roasted peach and creamy vanilla pudding ice pops

I love homemade ice pops.

I mean, let’s be honest here, I also love homemade ice cream and all things sweet and frozen, especially in the summer. Hot weather basically ushers in the season of icy frozen sweet treats for me. There’s something about a homemade ice pop though that just really hits the spot on a hot day. They also happen to hit the spot on a cool day, or a rough day, a stressful day, or a great day, a lonely day, or a day spent with friends.

Making ice pops at home tends to be much easier than making ice cream and doesn’t require such an investment in special equipment. They’re also the perfect single-serving-size. Where eating ice cream requires a certain level of self control, you know you’re done with an ice pop when all that’s left is a clean wooden stick. Ice pops generally tend to be a little bit healthier too, featuring milk, yogurt, or fruit juice rather than heavy cream. So if you go back in for a second one, it’s okay, I won’t tell.

Since milk, on it’s own, isn’t as creamy as the custardy base of ice cream, I think that transforming the milk into a pudding before freezing really improves the texture. I recently did this with chocolate ice pops with great results, so when I was trying to think of what to pair with peaches this time around I thought I’d give it a shot. Worked like a charm!

I infused the creamy pudding with a healthy dose of vanilla bean and thickened it slightly with egg yolk to give it a rich French vanilla custard flavor. It makes the whole thing taste just as rich and decadent as homemade ice cream, and it’s a perfect compliment to the deep summery roasted peaches.

Roasting the peaches heightens and concentrates their flavor and gives them a toasty caramelized depth. It also helps to soften them and make them easier to peel and puree, which is especially great if your peaches aren’t exactly 100% ripe. Pouring the different flavors in alternating layers ensures that each slurp of these pops is a totally fun and refreshing experience.

What more can I say about these? They’re creamy, rich, decadent, & custardy. Their amazing vanilla cream flavor is the star of the show, and it pairs perfectly with the sweet roasted peaches. Just right for summer!

roasted peach and creamy vanilla pudding ice pops

Servings: ten 3oz ice pops
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1 lb fresh peaches (about 2 to 3 large or 3 to 4 small)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons of sugar, divided
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, divided
pinch salt
2 cups milk
1/2 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 450. Wash peaches and cut them into quarters, discarding the pit. Toss in a bowl with lemon juice and 3 tablespoons sugar. Arrange, cut side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Pour any leftover liquid over the peach pieces. Roast for about 20 minutes or until peaches release their syrupy juices and begin to brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once cool, remove the skin from each slice, which should peel off easily. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, whisk remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and salt. Add milk and whisk smooth. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and whisk into milk along with scraped bean. Heat slowly over a medium flame, whisking regularly. Once slightly thickened and bubbling, cook for one to two minutes more before removing from heat. Place egg yolks in a small bowl, and ladle in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pudding. Whisk together, and return to pan. Whisk smooth, return to heat, and bring back to a simmer. Simmer for one or two minutes more and whisk in vanilla extract.

Pour a little more than half of the mixture (probably about 1 1/2 cups) off into a measuring cup or heatproof bowl. Add peaches and remaining teaspoon of cornstarch to remaining pudding mixture. Puree in the pan with an immersion blender or in the pitcher of a blender. Return pan to heat, bring to a simmer, and cook for one or two minutes more. Cool slightly before proceeding.

Layer vanilla pudding and peach pudding mixtures in ice pop molds. I use a mold with ten 3 oz pops, and alternated two layers of each flavor. Try to be slightly more stingy with vanilla pudding, and more generous with peach as you’ll have just a bit more of that.

Cover molds, add sticks about half way into pops, and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours, or until completely frozen through. Remove pops by running each mold under warm water for about 10 or 15 seconds.

caramelized peach cornmeal skillet cake with bourbon whipped cream

So this was supposed to be a simple summer dessert.

I’ve been seeing fresh local peaches making their way into the market, so they’ve been on my mind a lot lately. One of my favorite ways to eat a peach is to hold it in your hand and devour it. Eating a fresh ripe peach is an experience unlike that of most other fruit. When you bite into a peach it’s soft fleshy interior barely puts up a fight. You’re forced to slurp and lick between bites to catch the river of drippy golden juices trying to escape down your chin and wrist. A perfectly ripe peach is sweet and jammy and eating one is an almost vulgar exercise.

As much as I can urge and encourage you to take advantage of peach season before it’s too late, I can’t very well post a recipe titled, “eat a damned peach”. I mean, I guess I could, but it would be weird.

So, the plan was to come up with the perfect recipe to be a vehicle for this quintessential summer stone fruit.

At first I kept thinking of going in the bundt cake direction, but you and I both know I’ve been pumping out plenty of bundts lately. I wanted something a little simpler and more rustic. Something that would highlight and compliment the peaches. So I started brainstorming. For the next few days I was going over all the options I could think of. Cobblers and crumbles, buckles and slumps, pies and galettes, cupcakes and ice cream. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me. Skillet cake! Buttermilk skillet cake! Cornmeal buttermilk skillet cake! Brown butter cornmeal buttermilk skillet cake! Boom. Boom. Boom.

It’s funny the way the mind works. Days of thought and then POW! I had my answer, in detail, in less than 30 seconds.

The recipe is actually pretty simple to make too. You need little more than a skillet, a bowl & a spatula. Oh and maybe a knife for the peaches. Making homemade whipped cream is the only part that really requires any specialty tools.

The only “extra” steps I took to build layers of flavor in this cake were caramelizing the peaches and browning the butter. If you wanted to simplify things you could certainly skip one or both of these steps, but I really think that taking the extra few minutes makes all the difference in making this cake so amazing. Both steps help build a richness and depth of flavor, and I think its worth it in the end.

So like I said before, this was supposed to be an ordinary summer dessert. Something simple that would highlight the perfect peach and its perfect peachiness. Before I even started I knew that it would be good, and that the flavors here were right up my alley, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so different. So extraordinary. So perfect. I simply didn’t expect this to be so wonderful. I didn’t expect it to end up being my favorite dessert of 2014. But… It is.

Before this went into the oven I thought I should probably make sure it wasn’t poison If I was going to go forward with the baking process. So, I stole a little spoonful of batter. Then, I had to have another. And maybe one more after that. Oh my god. Something about this was just soooo good.

Once it had cooled, and I’d gone ahead and photographed it, I sat down and picked up one of the slices I’d cut and staged for the photo. I took a bite.

Whoa. It was perfect. Warm and homey and simple and summery, the perfect dessert.

I am a total sucker for desserts that are rustic, un-fussy, and old-fashioned. While I do sometimes love fancy over-the-top desserts, I’d take a rustic galette or a bubbling crumble over a fussy french pastry any day of the week. I think that’s why I love this cake so much. It’s everything I look for in a dessert. Comfort food at it’s finest.

Baking this in cast iron means the outside edge has a cornbread crustiness, while the interior is soft and delicate. The cornmeal in this cake gives it a bit of texture and bite, but it’s somehow also tender and moist at the same time. The jammy caramelized peaches are soft and gooey and rich. The combination of nutty brown butter, tangy buttermilk, and earthy cornmeal, along with the caramelized sweetness and vibrant summariness of the peaches is unbelievable.

This cake is phenomenal on its own, warm out of the oven or served at room temperature. If you want to, you can serve it with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. I think that might be overkill though, and recommend you opt for a hearty dollop of bourbon scented whipped cream.

Caramelized Peach Cornmeal Skillet Cake

Servings: 8-12
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adapted from Martha Stewart

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 lb fresh peaches
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 9″ or 10″ cast iron skillet (*see note), brown 1 stick unsalted butter over medium high heat. Brown until butter smells nutty and looks golden. Pour off into a medium heatproof bowl to cool.

Peel peaches (**see note) and slice each into thick wedges. Melt remaining butter in skillet and add peaches, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium high for about 10 minutes or until juices are bubbling and thick. If the peaches are especially ripe and juicy, you can spoon the slices out and continue reducing the juice for another 5 minutes or so. Remove to a heatproof bowl to cool. Wipe out skillet, return 1 tablespoon of browned butter, and swirl to coat.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and sugar. In bowl with remaining cooled brown butter, add buttermilk and eggs and whisk to combine. Pour wet mixture over flour mixture and mix until just combined. Gently stir in about half of the caramelized peaches and juice.
Pour batter into prepared skillet and spoon remaining peaches and juice evenly over the top.

Bake, with a baking sheet on rack below (to catch any potential drips), until top is evenly browned and a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool slightly, about 30 minutes. If necessary, run a knife around the edge to loosen. Slice into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature, with bourbon whipped cream if desired (recipe below)

Cooks notes:
*You can use another type of ovenproof skillet if you don’t have cast iron, but I think cast iron will give you the best texture. Also, the original recipe called for a 10″ skillet but I didn’t have one and used a 9″ without a single drop spilling over in the oven.
** To peel peaches you can shock them in a pot of boiling water and transfer to an ice bath. Very ripe peaches will usually peel easily without this method. You can also use a vegetable peeler.

Bourbon Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Add sugar and bourbon and whisk a minute or two more, until the cream reaches stiff peaks.