#BundtBakers

rhubarb pound cake bundt #bundtbakers

When it comes to bundt cakes, I do my best to be creative and keep things interesting.

Having been a member of a monthly bundt baking group for over a year now, I’m always looking for new sources of inspiration and fun new ways to play with flavors and ingredients. I definitely have a few favorites out of all the cakes I’ve made since joining, but you may be surprised to know what my favorite kind of bundt cake is. When I’m not trying to get creative to fit a #bundtbakers theme, I like to keep things nice and simple.

Can you guess what my favorite bundt might be?

I bet most of you guessed chocolate. While I do love me some chocolate, that would be my second favorite.

One more guess…

Give up?

Lemon!

A simple lemony pound cake is tops in my book. Both dense and delicate at once, with a bright sunny citrus flavor front and center, it doesn’t get any better than that. I don’t know what it is about a citrusy pound cake, but I will just never ever get enough. The best thing about a lemon pound cake is how versatile it can be if you want to pair it with other flavors. Lemon is a perfect compliment to almost any fruit you can name. Think about it. Berries. Cherries. Stone fruit. Tropical fruit. Even other citrus! Lemon is like the little black dress of bundt cakes.

Do you have a favorite bundt cake? Well don’t keep it a secret! What is it?

Being the lemon lover I am, I did a very mature and completely dignified jump for joy when I found out that Anne of From My Sweet Heart chose Lemon as the #bundtbakers theme for June. Thank you Anne!

If you love lemon just as much as I do (or at least almost as much as I do) you MUST scroll down past the recipe to check out all the other recipes this month. Just reading through the list of titles has me drooling.

First I thought about just doing a simple lemon buttermilk pound cake, and while I’m sure I would have loved it, I wanted to do just a little bit more with this month’s sublimely summery theme. Berries would have been a great way to go, but just before joining #bundtbakers I came up with a recipe for a lemony blueberry buttermilk bundt cake that would knock your socks off. It’s so good, in fact, that it was just featured in the summer issue of Sweet Paul Magazine! Woot woot!

So that was out. Knowing this month’s theme I’m kicking myself for not keeping that one in my pocket just a little bit longer.

What else? What else?

Sometimes there are just too many amazing possibilities to be able to choose just one.

Rather than agonize over all the choices I figured I should just go about my business and let the inspiration come to me.

On my birthday last month Russell took me to lunch in Williamsburg and afterward we went for coffee at one of my favorite coffee shops. While waiting in line we passed their pastry case and inside we saw a neat little row of thick slices of rhubarb pound cake. Of course we had to try some. While their coffee never disappoints, the pound cake unfortunately did. The texture was great, and the sweetness was spot on, but it lacked in that tart rhubarb flavor that I was expecting, and their was no actual rhubarb visible anywhere in the slice. As soon as the words, “I could do better” came out of my mouth, I knew what I had to do.

Pound cake. Tart rhubarb. Summery lemon. It was on.

This pound cake is just as dense and buttery and eggy as a good pound cake should be, with just a tiny bit of extra lift thanks to the addition of a bit of baking powder. The crumb is moist and tender and perfect, with just enough sweetness to offset the tart rhubarb and compliment the bright lemon. Rather than pureeing it, the rhubarb is left in small chunks so you can see what you’re eating. An entire pound of rhubarb (4 whole cups) gets tossed with a bit of sugar and cooked for a few minutes before going into the cake batter. This way the rhubarb not only softens a bit, but also releases some of it’s juices to ensure the flavorful juice is distributed throughout the whole cake. A touch of lemon zest and juice is the perfect bright compliment to the sweetened rhubarb, and a simple lemon glaze is the only finishing touch this summery pound cake could ask for.

Rhubarb Pound Cake Bundt with Lemon Glaze

Servings: 12 to 16
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4 cups (about 1lb) rhubarb, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
zest and juice of 1 lemon, separate
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a bundt pan and refrigerate.

mix the cut rhubarb with 1/2 cup of the sugar in a medium frypan or skillet. Cook over medium high heat until tender but not mushy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl), cream together the butter, remaining 2 cups sugar, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions. In a large measuring cup mix together the buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla; and in a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate 3 additions of flour and 2 additions of buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, mixing until just incorporated after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gently fold in the rhubarb and any juices until the liquid is just combined and the rhubarb is evenly distributed.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of he cake comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for about 20 minutes. Invert pan to release cake onto the rack and cool completely before adding the glaze.

Lemon Glaze
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar

Whisk all ingredients together until well mixed and free of lumps. If a thinner consistency is desired, add a bit more lemon juice (about 1 teaspoon at a time). For a thicker consistency add more powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Evenly drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled cake. Cake can be served immediately but can be stored, tightly wrapped and air tight at room temperature, for about 3 days.

This list of lovely luscious lemon cakes has my mouth watering like crazy. This month’s theme is pure heaven and I couldn’t be happier to gawk and drool over this long list of tasty bundts.

Bee’s Knees Lemon Honey Bundt from Food Lust People Love
Blueberry-Lemon Breakfast Bundt from Cali’s Cuisine
Bundt Cake de Limón from La Mejor Manera de Hacer
Eggless Lemon Bundt Cake from Seduce Your Tastebuds
Extra Lemon Bundt Cake from Los Chatos Chefs
Lavender Lemon Cake from Magnolia Days
Lemon & Lime Cheese Bundt Cake from Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Lemon Apple Upside Down Bundt Cake from Simply Veggies
Lemon Basil Bundt Cake from Tartacadabra
Lemon Bundt Cake from Recipes, Food and Cooking
Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Tart Lemon Glaze from Sew You Think You Can Cook
Lemon Confetti Bundt Cake from Our Good Life
Lemon Curd Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze from I Love Bundt Cakes
Lemon Honey Bundt Cake from Brunch with Joy
Lemon Marble Bundt Cake from Jenny and Sweets
Lemon Meringue Chiffon Cake from Baking in Pyjamas
Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake from Liv for Cake
Lemon Poppy Seeds Bundt Cake from La Cocina de Aisha
Lemon Poppyseed Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake from From Gate to Plate
Lemon Ricotta and Poppyseed Bundt Cake from Spice Roots
Lemon Ricotta Bundt Cake from Love and Confections
Lemon-Cranberry Poppyseed Bundt Cake from Take A Bite Out of Boca
Mini Limoncello Bundts from Living the Gourmet
Pink Lemon Pound Cake from Making Miracles
Pink Lemonade Bundt from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Rhubarb Pound Cake Bundt with Lemon Glaze from Brooklyn Homemaker
Soft Lemon Rosemary Bread from Passion Kneaded
Spring Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake from Adventures in All Things Food
Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake from Baking and Creating with Avril
Sweet Lemon Bundt with Blackberry Glaze from From My Sweet Heart

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#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.

rocky road bundt cake #bundtbakers

Guess what time it is…
It’s bundt time y’all. That’s right.

This is actually my #bundtbakers anniversary. My bundtiversary? No, I won’t do that to you.

Anyway, this time exactly one year ago I had just joined the #bundtbakers and published my very first post as part of the group. The theme that month was “breakfast” and I whipped up a crazy amazing maple bacon bundt cake with an even crazier amazinger bacon pecan streusel swirl.

Finding the bundt bakers was the beginning of something truly magical, and I like to think I’ve come up with some really special, really creative bundt cakes along the way. I’ve also watched the group grow and change over the months and I couldn’t be happier to have found such a special bunch of bundt lovers.

This month our host, Laura of Baking in Pyjamas, chose Rocky Road as our theme. Can it get any better than that? I mean, chocolate, nuts, marshmallows… What more could you want?

But then I noticed something in the theme’s description that seemed, to me at least, to be out of place. The list of ingredients for traditional Rocky Road contained, “marshmallows, chocolate, biscuits (cookies in US English), & dried fruits.”

Wait.
What?
I’ve never had anything called Rocky Road that contained either cookies or dried fruit. And what happened to the nuts?

As it turns out, Rocky Road means different things in different countries. In Laura’s home country of England, Rocky Road traditionally includes the ingredients listed above.

As you may or may not already know, American Rocky Road is usually an ice cream flavor containing chocolate, marshmallows, & nuts. In England, it’s a dessert usually eaten in small individual cupcake or brownie sized portions. After a little research I found out that Australia also has their own version that also contains coconut, glacé cherries, and turkish delight.

Who knew?
(certainly not me.)

After learning about all the different variations on Rocky Road, I asked Laura if it’d be okay if we expanded the theme to also include the American and Australian versions.

After some significant consideration and much hemming and hawing over which variation to go with, I decided that the American version was the most familiar and sounded the most appealing to me. I came really close to trying to marry the English and American versions by adding cookies but skipping the dried fruit, but then I couldn’t decide what kind of cookie to use so I just scrapped the idea and decided to keep it simple and traditional.

I find the creativity of the group and the wide range of flavors and variations on this theme incredibly inspiring, not to mention mouth watering. You really need to scroll down past the recipe and see what everyone came up with this month. Before you do though, you’ll probably want to grab a towel to wipe up all the drool.

My original idea for this cake was to add miniature marshmallows to the batter and bake them right into the cake, but they didn’t cooperate. The marshmallows floated to the top of the batter and melted into a sticky mess when baked so I had to rework my recipe. I decided to put the marshmallows on top of the cake in the form of a glaze instead.

In the end, this cake was a real winner. I brought it in to work and my coworkers haven’t stopped talking about it yet.

As if the super moist, super flavorful chocolate cake base for this bundt weren’t perfect enough, it gets a melty chocolate boost in the form of mini chocolate chips mixed into the batter. Thinly sliced toasted almonds and a touch of almond extract go in too, and take things to an even more amazing level of deliciousness. Just when you though it couldn’t get any better, a sweet gooey marshmallow glaze gets poured over the top and even more chocolate chips and almonds get sprinkled over that.

Insanity.

Rocky Road Bundt Cake with Marshmallow Glaze

Servings: 12
Print

adapted from Joy the Baker

For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (plus more for pan)
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup peanut oil or any neutral vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup mini chocolate chips

For the Marshmallow Glaze:
1 1⁄2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cups mini marshmallows

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Liberally butter a 10 to 12 cup Bundt pan and dust with a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to evenly coat the inside. Tap out excess cocoa and refrigerate pan until ready to use.

Whisk water and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature.

Spread sliced almonds in an even layer on a small cookie sheet and toast at 350 for about 8 minutes or until they smell like nutty heaven on earth. Be careful that they don’t burn or they’ll become bitter.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low for just one minute. Add the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix on low again for another minute.
Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes more. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. The batter will seem quite loose and liquid. Reserve 2 tablespoons each of the sliced almonds and mini chocolate chips and set aside for the topping. Stir the rest into the cake batter until well distributed. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 55-65, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack.

To make the marshmallow glaze, mix sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Melt the butter along with 2 tablespoons of water in a nonstick sauce pan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and immediately add in marshmallows and stir until completely melted, about 1–2 minutes. Whisk into sugar mixture until free of lumps.
Pour glaze evenly over the top of the cooled bundt and sprinkle with your reserved toasted sliced almonds and mini chocolate chips.

Cake should keep, well wrapped in an air tight container, for about 3 days. If refrigerating, let come to room temperature before serving.

The bundt bakers really knocked it out of the park this month. Get ready to drool and check out all of these amazing bundts!

#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.

graham cracker bundt cake with key lime cheesecake swirl #bundtbakers

I’m sorry, but I really hate the phrase, “made it by the skin of my teeth”

A) Seriously, how gross is that?
B) What the heck does that even mean? Teeth don’t have skin.
Unless we’re talking about gums here, in which case, that’s even weirder/grosser/more nonsensical.

Anyway, even though I don’t like or understand that saying, in this case it’s true. I made it. Just in the nick of time.

If you’ve been paying attention, you already know that my oven has been broken (along with my heart). My landlord, in tandem with Brooklyn’s slowest appliance repair company, have been taking their sweeeeeeet time fixing it.

As difficult as going oven-less has been for me, my biggest concern through this whole agonizing experience has been that I might not be able to bake along with the bundt bakers this month. It may have been painful to have cookies taken off the menu and chicken taken out of the oven and put on the back burner (literally), but DO NOT mess with my bundts. I’ve baked a bundt cake each and every month since I found this rag-tag (though truly well organized) team of bakers, and having to bow out because of an ancient apartment oven and a foot-dragging repairman was seriously bumming me out.

Luckily the repair man pulled through at the eleventh hour. On Monday he came through with the backordered fuse in hand and within an hour my baby was back in working order. I was at work at the time, but Russell was filling me in from home and once the oven was purring again we were sending jubilant texts back and forth for the rest of the day. I was like a giddy school girl. 16 days with no oven can do that to a guy.

With no time to spare, I assembled the ingredients for my cake and set to work. The lovely Anshie of Spice Roots is our group’s host this month, and she chose “Hidden Surprise” as our theme (which is appropriate, because my ability to even make this cake was a total surprise!).
The idea was to bake a cake with a filling or ingredient inside that isn’t visible until it’s sliced. From the outside it looks like any ordinary cake, but once sliced a whole universe of delicious is revealed.

At first I was having a really difficult time deciding what to do with this theme. My mind immediately went toward berries and chocolate, but in my experience berries always want to sink through the batter and settle into what, once un-molded, is the top of the cake. That wouldn’t really be much of a surprise would it? I pawed at a few other ideas in my head but nothing really seemed to take.

That all changed about two weeks ago when I caught a nasty bug and couldn’t get off the couch for a few days.

When I was growing up, my grandmother always prescribed the same “medicine” whenever I was sick. The patient always needed canned chicken noodle soup, plain vanilla ice cream, warm ginger ale, and graham crackers. Now that I’m older the chicken soup seems to make sense, but the vanilla ice cream just seems like a bad idea. I don’t really get the warm part of the ginger ale, but I guess the lack of ice was supposed to be easier on the stomach, and I suppose graham crackers are easy on an upset tummy too.
To this day, whenever I get sick, I always crave these things. Once I was well enough to actually eat, I went through an entire box of graham crackers in like two days. All that was left was a small trail of graham cracker crumbs.

That’s when it hit me, what if I made a cake using crushed graham cracker crumbs in place of some of the flour?
And what better flavor to pair with graham cracker crumbs than key lime pie?
Better yet, key lime CHEESECAKE!!!

Surprise!

I can’t accurately describe how amazing this cake is. Words like moist, tender, flavorful, warm, & homey come to mind to describe the graham cracker cake, but really don’t do it justice. This cake is out of this world. Why hasn’t this been done before? If it has, why haven’t I been informed? Graham cracker cake, filling or not, is something I’d like to be buried with. Hillary should choose graham cracker cake as her running mate. Seriously. Clinton/ Graham Cracker Cake/ 2016.

I could have paired this cake with any number of fillings and knocked it out of the park. Chocolate and marshmallow “S’mores” cake would have been amazing, but KEY LIME CHEESECAKE was a real stroke of genius. Seriously, out of this world. I want to use words like tangy, rich, creamy, silky, & decadent; but like I said, words cannot describe the otherworldly levels of deliciousness happening inside this cake.

Go make this. Now.
(you can thank me later)

Graham Cracker Bundt Cake with Key Lime Cheesecake Swirl

Servings: 12 to 16-ish
Print

Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
pinch of salt
1 large egg
4 tablespoons key lime juice
finely grated zest of 1 lime

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for pan)
1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs (plus more for topping)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks, plus more for pan)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons key lime juice
pinch of salt
1 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 and move the rack to the center position. Generously butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan. Tap out extra flour and refrigerate.

To make the filling; cream sugar, softened cream cheese, and salt together in a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer) on high speed. Beat until fluffy and completely free of lumps, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add egg, and mix to combine. Add lime juice and zest and mix to combine. Scrape filling out into a small bowl and set aside. Wash bowl or at least scrape it out well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt. Set aside. In the same bowl as before, cream the butter with sugars on high speed until pale, light, & fluffy; about 4 to 5 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating on low to combine after each addition. On low speed, alternate three additions of flour and two additions buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, scraping the bowl between additions. Do not over-mix. Scrape batter out into prepared pan and use your spatula to push the thick batter up the walls of the pan to create a well in the center.
Pour the filling into the center of the well, and use a small icing spatula or butter knife to swirl the filling into the cake batter. Try to avoid scraping the bottom or sides of the pan.
Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before turning out of the pan onto the rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and lump free. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add lime juice and salt. Beat again until smooth and lump free. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. (I used all 3 tablespoons)

Pour or drizzle glaze evenly over the top of the cake and sprinkle a few tablespoons of graham cracker crumbs over the top.
Cake should keep, tightly covered at room temperature, for about 3 days. If you refrigerate it bring it back up to room temperature before serving.

Are your taste buds ready for a few more delicious surprises? There are a whole lot of tasty secrets hidden within these recipes y’all. Check it out.

Almond Crunch Cake – Magnolia Days
Balsamic Strawberries Bundt Cake – Our Good Life
Banana Maple Bundt Cake with Chocolate Star – Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Black and White Surprise Bundt Cake – Patty’s Cake
Chocolate and Vanilla Polka Dot Bundt – Passion Kneaded
Chocolate Bundt Cake with Oreo Cheesecake Filling – Recipes, Food and Cooking
Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Peanut Butter Bundt Cake – Sew You Think You Can Cook
Citrus Raspberry Bundt – Noshing With The Nolands
Confetti Zebra Cake – Eat, Drink, Be Mighty
Cookie Dough Bundt Cake – Liv for Cake
German Mozarthupf – A Kingdom for a Cake
Graham Cracker Bundt Cake with Key Lime Cheesecake Swirl – Brooklyn Homemaker
KitKat Surprise Bundt Cake –Simply Veggies
Lemon Blueberry Van Halen Bundt – Food Lust People Love
Orange and Strawberry Jam Bundt Cake – Baking Yummies
Pear and Blue Cheese Bundt – Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Polka Dot Bundt Cake – Brunch with Joy
Raspberry Filled Lemon Bundt – A Day in the Life on the Farm
Real Nutella Bundt Cake – Baking in Pyjamas
Savory Monkey Bread Stuffed Bundt – Adventures in All Things Food
Sour Cream Boozy Hazelnut Bundt Cake – Sidewalk Shoes
Spring Break S’mores Cake – Tea and Scones
Strawberry Cheesecake Bundt Cake – Basic N Delicious
Strawberry Twinky Bundt Cake – I Love Bundt Cakes
Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake – Big Rigs ‘n Lil’ Cookies
Surprise Bundt – Mummy & Cute
Surprise Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake – Media Ración Doble, Por Favor
Surprise Inside Carrot Bundt Cake- Making Miracles
Triple Lemon Bundt Cake – Baking and Creating with Avril
Tropical Surprise Bundt Cake – Spice Roots

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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.

brown sugar coconut bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache #bundtbakers

Have you had your Girl Scout Cookies yet this year?

We got ours, shipped in from Texas a few weeks ago, fresh from one of Russell’s girlfriend’s daughters. He ordered a few different flavors, but of course our favorites are the coconutty caramelly shortbread Samoas. In my experience, these are most people’s favorite choice, unless they don’t like coconut (in which case they’re probably crazy and may need to be committed).

This month Kelly from Passion Kneaded is our Bundt Bakers host and, in the spirit of the season, she chose Girl Scout Cookies as our theme. It didn’t take me more than half a millisecond to decide my cake would be inspired by the incomparable Samoa.
Thank you Kelly!

If you love Girl Scout Cookies (and Bundt cakes) as much as I do, be sure you scroll down past the recipe to see all the other mouthwatering recipes the Bundt Bakers came up with this month!

Rather than recreating the Samoa in Bundt cake form, I decided to just let the flavors and ingredients of the cookie inspire, rather than dictate, the direction I would take my cake.

I just bought a classic 12 cup Nordic Ware Bundt, and wanted to show it off in all it’s beautiful glory so I decided not to cover up the outside of the cake with a thick layer of coconut and caramel.
Instead, I thought I’d try to mix some brown sugar and butter with sweetened coconut flakes and make a sort of “shell” to line the interior of the pan before pouring in the batter. This way the coconut and “caramel” would appear to be on the outside just like the cookie, but it would really be baked as part of the cake. For the body of the cake, I used brown sugar and coconut milk to help emphasize the flavors of the coconut shell.

Mere words cannot describe the otherworldly sublime aroma that filled my house while this cake baked.

When it came time to glaze the cake I went with a thick, rich, bittersweet dark chocolate ganache. I decided on dark chocolate over milk because, A) I personally prefer dark chocolate, and B) real Samoas have dark chocolate drizzled over them too.

Have you ever heard anyone refer to Samoas as Caramel Delites? I always assumed the two names were just regional variations on the same cookie, but it turns out that these are two different types of girl scout cookies and the difference depends on the bakery they come from. Samoas have a richer, darker caramel color and a higher caramel to cookie ratio with a dark chocolate drizzle. Caramel DeLites have a caramel that’s lighter in color and not as thick, so more of the cookie comes through in the flavor. They’re also, oddly enough, actually octagonal rather than round, and are drizzled with milk chocolate instead of dark.

I usually bring at least half of my bundt cakes to work with me every month to share with my coworkers, because a bundt cake is too big for me and Russell to eat on our own (as much as we’d like to). Unless I have a special occasion or celebration that calls for a homemade cake, I’m baking these cakes each month just for the fun of it and because I like the challenge of working within the group’s theme each month.

This time around, everyone LOVED the cake other than one coworker who doesn’t like coconut (lunacy). The one thing that seemed to be a point of contention though was the dark chocolate ganache. Some people, myself included, were crazy for the contrast of light sweet delicate cake and assertive rich dark chocolate, while others thought the dark chocolate was too strongly flavored and overpowered the cake. If you’re not a fan of dark or bittersweet chocolate you can definitely go with milk instead for a Caramel Delite affect, or you could even substitute a powdered sugar and cocoa glaze if you think ganache might be too rich for you.

However you want to glaze this cake is just fine. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or a thin cocoa glaze, it’s all going to be delicious. In the end it doesn’t matter anyway, because the real star of the show here isn’t the glaze, it’s the CAKE!!!

The outside of this cake has a sweet buttery chewy crunchy coconut caramel shell that really drives that Samoa flavor home. The interior of the cake is buttery, tender and impossibly moist with a perfect subtle hint of caramel thanks to brown sugar and a delicate touch of coconut. Oh man.

So good.

Brown Sugar Coconut Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Servings: 12-16
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Adapted from Food Network

Coconut brown sugar mixture:
butter and flour for pan
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted unsalted butter

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract, optional
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

Ganache:
4 oz good quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Generously butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup non-stick bundt pan. I recommend one of Nordic Ware’s cast aluminum pans because of their superior non-stick coating. The coconut brown sugar mixture may stick to less non-stick pans or pans that are very intricately designed. Simpler is better in this case. Tap out excess flour and refrigerate.

Mix brown sugar and coconut together until well distributed. Pour melted butter over the mixture and toss to combine. Press into prepared bundt pan and refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the cake.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugars together using a stand mixer or hand mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Once incorporated, stir in the extracts and the coconut milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients in three additions just until the mixture is smooth. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan up to about 3/4 of the way full. If your pan is smaller than 12 cups, you may have batter leftover. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 70 minutes. Cool cake 20 minutes before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completely on the rack.

Once cake is completely cool, make the ganache.
Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a small heat proof bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan just until it begins to simmer. Pour cream over the chocolate, add a pinch of salt, and let sit for 2 minutes so the heat from the cream can melt the chocolate. Add the vanilla and stir or whisk until smooth and free of lumps. Before the ganache cools, pour it over the cake in a thick even stream.

Cake will keep, well covered and air tight, for 2 to 3 days at room temperature.