Chai Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
I am hosting a socially distanced dinner in our carport on Tuesday. Just me and three friends. I wanted a special dessert and since I absolutely love the aroma and flavor of chai, this seemed like a good pick. Bundt pans, however, have become a nemesis and getting the cake out of the pan is always a hit or miss situation lately. I decided to do a test run of the cake today and in preparation, I had both a text and zoom conversation with my sister on the best ways to get the cake out intact. Deep breath and off we go.
Today's cast!
I whisked flour, salt and baking powder together.
Granulated and dark brown sugars went in to a mixing bowl with softened butter.
The blurry photo of butter and sugar creaming at medium speed.
I gave the bowl a scrape down before adding the next few ingredients.
Eggs, sour cream and vanilla...
I started the mixer off on low and then flipped it to medium. The mixture looked curdled, but that's as it was supposed to be!
The flour mixture was added along with the milk. Definitely start the mixer up slowly unless you want a powdery mess!
See now nice and silky that became?
They are much drier now than when I first got them so the outer shells came off quite readily.
I gave the little seeds a good grinding, the measured some into the brown sugar and spice mixture.
Ginger, cinnamon and allspice joined the cardamom in some dark brown sugar.
I decided against using the heavier non-stick pan--it is so insulated that i was worried the cake would continue to cook during the cooling process. I didn't want a dry AND stuck cake. I decided to grease the pan using a stick of butter rather than brushing it on melted.
I made sure to get the butter into every crease and up the center cone.
Half the batter went into the pan, followed by the sugar and spice mixture. Now usually, if there is a filling when I use a bundt pan, I try to keep the filling away from the sides of the pan or cone so it won't get sticky and increase the chances of pan bonding. There was a lot of filling in this recipe and no way that I could keep it away from the sides.
I covered the filling with the rest of the batter and put it into the oven at 350F for 55 minutes.
The cake was beautifully colored and it smelled lovely! Nice crust, too.
I left it to cool for an hour and then used my offset spatula to gently loosen the cake around the edges. Remember the filling? Yup, it prevented me from getting the spatula too far down the sides. I had to use a bit of an up and down motion to break through the sugary crust all the way around. I did that and left the cake to cool a bit longer.
After about another half hour, I jiggled the pan and it seemed to be loose so I turned it onto a rack and ta-da! Success!
Even the sugary belt in the center was pretty intact.
The cake is buttery and not very sweet so the sugar spice center really gives it a nice boost. The cardamom flavor really shone through. In addition, the brown sugar got a bit crusty so there was additional texture, too.
The guys really liked it and so did our neighbors, Cindy, Larry and Aaron. It's great to have good neighbors to share the goodies with. Keeps us from eating them all ourselves.
Here's the promised link:
Chai Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
Today's cast!
I whisked flour, salt and baking powder together.
Granulated and dark brown sugars went in to a mixing bowl with softened butter.
The blurry photo of butter and sugar creaming at medium speed.
I gave the bowl a scrape down before adding the next few ingredients.
Eggs, sour cream and vanilla...
I started the mixer off on low and then flipped it to medium. The mixture looked curdled, but that's as it was supposed to be!
The flour mixture was added along with the milk. Definitely start the mixer up slowly unless you want a powdery mess!
See now nice and silky that became?
The filling includes ground cardamom. I gave the pods a couple of good whacks.
They are much drier now than when I first got them so the outer shells came off quite readily.
I gave the little seeds a good grinding, the measured some into the brown sugar and spice mixture.
Ginger, cinnamon and allspice joined the cardamom in some dark brown sugar.
I decided against using the heavier non-stick pan--it is so insulated that i was worried the cake would continue to cook during the cooling process. I didn't want a dry AND stuck cake. I decided to grease the pan using a stick of butter rather than brushing it on melted.
I made sure to get the butter into every crease and up the center cone.
Half the batter went into the pan, followed by the sugar and spice mixture. Now usually, if there is a filling when I use a bundt pan, I try to keep the filling away from the sides of the pan or cone so it won't get sticky and increase the chances of pan bonding. There was a lot of filling in this recipe and no way that I could keep it away from the sides.
I covered the filling with the rest of the batter and put it into the oven at 350F for 55 minutes.
The cake was beautifully colored and it smelled lovely! Nice crust, too.
I left it to cool for an hour and then used my offset spatula to gently loosen the cake around the edges. Remember the filling? Yup, it prevented me from getting the spatula too far down the sides. I had to use a bit of an up and down motion to break through the sugary crust all the way around. I did that and left the cake to cool a bit longer.
After about another half hour, I jiggled the pan and it seemed to be loose so I turned it onto a rack and ta-da! Success!
Even the sugary belt in the center was pretty intact.
The cake is buttery and not very sweet so the sugar spice center really gives it a nice boost. The cardamom flavor really shone through. In addition, the brown sugar got a bit crusty so there was additional texture, too.
The guys really liked it and so did our neighbors, Cindy, Larry and Aaron. It's great to have good neighbors to share the goodies with. Keeps us from eating them all ourselves.
Chai Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
Success! This looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions! Always helps to have another cook to discuss with. :-)
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