Baby Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cakes

Using the same chocolate pumpkin batter that I used to make whoopie pies, I made these baby bundt cakes. 

One recipe yields 18 cakes and they are a great size for sharing. I found that two cakes fit perfectly, side by side, in an inexpensive foil loaf pan, so you can safely deliver them with no worries about getting the pan back.

For an extra sweet touch, pipe a rosette of cream cheese buttercream.

Here are the recipes:

Baby Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cakes
(makes 18 cakes) 
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canola
2 eggs
2 (15oz) cans pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Grease your baby bundt cake pans and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. My pan is from Nordic Ware and makes six cakes. The recipe makes 18 cakes, so I used the same pan, repeating the process of greasing and filling it, two more times after baking the first batch.

I greased the baby bundt pan with Crisco, being generous and careful to get it into every nook and cranny of every section.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugars, canola oil, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla.

In another large bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

Fill the bundt cake sections 3/4 full with the batter and give the pan a firm tap on the counter to help the batter settle.

Bake the cakes for 20 minutes or until done and springy to the touch. Let the baked cakes cool for three minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack. 

After they have cooled completely, frost them with vanilla cream cheese buttercream. I like to use a 1M tip and pipe a rosette on the top of each one.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream
(Note: this is the same recipe I used to fill the whoopie pies, but increased to make enough to top all 18 of the bundt cakes)
12 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2  cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip again.

Two cakes ready to be shared. They fit perfectly in a foil loaf pan.

Chocolate Flan Cake

A month or so ago, I just happened to be flipping through television channels as I was folding a load of laundry, and oh my, I saw the most luscious looking Chocolate Flan Cake being tasted by Christopher Kimball on an episode of "America's Test Kitchen".

The slice of cake, with its dense dark chocolate base against a thick layer of cold smooth and creamy flan, looked so good. Mr. Kimball raved about it and I could tell he was dead serious. He thought it was divine!

Needless to say, the laundry could wait —  I ran to my computer, searched for the recipe online and printed it off.

Fast forward to yesterday, we had a birthday celebration at the Wednesday Community Meal for my dear friend Cheryl and this was the cake I made for her. It tasted better than I imagined it would. Cheryl and our friends loved it too. The sweetness of the cake was perfect and the cold flan was silky and refreshing.

This Chocolate Flan Cake is exciting because it's so different than anything I've ever seen and it's not hard to make. The only stress inducing part of the recipe is releasing the cake from the bundt pan with the help of a dip in a hot water bath and fingers crossed.

The cake did release for me although it took two dips in the hot water and some praying. After it came out, a few cracks formed in the cake. I was really disappointed about the cracks but not anymore since tasting the cake. Seriously, who cares? — because it is a darn delicious cake.

One last tip: The cake requires 8 to 12 hours of chilling time in the refrigerator before releasing it from the pan so be sure to start the cake early in the day. Trust me, you don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night to release the cake.

The three cracks that formed after I released the cake bummed me out at first. But, in the end they didn't matter one bit. My friends and I love this cake.

Chocolate Flan Cake
Note: A 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan is needed for this recipe.

Cake:
1/2 cup cup caramel sauce or topping
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate chips)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Flan:
2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups whole milk
6 ounces cream cheese
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup nonstick bundt cake pan.

Pour the 1/2 cup of caramel sauce in the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Put the 4 oz. of chocolate and 6 tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 50% power for 1-minute increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is melted and smooth.

Add the eggs, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla to the melted chocolate mixture and whisk.

It will look like this.

Add the cocoa powder and flour mixure and whisk again until combined.

Spread the chocolate batter over the caramel.

Using a blender, process all of the flan ingredients until smooth. It will look like this.

Pour the flan mixture into the pan. When you do this, the cake batter will float to the top of the pan.

Place the cake in a baking dish or roasting pan filled with warm water that reaches halfway up the sides of the bundt pan. I added the water after the pan was in the oven. It's much easier this way. Bake the cake for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the flan registers 180 degrees.

I checked the cake after 75 minutes and took it its temperature. It wasn't quite ready and in the end took just over 80 minutes to reach 180-degrees. Place the baked cake on a rack to cool completely at room temperature. After cooling, refrigerate the cake for 8 to 12 hours before removing it from the pan.

To remove the cake, fill a bowl with hot water and place the bottom third of the bundt pan in the water for 1 minute. Place a cake platter with at least a 1/2 inch rim to hold the caramel sauce on top of the cake and flip the cake over. Slowly remove the pan, letting the caramel drizzle over the top of the cake. Serve chilled.

Slices of the cake.

Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake

I had to make a quick cake for a potluck at church on Sunday and devised this Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake.

The rhubarb for the cake came from a trusty rhubarb plant that my dad gave me more than five years ago. I enjoy having it in my yard because it doesn't need any special attention and it just keeps coming back year after year. Plus, I love rhubarb and it is expensive to buy in the grocery store - last time I checked it was $4.99 a pound!

My trusty rhubarb plant.

Bundt Cakes are great for potlucks because they are easy to tote and serve. All you have to do is put the cake on a cardboard round and cover it with plastic wrap.

I added lemon flavor to the cake by adding lemon juice to the batter and to the glaze I put on top.

Here's the recipe:

Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake

2 cups rhubarb, finely diced
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 3-quart bundt cake pan. Be sure to grease the pan generously and get every nook and cranny or you will have trouble releasing the cake.

Put the first five ingredients into a bowl, mix well and set aside.

The rhubarb with a bit of sugar, vanilla, almond extract and just a pinch of salt.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, canola oil, lemon juice and vanilla and mix well. In a another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three parts, alternating with adding the milk. Mix until thoroughly combined. Fold in the walnuts. 

The cake batter.

Put 1/3 of the batter in the pan. Add 1/2 of the rhubarb mixture evenly on top. Repeat and finally add the last 1/3 of the batter.

The first third of the batter with half of the rhubarb mixture.

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for about 5 minutes then quickly invert it onto a cooling rack. While the cake is still warm, drizzle it with the glaze.

Let the cake cool for just a bit before inverting it onto a cooling rack and drizzling it with the glaze.

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Put the sugar in a small bowl, add the lemon juice and mix until the sugar has dissolved and the glaze is smooth.