bundt cake, that is!
While I'm normally not big on New Year's resolutions, the first of this January found me making a list of goals to accomplish within the next few months. Among other things, I resolved to clean out all cupboards and closets in the house, to experiment with cooking some of the dishes in the growing stack of recipes that I've saved but never tried, and (of course) to exercise more and lose the twenty extra pounds I've been carrying around for the last couple years.
Three weeks later, I'm proud to report that the house is thoroughly organized and I've tried several new recipes. The needle on the scale has not budged (of course), but I'm telling myself that two out of three ain't bad (and, in hindsight, it occurs to me that simultaneous goals of cooking more and eating less were probably a bit foolish).
In any event, as I finished up the last of my kitchen cupboard clean-out last weekend, I came across a box of cakemix I'd been hoarding since receiving it as a Christmas gift a year ago. Family friend Mary Jane and her daughter, Becky, had raved about the Chocolate Decadence Bundt Cake way back then, and I should have definitely prepared it well before a year ran, because these people know their food. Hoping that cakemix has a healthy shelf-life, I plunged in yesterday to see if the cake lived up to the glowing recommendation of my dear friends. And, oh my goodness, did it ever...did it ever!
Having never made a bundt-style cake, my venture into this uncharted culinary territory began by trying to borrow a bundt pan, something I did not possess. While a quick trip to Walmart could have easily cured this deficiency in my bakeware-inventory, I balked at spending ten bucks or so on a pan that I was not sure I'd ever use again. My first few calls were unsuccessful...one friend pointed that bundt cakes were a relic from the 1970s, possibly explaining why no one we knew seemed to own a pan in which to make one. Theorizing that Southerners are renowned for their baking, I then called my friend Terri, a Georgia native. She just laughed in response to my query, informing me that she does not bake, but saying she could fry me anything I wanted. I finally solved my dilemma by (brilliantly) checking with the source of the cakemix...and Mary Jane lent me her bundt pan.
Elusive bakeware procured, the cake batter mixed up in a matter of minutes and into the oven it went. Forty-five minutes later, out came a perfect looking chocolate bundt cake. After it cooled, I finished the cake with a thick glaze made by melting butter and chocolate chips together, as directed on the box (although I doubled the amounts specified, thinking that a little extra chocolate never really hurts anything...except, perhaps, weight-loss resolutions).
And the end result sure looked fantastic. Historically, I have never had much luck with layer cakes, as they inevitably turn out a bit lopsided and my cake-frosting ability leaves something to be desired. Sheet cakes, while usually foolproof, are unfortunately just plain boring to look at. Bundt cakes, however, may end up being the perfect type of cake in my book. The fluted-style pan with its center hole turns out a lovely-shaped, evenly-baked cake, and it takes no skill whatsoever to drizzle a pretty glaze on top.
In terms of the taste, this one was definitely a keeper. The cake was dense, as bundt cakes tend to be, but also extremely moist. It had a deliciously deep chocolate flavor, but was neither too sugary nor too rich, as chocolate desserts can occasionally be.
Having had such success with this initial bundt cake experience, two things now top my shopping list: another box of the Nordic Ware Chocolate Decadence Bundt Cake Mix, and my very own bundt pan!
No comments:
Post a Comment