Delightful Bundt Cake with Bourbon Spiked Drizzle

I started out with nothing particular in mind one day, looking at dessert recipes. I think of all desserts to make, cakes are possibly my favorite. Anything from a simple old fashioned coffeecake tosheet cake to decorated cakes and bundt or ring mold cakes. Suddenly I came upon a site with a recipe called Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Cinnamon Rum Icing. I love gingerbread - it is a kind of cake / dessert bread cross, after all. The pictures on the site are just lovely. The mold used for the Bundt cake was exceptionally pretty, though I don't own that particular style. And I thought about it a while and wondered, "The recipe calls for applesauce. I wonder how pumpkin would do in the recipe, instead?" 

Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Bourbon Spice Glaze

As I continued to peruse the recipe, I noticed that it is made a bit differently than any other cake recipe I've ever made. It called for melting butter, setting side to cool slightly, then beating together the sugar and eggs till fluffy and light. What? And then adding in the melted, cooled butter. Okay, so I went ahead with all this and made the cake with my own variations. I made the icing with Bourbon rather than rum as I have become interested in Bourbon of late.

The outcome was the finest grained cake, the most tender, and just flat-out delicious, that I had to share. The link above to the original recipe will show how it was. I loved the mix of Pumpkin and Gingerbread flavors. The drizzle icing was amazing. And here is the recipe, as I made it:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Bourbon Spice Glaze

Makes one bundt cake

200 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
4 large eggs
360 grams sugar (about 1⅔ cup)
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360 grams all-purpose flour (about 2½ cups)
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon flaky salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1½ teaspoon cloves
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1 cup sour cream
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a Bundt pan with soft (not melted) butter and dredge with flour. Tap to release excess flour, then set pan aside.

Over low heat, melt the unsalted butter; once melted set aside. In a mixer, beat together the eggs with the sugar until they are light and fluffy, then slowly stir in the slightly cooled butter.

Separately, measure out all the dry ingredients and stir to evenly distribute ingredients. In a measure, stir together the sour cream and pumpkin to combine.

To the egg mixture add about a third of the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed to combine. Add half the pumpkin mixture and mix, then another third dry mixture, the remaining half pumpkin mixture, then the remaining dry ingredients, stirring after each addition. Pour into the prepared Bundt pan, rapping sharply on a hard surface to release bubbles.  

Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Rest on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, turn out onto the rack to cool completely before glazing.

BOURBON SPICE GLAZE:
180 grams / 1¼ cup confectioner's sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons Bourbon
1 - 2 tablespoons milk or water
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest

Stir all ingredients until smooth. Pour over completely cooled cake.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Reprise of my Valentine Cake

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

Ever since Valentine's Day, when I made an Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors, I have been itching to remake the torte, with some changes. Don't get me wrong - there was absolutely nothing wrong with the flavors. There was nothing wrong with the cake at all, except that if someone with less experience tries that recipe, it will yield a lot of frustration and possibly some heartbreak along with it. 

My Reasons for Making Changes

For starters, when I get going on the creation of a recipe, I am of the "more is better" school. It is really hard for me to scale back on ingredients. I also usually look for what will be the most rich, unless I am absolutely working on a recipe for paring back in some way, due to someone's dietary restrictions. Going on that theme, I used 5 eggs, 1 2/3 cup sugar, 2 sticks of butter and a half cup of heavy cream, on top of the 3+ cups of ground nuts. As I said; rich. My goal was to have the flavors of Baklava, in a cake. That much was pretty good. The actual layers of the torte were too fragile, too wet, too sunken in the middle. 

I used possibly more glaze than needed, but oh my, was that cake moist. I think part of the sinking-in-the-middle problem was too much meringue in the batter and way too much butter mixed in. When attempting to trim the very high edges, the pieces were wet enough to pack into the middle, where the layer was sunken. All this was okay, ultimately. The cake held together, but trying to move the layers onto the cake to ice them was a real trick. The flavors were wonderful. Still, I wanted something less friable. 

"New and Improved": Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Creating a New Version

I got thinking it has been a while since I made a dessert. Desserts are generally my specialty. And my mind once again turned to that Almond Pistachio Torte. I got out my Grandma's recipe for a Nut Torta, alongside my recipe for the Almond Pistachio Torte. The vast differences were almost funny. Grandma's cake was mostly eggs with a little sugar and 1 cup of nuts. I wanted to keep the 3 cups of ground nuts I used originally, but felt that I needed more eggs in the mix. Less as meringue, perhaps, but more overall. I thought I needed less sugar, so I lowered that quantity. I eliminated both the 2 sticks of butter (Grandma's cake has no oil or butter at all), keeping only the 1/4 cup of olive oil, which I absolutely had intended using from the get-go. 

The flavors in the original Almond Pistachio Torte were of Baklava: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, rose water. I kept these, but used slightly more: a teaspoon apiece of cinnamon and cardamom, and I kept the rosewater at 1 teaspoon. The glaze I used on the original cake was upwards of 8 tablespoons of liquid. The cake layers were too moist to begin with. Not knowing how this second attempt would fare, I chose to lower the liquids to 4 tablespoons. As it turned out, this cake could easily have taken the amount I used in the first one. While the torte layers were in no way dry, the extra glaze would not have hurt at all.

Nice soft crumb when fresh

In the first cake, I wanted pistachios, as my husband loves pistachios. I was going for the love, being Valentine's Day! This time I used 1 cup each of ground almonds, pecans and walnuts. Any nuts preferred will work. It can be made with all of one particular kind of nut meal, or half and half of two kinds. 

The Results

Freshly made, the torte was lovely. The layers  came out of the pans easily and were exceptionally easy to handle. Immediately sliced, the torte was nowhere near the "wet" consistency of the first torte. Obviously I could have used more of the glaze this time, rather than cutting the mixture in half. Once the cake set for a while, cut, it started to dry very quickly. Inside, it was still nice and moist as a cake should be, but the outside was not holding up. If it is meant to go quickly, this should be no problem. Another option to help it stay more moist: put less icing between the layers and stretch it to cover the sides also. I have not tasted it yet this second day, but if it was drying that quickly on the day it was made, I think I need more of something to keep it moist. More olive oil in the batter, and more glaze after baking, probably. Also this time I used all purpose flour in the batter, rather than the rice flour in the first mixture. I may go back to the rice flour concept. I have a feeling I am going to have a round 3 on this recipe before too long!

Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Nut Torte with Baklava Flavors

Makes one 4-layer 8-inch torte

8 eggs, divided, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rosewater, optional
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
3 cups finely ground nuts of choice
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground true cinnamon, (sometimes called Ceylon cinnamon)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease four 8-inch round pans. Cut parchment to fit the bottoms of the pans and set the parchment inside, then grease the parchment. Grind the nuts, measure out three cups worth and set aside. Sift or whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, baking powder and cloves and set aside. Mix together the olive oil, vanilla extract and rosewater and set aside.

In a mixer bowl, crack in 5 of the eggs. Separate the remaining 3 eggs and put the yolks with the 5 eggs and the 3 whites in another clean bowl. Set the whole egg mixture in a stand mixer with the 1¼ cups sugar and beat on medium or medium high speed until the mixture is very light and fluffy and will drop slowly, ribbon-like, dissolving back into the mixture, taking a few seconds to disappear. Mix in the olive oil mixture and the lemon zest, then stir in the nuts.

With a mixer and very clean beaters, beat the 3 egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add in the tablespoon of sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Fold this mixture into the batter until no white remains. Divide the mixture evenly between the 4 pans. Bake the layers for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the layers cool for a few minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto cooling racks. Brush on the Glaze, dividing evenly between the 4 layers.

Glaze
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 strip (about 1 x 2½-inches) lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-inch true cinnamon stick, crumbled
3 whole cloves

Set all the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan over very low heat and let them steep while the cake is baking. Strain the mixture and brush onto the cake layers.

Frost the layers with Honey Butter Icing (found here).

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Nutty Valentine Cake

Nutty: the cake, that is. I had been planning a cake (torte, really) of this sort for over a month now. An idea, over weeks, took shape. Lots of time was spent on comparing different recipes, getting an idea of what it might take to get this cake of mine to do what I wanted, i.e. make thin layers that would grow properly in the oven, hold together while stacking the torte, have great texture and flavor.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

My Goals

1. For starters, I wanted to use pistachio flour, or meal. No easy feat, with pistachios. They just do not like to be ground finely. At the beginning, I wanted to use all pistachios, but that just seemed like too much work. I ended up going to half pistachio flour and half almond flour in the proposed recipe, almond flour being more easily obtainable these days. Ultimately . . . I used 2/3 almond flour and 1/3 pistachio flour. There was still plenty of pistachio flavor, so no problem.
2. Last year's Valentine Treat was Cupcakes (see here for that recipe). They had Middle Eastern flavors, with cardamom, pistachios and other things. I wanted something on that same line, but with a different twist. First that it be a cake and made with mainly nuts; in other words a "torte". Second that the flavors be like . . . and all I could think of is Baklava. 

I love Baklava. I have made Walnut Baklava, Walnut/Pecan/Almond Baklava and all Pistachio Baklava. I love them all. But what was it in Baklava that I wanted? Partly it was the nuts. Partly that chewy and sticky quality. Partly it was the spices and flavors.

I had read recently that true Lebanese Baklava has rose water as one of its flavors. I had just purchased new bottles of Nielson-Massey rose water (right) and orange blossom water. This brand's flavors are quite strong. I wanted to use one of these two new flavorings in this cake. I went with rose water. I may have erred on the cautious side, as I cannot really taste this flavor in the finished cake, though it did have nicely complex flavors, so maybe it was a good thing that all the flavors melded so well.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

And, OH, did the flavors come out well!

As for the cake itself, I wanted to make at least three and possibly four thin layers to stack. In the spirit of Baklava, I also made a glaze to brush over the layers when they came out of the oven. With Baklava in mind, I mixed water, honey, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel and a touch of rose water. I hoped that this would also ensure the cake be very moist. And it certainly was. But.

While everything about this cake, flavor-wise, came out perfect, the cake layers puffed and sank in the middle, leaving deep wells. After the glaze, and turning out of pans, I trimmed some of the high edges. The trimmed bits were wet enough that I just slapped them into the center "well" part of the cake and lightly pressed in place. The cake layers held up this way and even sliced neatly. So, while I might have some work to do on making the layers come out right without all this fuss, the end result was still wonderful.

My Grandma's Icing

As for the icing part, I went with an amended version of my Grandma's icing recipe. To tell the truth, I always hated my Grandma's icing. It was the only one she made (in my memory) during my childhood in the 1950s. As a large portion of the icing was shortening, the texture and flavor were just not my thing at all. She had a funny way of making this icing, too, which I will get into in a second. I made her Nut Torta and her Icing recipe a couple of years ago, so I could set it into my website. The cake part was okay, but the icing was just as I remembered: greasy, tasteless and gross. As I thought about it though, I thought maybe substituting butter for the shortening would at least give it flavor. I tried it. It tasted really good, but the texture was funny. It looked almost curdled.

Imagine my surprise - nay, SHOCK! - when in wandering around Pinterest one day I came on a recipe for a "miracle icing", which was, essentially, my Grandma's Icing recipe - with butter instead of shortening!

In reading more as this type of icing recipe seemed to blossom and pop up all over the internet, the main thing is to keep beating the icing until it is smooth and fluffy. If it curdles, it may be too warm, so just chill it for a bit, then keep on beating. I decided to give Grandma's recipe one more try, again with butter. At the end, I added in some honey, in keeping with the Baklava flavors. It came out absolutely perfect. Smooth, creamy, and flavorful. Very rich, but not too sweet.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

On Making Pistachio Flour or Meal

I placed ¾ cup of shelled, raw, unsalted pistachios in my food processor and let it run for about 2 minutes. Your processor may work differently, but at this point in mine, the nuts had only begun to stick slightly in the edges, indicating it wanted to start being a nut butter. We do not want nut butter, but meal. I stopped the processor and poured the contents into a sieve with not too fine holes. I had a small amount of meal that would not pass through the sieve. I repeated this process with another ¾ cup of nuts. The result was 1¼ cup of nut meal (that passed through the sieve) and about ½ cup left over for decorating the top of the cake.

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

Makes one (2 to 4-layer) 8-inch cake

1⅔ cup granulated sugar

Almond Pistachio Torte with Baklava Flavors

 

2 cups almond flour/meal
1¼ cups pistachio meal (see above)
1 cup white rice flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon (preferably true cinnamon, not cassia)
½ teaspoon ground cardamom seed
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose water
3 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
¼ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 to 4 (8-inch) cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment and grease the parchment. Set aside.

In a mixer bowl, combine the first 10 (dry) ingredients. With the paddle attachment or a whisk, combine all these ingredients well. Add the butter and beat the mixture until it makes thick crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, olive oil, cream and flavorings. Pour these into the nut mixture and beat to combine.

In another mixer bowl, with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter to soft peaks. Begin adding the 1/4 cup of sugar slowly, until the mixture has reached stiff, glossy peaks. Fold 1/3 of this meringue into the cake batter to loosen. Add in remaining meringue and fold in gently until no white remains. Divide this batter between the prepared pans. For 4 thin layers, bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. For 3 or 2 pans, the time will be longer. Watch carefully.

GLAZE:
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 strip lemon peel
1-inch true cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon rose water

While cake is baking, combine all the glaze ingredients, except the rose water, in a small saucepan. Heat through and then leave to steep while the cakes are baking. Strain the liquid into a small bowl and stir in the rose water. Once cakes are baked, use a pastry brush to apply the glaze. Use all, or some, as desired.

To frost the cake, turn the cakes out onto racks, then with another rack over top, invert, so the tops of the cakes are upwards. Trim edges as necessary to allow for stacking. The layers are quite wet. I have racks with the lines all running one way, which allowed for easy sliding onto the plate and next layer(s).

Honey Butter Icing on Almond Pistachio Torte

Honey-Butter Icing

Makes enough to frost the tops of 4 layers, or tops and sides of 2 layers
 
 1½ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup cornstarch
1½ cups milk
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons honey

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the milk and set the pan over medium heat. Whisking constantly, bring the mixture to boil and allow to boil for at least a few minutes to cook out the starch. This should take a total of about 10 minutes.

Pour the hot pudding into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat the pudding on medium speed or higher until it is cooled to room temperature, so the butter does not melt on contact. Begin adding in about 2 tablespoons of the softened butter at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding more. Once all incorporated, continue to beat until very fluffy and light.

Frost the cake layers as desired. Use some or all of the leftover pistachio bits to decorate the top or sides of the cake.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.