Peanut Butter and Jelly Bundt

I hate peanut butter. I only tried it for the first time about three years ago, and was bitterly disappointed that it didn't taste just like a Snickers bar. When I set the theme for cake club as 'Pump up the Jam' I thought coming up with a new recipe would be easy. I love jam! Nope. I wanted to avoid lemon curd as I already use it quite a lot. I wanted something a bit different. Then there it was. An idea which worked beautifully in my head... I just had to test it out in the real world.

I decided to make a peanut butter and jelly bundt. Cake has this way of transforming flavours and taking harsh edges off ingredients. The Anchor Porter bundt is a prime example of this - I hate beer but love the cake. This bit of baking alchemy worked an absolute dream first time. I was flabbergasted! I set the cauldron (mixer) going and hoped for the best!

This cake is a winner on both the taste and texture fronts. It has a subtle peanut taste which goes perfectly with the sweet jam. It's moist with a hint of nutty crunch and has a belting sugar crust. I was going to take this into work for my tribe of tame guinea pigs to test, but my husband stole it! Feedback from his colleagues... 'Your best cake yet. Fact.' Can't argue with that!

Ingredients

• 275g unsalted butter 
• 425g golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• 6 medium eggs
• 150g crunchy peanut butter
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp low fat plain yogurt
• 8 tbsp strawberry jam
• Icing sugar to dust

Method

1. Grease and flour a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch). I would recommend using one without too much decoration, as nooks and crannies may complicate matters when it comes to the jam...
2. Soften the butter then add in half of the sugar and beat for about a minute. Then add the rest of the sugar and beat until fluffy.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Add the eggs one at a time on a low speed.
5. Using a spatula, blend in all of the peanut butter.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
7. Fold in half of the flour mixture, followed by the yogurt, then the rest of the flour. 
8. Give the whole thing a quick whizz for about 10 seconds just to combine everything properly.
9. Pour half of the mixture into the bundt tin and smooth out.
10. Dot the jam around the surface, taking care not to touch the edges then smooth to create a jam layer.
11. TIP: Jam will make a sticky mess if it seeps to touch the tin and may make releasing the cake a nightmare...
12. Pour the remaining batter on top and smooth out. 
13. Bake your cake at gas 4/180 C for 45 minutes, then turn the temperature down to gas 3/160 C for around another 25-30 minutes. As aways, you'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean and the cake is shrinking from the edges of the tin.
14. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
15. Allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar. This cake doesn't need anything else because of the big flavours inside.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

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