Pimms Bundt Cake

On Saturday we went to our friend Jenny's house for a bit of a birthday knees up. Whilst everyone else was taking meaty goods to whack on the barbecue, I was tasked with making a bundt - naturally. Whilst her husband James did a sterling job of barbecuing meat in near tropical conditions, I did the easy bit in delivering a bundt - here's one I made earlier kind of thing.

There was no way I was re-doing a cake I had made before. It was her 30th birthday and we were having a garden party in the middle of Summer. As I was handed a glass of Pimms on arrival, I knew my choice was a wise one. It was always going to be a Pimms bundt cake.

For years I convinced myself that I hated the stuff, yet it turns out that I'm just not a fan of it being infused with cucumber - the devil's seed. Remove that muck and we're laughing. I bought a ready made can of Pimms and lemonade, which was also the perfect quantity for popping in a bundt too. The bubbles made a beautifully light cake, which also picked up the contours of my Heritage tin perfectly. Not a crumb out of place.

Ingredients:

April enjoying her bundt... 

• 225g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 100g solid vegetable fat at room temperature 
• 650g golden caster sugar
• 5 large eggs, beaten
• 460g plain flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 250ml ready made Pimms and lemonade - these come in cans.
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• A few drops of sweet orange extract
• An orange, a handful of strawberries and some sprigs of mint.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray and dust with flour.
3. Beat the butter and vegetable fat together until creamy.
4. Add in the sugar and beat on a medium speed for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the eggs one by one on a slow speed.
6. Add the flour and salt to a separate bowl.
7. Add the extracts to the Pimms.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour to the batter and fold in.
9. Add 1/2 of your Pimms.
10. Alternate with flour and Pimms until it is all incorporated. 
11. Give it a whizz for about 10 seconds on a medium speed.
12. Pour your batter into the prepared tin.
13. Pop the cake in the middle of a preheated oven for about 1 hour 30 minutes. If it's not shrinking away from the sides of the tin, leave it in for another 10-15 minutes. This is a big cake so will need to be cooked for a long time on a low heat. Long and low is the way to go. Don't worry if the crust looks brown. It should be. That's the caramelised sugar and tastes fantastic!
14. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
15. Decorate with some orange segments, a few strawberries and the mint sprigs. Oh yes, and a ridiculous cocktail umbrella - this is essential... 

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic 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 recreating the recipe on your own page.

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