Ooh shiny... This month's cake club theme was 'My Hero', so I decided to tip my hat to Nordic Ware's founder, David Dalquist. Inventor David and his wife Dotty founded Nordic Ware in 1946, and within a few years were manufacturing bundt pans. I wonder what he would have made of a bundt addict from Bolton making a cake in his honour?
I've been waiting for a special cake to give my American Star tin its maiden voyage, and this seemed perfect. I think this may be one of my new favourite tins already! And as for flavour, well then it had to be a take on the traditional American spiced pound cake. This is one of my favourite flavours - a warming cocktail of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. I really didn't want to lose any of the pretty detail on the tin either, so chose to use a simple glaze with a few sugar pearls round the rim.
Dried fruit works a treat with this recipe too. If you're a fan you could add whatever you fancy really. I used 150g of plump sultanas and 50g of dried apricots in one I made earlier in the week. Delicious!
- 225g butter
- 450g golden caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- A few drops of sweet orange extract (optional)
- 350g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tsp ground ginger
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 250ml vanilla yoghurt
- 200g dried fruit (optional)
- 6 tbsp apricot jam
- Sugar pearls (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
- Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray and dust with flour.
- Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla and lemon extracts.
- In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices. Stir in the dried fruit if you are using it.
- Pour the yoghurt into a jug.
- Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. The fruit will be trapped in your sieve but covered in flour - this helps to stop it from sinking.
- Stir the fruit into the cake mix.
- Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
- Pour the mix into your prepared tin.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
- When completely cool, warm the apricot jam and paint over the cake. Sprinkle with sugar pearls in a fancy fashion if you so wish.
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