The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No-fuss Bundt cakes
Sure, they offer a great shape and taste, but don’t discount their versatility.
In 1950, Nordic Ware founder H. David Dalquist invented a new cake pan with a round shape, fluted sides and a hole in the middle.
The Bundt pan was not a hit until 1966, when a Texas home baker won second place in a Pillsbury Bake-Off with her “Tunnel of Fudge” Bundt cake. The recipe had just six ingredients — butter, eggs, sugar, flour, walnuts and frosting mix — but its elegant shape with a ribbon of molten chocolate running through the center made a big impression.
The Bundt pan has since become America’s best-selling cake pan, and, according to Nordic Ware, you can find the fluted tube pan in 70 million households around the world. In addition to the classic 12cup design, Nordic Ware sells Bundt pans that resemble flower blossoms, hearts, cottages, castles and cathedrals. Sift through any baking aisle and you’ll find Bundt knock-offs called “fluted tube pans” in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Abby Benson, a Lawrence, Kan., baker who learned to make Bundt cakes with her grandmother, has five of the pans in her collection. Benson uses the bakeware to make citrus-glazed pound cakes and chocolate cakes studded with pomegranate seeds. Her bakery, Apple of My Pie, supplies a handful of local coffee shops and restaurants with the cakes.
Benson, 28, likes Bundt cakes because they’re old-fashioned and beautiful even when unadorned. “It’s really a nofuss cake,” she says.
New York-based cookbook author Lauren Chattman, a former pastry chef who apprenticed under François Payard at New York City’s Daniel restaurant, is also sweet on Bundts. Her book “Cake Keeper Cakes” (The Taunton Press 2009) boasts 20 Bundt cake recipes, from basic BananaChocolate Chip to cornbreadlike Blueberry-Cornmeal and decadent Peanut Butter-Sour Cream With Butterfinger-Ganache Glaze.
The classic cakes have stood the test of time because they serve a crowd and are easy to slice. “And because they’re in that circular shape, they cook really evenly,” Chattman says. “You’re not going to get dried
Bundt
out edges before the center cooks.”
Bundt cakes are also versatile: They make excellent spice, carrot, fruit or pound cakes. Texas-based chain Nothing Bundt Cakes sells them in 10 flavors, including red velvet, cinnamon swirl, lemon and white chocolate raspberry.
But there is one catch: Bundt cakes have a bad habit of sticking to the pan. And there are few kitchen disasters more dramatic and disappointing than a cake that cracks and crumbles into a hot mess as soon as you turn it out of the pan.
Benson says the key to a clean release is vegetable shortening: “You want to grease the pan thoroughly and sprinkle it with flour.”
She uses a paper towel to smear the shortening into all the crevices. “Just get messy with it,” she adds.
Chattman said shortening makes pans more slippery than butter or cooking spray, which can overbrown the cake’s exterior. Just be careful to sprinkle on a fine dusting of flour, because any large chunks will show up on the finished cake, says Laura Laiben, owner of the Culinary Center of Kansas City, Mo. Laiben recommends using a spray that contains oil and flour, such as Baker’s Joy. The spray coats every curve of the pan in one step.
When it comes to picking a pan, look for a nonstick surface in a rounded shape.
“The more elaborate the pan, the more likely you’re going to have a problem with unmolding,” Chattman says. She has a collection of vintage Bundt pans, but uses only the gold Nordic Ware Bundt pan she bought a few years ago from Williams-Sonoma. The pan has never failed her, unlike a small, shiny pan in her collec- tion.
“I bought it to make a lemon Bundt cake recipe I saw in Gourmet magazine,” Chattman says. “As soon as I turned it out, I could feel the resistance.”
Half of the lemon cake clunked onto the wire rack; the other half stuck to the bottom of the cool-looking pan.
If that happens, Chattman says, the best remedy is to reassemble the cake as best you can, cover any cracks with a dusting of powdered sugar or drizzle of icing, and cut it into slices. With the right recipe, even a botched Bundt can be a home run.