Passion Fruit and Chocolate Bundt Cake

Considering how many times I have made this cake recently you could easily expect me to be completely sick of it. This recipe, a twist on a classic pound cake, infused with passion fruit and glazed with dark chocolate, was originally made for my British Issue of the wonderful Bake From Scratch Magazine. One of the features I helped organise was the Bakers Potluck; we got some of the UK's best and brightest bakers together in a kitchen to bake, share and basically just enjoy each others company, it was an amazing day and a lot of fun. My recipe for the potluck had nothing really to do with British baking more my personal favourite styles and flavours. I am a big fan of Bundt cakes (I have way too many Bundt tins for my tiny kitchen) and the combination of chocolate and passionfruit which I go back to time and time again. The resulting cake was incredibly easy to make, a slight tweak on the all in one method and a cake that happily lasts for up to 5 days. When we set out on the Bake Like A Brit Tour with the magazine this was the recipe we decided to demo at each stop of the tour. We were also sponsored by the fabulous Guittard Chocolate of San Francisco and the brilliant bakeware company, and the inventor of the Bundt Pan, Nordicware from Minneapolis, so the recipe was the perfect fit. 

Note: This version of the cake is slightly different from the version that appears in the magazine, that is because it was originally developed for a larger Bundt pan, so it has been reduced to fit the Crown Bundt pan that I used for this post (if you watch the video for this recipe you will see why I reduced the recipe slightly).

Chocolate and Passion Fruit Bundt Cake

6 large eggs
375g caster sugar
zest of 2 lemons
200ml light flavoured olive oil
135g full fat yoghurt
35ml passion fruit puree
165g self rising flour
75g ground almonds
75g fine semolina
1/2 tsp baking powder

Blood Orange Syrup
100ml passion fruit puree
100g caster sugar 

Dark Chocolate Glaze
150g dark chocolate (I used Guittards 66% dark chocolate discs)
200ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and lightly grease a 10-cup capacity bundt cake pan. Lightly dust the inside of the pan with a little extra flour and tap out any excess leaving a thin coating. These steps will help ensure the cake comes out clean. I personally prefer to use a spray oil for this and it ensures a thin coating then gets into every nook of the pan.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, caster sugar and lemon zest using a electric mixer, on high speed, for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is pale and light. Meanwhile, in a jug whisk together the oil, yoghurt and passion fruit puree. Add the oil mixture to the egg mixture and whisk briefly to combine. In a separate bowl mix together all the dry goods, then add to the liquid goods and mix briefly just until evenly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and set onto a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. 

When it comes to turning out a Bundt without damaging the cake I find the best thing you can do is place the cake onto a wire rack for exactly ten minutes before attempting to turn it out. If you try and remove the cake any earlier it will not have had enough time to fully set so is more likely to break apart. If you wait much longer the cake can become a little sticky and wedge itself inside the pan, so 10 minutes is that perfect sweet spot.

Once the cake has been removed from the pan and is cooling on a wire rack make the syrup. In a small saucepan bring the passion fruit and sugar to a simmer, cooking just until the sugar has been dissolved. Whilst the cake is still warm brush the syrup all over, allowing it soak into the cake. Set the cake aside until fully cool.

Once ready to glaze place the chocolate discs into a bowl and the cream into a small saucepan. Bring the cream to a simmer and pour over the chocolate, setting aside for a couple minutes before stirring together to form a silky ganache. Set the glaze in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes or until the glaze has thickened up but it still pourable. Set the cake, still on a wire rack, over a piece of parchment paper and pour the ganache all over the cake (the paper will catch any drips that fall from the cake). 

Kept in a sealed container this cake will keep for up to 5 days. 

Triple Ginger Bundt Cake

GIngerbread is a big deal in my family, a really big deal. My grandmother, Nanna, had a version that was made once a week, a firm family favourite, it is one of those recipes that I will cherish and bake forever. Even though she passed away when I was little I have her handwritten recipe and make it often. It helps that it is incredibly easy to make, a simple wet into dry, muffin style method, and I do love a recipe that massively exceeds in taste the effort required to make it. Whilst I have a lot of loyalty to that recipe for this gingerbread I wanted a slightly different tone, something darker, more intense, something similar to my other favourite gingerbread recipe; the legendary ginger stout cake from Claudia Fleming, a recipe she developed whilst the pastry chef at The Gramercy Tavern. The recipe appears in her out of print of book The Last Course, a copy of which I am lucky to own (it is currently being sold on amazon for £138!). Similarly to Flemings recipe mine is oil based and uses a stout to give extra depth, instead of the usual go-to guinness I went with a chocolate stout. To give a darker, richer flavour I switched my recipe from golden syrup to black treacle and upped the spicing, using a trifecta of ginger in the form of ground, fresh and candied, I wanted this to be a properly fiery gingerbread. 

Triple Ginger Bundt Cake
Serves 12-16

340g plain flour
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
175g vegetable oil
150g light brown sugar
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
4 tbsp roughly chopped candied ginger
340g black treacle (or molasses)
200ml stout (I used chocolate stout but any stout will work) 
2 large eggs

Making this cake really couldn't be easier, simply preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and take a a 10-cup bundt pan, I used Nordicware's Kougelhopf pan, and lightly grease, making sure to cover the entire pan right into all of the crevices of the pan. Lightly dust the inside of the pan with a little flour, tapping out any excess.  

In a large bowl mix together all of the dry goods. Add the remaining ingredients, except the eggs, into a saucepan and heat over medium heat cooking until the sugar has melted and everything is evenly combined. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before whisking in the eggs. Pour the liquid goods over the flour mixture and whisk briefly until smoothly combined. Pour into the prepared bundt pan and place onto a baking tray, baking in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. If you fancy you can glaze or frost the cake but personally I think a simple dusting of icing sugar works perfectly. 

As with all gingerbread recipes this actually improves after a couple days, the flavour gets better and the cake gets stickier. 

Bergamot and Gin Bundt Cake

January. It was barrage of cold, wet and simply miserable days, coupled with a looming tax deadline. Thank god it is over (although with Trump now in office I don't think its going to be sunny days and rainbows anytime soon). So yes, January doesn't really give us much to look forward to, except for the bounty of citrus that brightness the dullest of months. Normally I am obsessed with blood oranges, buying them by the dozen and figuring out a use later, and that certainly hasn't changed. This year, however, I have become quite besotted by the bergamot.  A more unusual, slightly trickier to find citrus, it tastes to me like a cross between a lemon, a lime and with a big dose of grapefruit and a hint of lavender. Its a little more sweet than lemons, although still sharp, very floral and just delicious. Over the last month I have used it in cocktails, in cookies and a couple of cakes and I have been completely won over. Thankfully my recipe testers seem to agree. 

One of the things with being a food writer is that at most times you can find one, if not two recipes in the kitchen waiting to find a home. It is one of the questions that people seem fascinated with; where does all all the food I make go, other than the obvious of course! I bake and cook every day and there is a limit to what me and my flatmate can eat, as much as we try to deny that sometimes. So, on a regular basis, I become the Hansel and Gretel of cakes, leaving crumbs wherever I go, taking cakes to meetings, dropping off cookies to my neighbour and generally trying to get the food into other peoples mouths other than my own. This particular recipe ended up at a friends office. Whilst they are normally very thankful for the food, I don’t regularly hear much back in the terms of feedback, but this was different. They loved this cake, and whilst I had planned on sharing this eventually, be it in a book or a magazine, I thought it was too good to sit on so here it is. A Bergamot and Gin Bundt cake (yes another bundt, sorry but I don’t think I won't ever stop loving bundt cakes). 

Bergamot and Gin Bunt Cake
500g golden caster sugar
zest of 2 large bergamot (see note below)
8 large eggs
250ml light olive oil
200g yoghurt
50ml bergamot juice
100g fine semolina
250g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder

Glaze
2 tbsp gin
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1-2 tbsp bergamot juice
200g icing sugar

To make the bundt cake preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).

Place the sugar, bergamot zest and eggs into a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to whisk together until pale and light, about 5 minutes. Pour in the olive oil, yoghurt and bergamot juice and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Add the dry goods to the egg mixture and whisk together briefly to combine. 

Spray a large bundt pan with oil (I find spray oil the most effective way to grease a bundt tin, almost guaranteeing it to release easily) and pour in the cake batter. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cake is still warm you can brush with a bergamot syrup if you fancy but I actually dont think this cake needs it, it is perfectly moist and flavourful on its own. 

For the glaze mix together the bergamot juice, gin, vanilla and icing sugar until a thick but pourable glaze is formed. Pour over the top of the cake and allow to drip down the sides of the cake. If you prefer you can sprinkle the cake with bergamot zest.

This keep keeps brilliantly, 3-4 days in a covered container.