Tag Archive for: bundt

Lime Basil Blackberry Bundt Cake Recipe Cove Cake Design

Lime Basil Blackberry Bundt Cake Recipe

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Lime Basil Blackberry Bundt Cake

Bundt Cakes

This Lime Basil Blackberry Bundt cake is a refreshing, delicious and easy recipe to make. Bundt cakes are so easy to make, require little decoration and serve a crowd…hence I always love making a bundt cake for weekend treats or family celebrations! There are various bundt tins on the market with different shapes but I particularly love my silicone one which makes this sharp mountainous style. The silicone makes it easy to release too.

Lime Basil Blackberry Flavour Combination

I have recently been experimenting with basil in some of my cake recipes, which was inspired by an incredible vanilla and basil ice-cream that I tasted in a gelateria in Lisbon a while ago. Basil pairs well with berries such as strawberries, but with blackberries in season just now I wanted to try it with this alternative and I thought the colour contrast would be quite visually appealing too. Lime and basil are another known flavour pairing and the lime gives this cake a flavoursome lift.

I have made this cake with just a simple lime syrup or also with a glace lime icing, either work well to give an added citrusy sweetness. This cake is the perfect afternoon or teatime treat. Not too sweet…and the flavour pairings will surely be a talking point for those who get to sample a piece!

Happy Baking!

Suzanne x

Lime Basil and Blackberry Bundt Cake Recipe

Ingredients for the cake:

  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 3 medium free range eggs
  • Approx 10 large basil leaves (you can vary this depending on your preference for the basil flavour)
  • Pinch salt
  • 2-3 tbsp milk
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lime
  • 150g fresh blackberries
  • Rapeseed or other flavourless oil for greasing.

Ingredients for the syrup or glaze:

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 50g caster sugar (for the syrup) or 150g icing sugar (for the glace icing)

Method:

    1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320F.  Grease a bundt tin by brushing with a flavourless oil such as rapeseed oil.
    2. Put the caster sugar and basil leaves into a high speed blender and pulse or blend for a minute or two until the basil is incorporated into the sugar. The sugar begins to clump due to the moisture in the basil so you may need to stop and shake it around a bit. Any large pieces of basil that fail to get blended can be removed if preferred.
    3. Cream together the basil sugar with the butter, salt and lime zest in an electric mixer or by hand until light.
    4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    5. Add in the flour and mix on low speed until combined.
    6. Add a few tbsp of milk and mix again to a soft dropping consistency.
    7. Finally add the blackberries and give one last stir with the mixer. I like to do this to break up the blackberries slighly which creates nice little flecks and streaks of colour. You can of course do this as much as you like or indeed keep the blackberries fully whole by placing them into the cake batter once it is in the tin.
    8. Pour the mixture into the bundt tin and bake for 40-50 mins until the top of the cake is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
    9. To make the syrup (optional): Add the lime juice and sugar to a pan and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer until reduced slightly. Pour over the bundt cake while the cake and syrup are still warm. It helps to insert a skewer into the cake in several places to create channels for the syrup to penetrate the cake.
    10. To make the glace icing (optional): The glace icing can be added as well as or instead of the syrup. Mix lime juice and icing sugar to get a consistency such that it is not too runny but will still drip down the side of the cake. You can add more lime juice or icing sugar as required. Pour or spoon over the cake when it is cool.

Lime Basil Blackberry Bundt Cake

 

Healthier Chocolate Bundt Cake Cove Cake Design

Healthier Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Recipe with Orange Coconut Cream Ganache

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The Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake

It was my birthday this week (I’m an April fool!), and this year I had time to make cake. We are currently in a global shutdown to combat a coronavirus pandemic and it is an anxious time for everyone I think. We have to live day-by-day and hope that we can overcome it together. In the midst of all the gloom it is important to keep busy and do things you love…and that would include baking!

I chose to make this Chocolate Beetroot Bundt cake from a desire to maintain a nourishing and healthy diet at this time. While no cake is healthy, this one uses honey as a sweetener, rapeseed oil in place of butter and of course has one of your 5-a-day in the form of nutritious beetroot! It is also dairy-free, making it suitable for those with dairy intolerances or dietary preferences.

The Flavours

The recipe is adapted from one by Green Kitchen Stories, who write wonderful vegetarian cookbooks. I have made changes to their Decadent Beetroot Chocolate cake by substituting some flour for wholemeal, adding in ground almonds for added moisture and increasing the chocolate content. I also decided to go all-out (it was my birthday after all!) and add a vegan Chocolate Orange Ganache icing, which really makes the cake! I sometimes pair beetroot with orange in a salad and I think the flavour combination works well here too. I love vegan ganache (perhaps more so than regular ganache actually!), made with coconut cream it is equally as rich as that made with dairy cream but has added flavour. Any leftover could be rolled into delicious vegan truffles.

Healthier Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake

Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake Variations

As shopping and stock availability is not always easy in the current global shutdown, feel free to make variations with whatever you have available. If you don’t have a bundt tin, this recipe would also works well in an 8″ or 9″ round cake tin. I have used a mix of wholemeal and plain flour but if the flour shortage seen in supermarkets here is widespread, feel free to use any flour you have, eg. self-raising (omit the baking powder), or gluten-free or other flour alternatives.  Ground almonds are also a non-essential element. The original recipe calls for 70% dark chocolate but I only had 54.5% available so clearly either will work.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it is an easy one to make so kids can be roped in too. And perhaps a nice nourishing choice for an Easter treat too!

Happy baking!

Suzanne x

Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake Slice

Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake Recipe with Orange Coconut Cream Ganache

Ingredients for the Cake:

  • 150ml rapeseed oil (olive would work too), plus extra for greasing
  • 120ml honey
  • 75g dark chocolate (70% best but I used 54.5%)
  • 250g grated raw red beetroot
  • 3 free range eggs
  • 1tsp vanilla extract (optional)
  • 100g wholemeal plain flour
  • 100g plain flour
  • 25g ground almonds
  • 75g good quality cocoa powder
  • 2tsp baking powder
  • Pinch salt

Ingredients for Ganache:

  • 150g coconut cream (can take cream settled at top of tin of coconut milk or use a small tin coconut cream)
  • 150g 54.5% dark chocolate
  • Grated zest of 1 small orange

For decoration (optional):

  • Whatever you have available! I used dried rose petals, other dried flowers, toasted nuts, sliced fruits etc would also work well.

Method:

  1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 160°C/320F.  Grease a 20cm bundt pan with oil. I use a silicone bundt mould which is best to avoid sticking. If using a metal one it may be advisable to also sprinkle with flour to avoid sticking. If using a cake tin, grease and line.
  2. Heat the rapeseed oil, honey and dark chocolate together on a low heat in a medium sized pan.
  3. Add the grated beetroot, beaten eggs and vanilla and stir to combine.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Add the ground almonds.
  5. Pour the dry ingredients into the chocolate beetroot mixture and stir well to combine.
  6. Pour the mixture into your chosen cake tin.
  7. Bake for 25-35mins, until the top is cracked and a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
  8. Leave to cool for 10mins before turning out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.
  9. To make the ganache, place the chocolate and coconut cream in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir to melt chocolate. Add the orange zest and stir. Pour over the cooled bundt cake. Decorate as you wish.
  10. Enjoy!

Chocolate Beetroot Bundt Cake Slice