Nothing beats baking something delicious and then seeing the recipients face as they tuck into a slice (or two) of cakey goodness.

Over the summer we had my parents and two of my brothers come to visit. They had been down in London as it was Stephen's graduation then decided to come on up to Leeds and spend a few days with us (or more Ethan) before flying back to Belfast. I wanted to make Stephen a nice cake to celebrate finishing a long year in London gaining his PGCE but the big sister in me also wanted to make sure he had some nice home baking to enjoy as you don't get that in student halls.

I haven't made a Bundt in ages and my tins are just sat in the cupboard gathering dust so I decided now was the perfect time to whip one out and remind myself why I love these tins so much. Gosh, typing up this post is making me want to bake another one, maybe for the weekend, hmmm....

Anyway! My go to website for Bundts is always Dollybakes blog where she has made Bundts in almost every flavour combination available. I decided to fiddle with her recipe for a Toffee Choc Bundt and adapted it to suit the use of Biscoff spread instead. All I can say it oh my! I could have easily face planted this whole cake, it was scrumptious.

Stephen loved it too and between all of us we made good work of demolishing this cake over the 4 days that my family stayed with us.

Congrats on qualifying as a teacher Stephen, finally Tom has someone else to talk shop with haha...


Biscoff Bundt

Malteser Bundt... two of my favourite things combined together to make something quite magical. I'm not even going to pretend I came up with the idea for this cake as let's be honest, the best Bundt ideas always come from the lady herself... Dollybakes.

It's a delicious cake and one I've been meaning to make for a long time. Also, these chocolate bar spreads are genius! Just a quick zap in the microwave to soften it slightly and you have a ready made topping. Now usually I prefer to do all baking from scratch but since the little man arrived I do have to cut corners on occasion and this is a perfect shortcut. 

I decided to make this cake for one of our NCT meet-ups and it was a great hit with all the girls. If anything I'm wishing I had bought two jars of the spread then one could be served warm to be poured over the cake - yummm!

I could go on and on about this cake but I'll let the pictures do the talking. If you wish to make this then check out Dollybake's blog. She's got some truly fantastic recipes on there but I will not be held responsible if you succumb to the Bundt tin addiction!

As mentioned previously, I was asked to make a recipe from this book and share it with you all but when I saw this one too I knew I had to add it to the list. Also the fact that it's a Bundt was a winner in my eyes. I do love a good Bundt!

It was so easy to whip up - mix the wet ingredients together and then fold in the dry, tip into the Bundt tin, bake and drizzle with icing once cool. I've been on the search for a good chocolate Bundt recipe for ages and I have a feeling I'll be making this one again and again. It's so light and fluffy yet moist and ridiculously chocolatey too - a winner all round!

The only aspect of this cake that I did change was the icing as someone (*cough Mr T cough*) ate the chocolate that I needed for it. Instead I used a fudge icing which worked really well especially when the cake was warmed up - yum!

Chocolate Bundt

270g plain flour

1¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp salt

295ml buttermilk

70g cocoa

235g mayonnaise

2 eggs

165g soft light brown sugar

160g caster sugar

1½ tsp vanilla extract

60g dark chocolate

Regular readers of this blog will know I am a massive fan of Sugar and Crumbs Icing Sugar. I have been using their sugars for 2-3 years now and they have to be the best flavoured icing that I have ever used.

A few weeks back I was having a root around in my baking cupboard when I spotted an unopened bag of Pink Lemonade Icing Sugar that only had a few months left on the date. I had actually bought it at the Cake and Bake Show last year but somehow forgot I had it.

I was wracking my brains trying to think how I could incorporate it in a cake when I noticed Sugar and Crumbs had started stocking Nordic Ware Bundts. Now I am purposefully avoiding their website at the moment as maternity pay, yummy icing and gorgeous cake tins are not a good combination. 

Anyway... I digress... I got chatting to the S&C folks on Twitter and we began to wonder how their icing sugar would work in a Bundt so of course I realised how I would use the Pink Lemonade Icing Sugar - I would make a Bundt! 

I opted for my Blossom tin as it's just so pretty (although it's a bugger to grease!) and my favourite tin to use.

I was unsure as to how icing sugar would work in a sponge so I did a 50/50 ratio of icing sugar to caster sugar. The result was interesting but in a good way. The Pink Lemonade flavour wasn't that strong but what it did give was a sweeter sponge. The flavour did come through stronger in the icing glaze and I think that had it been more evident in the sponge it would have been too overpowering.

To add a little bit of fun (and pink) to the Bundt I decided to create a marble effect with some pink food colouring. It was only afterwards that I began to wonder should I have flavoured the pink bits with the Pink Lemonade icing sugar and left the rest of it plain. I think I might do that with my next batch of icing sugars as now I'm thinking about it as I type I'm quite intrigued by it.

Pink Lemonade Bundt

340g Baking Spread

170g Caster Sugar

170g Pink Lemonade Icing Sugar

340g SR Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

6 eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Pink Food Colouring

To Decorate

250g Pink Lemonade Icing Sugar

A few tablespoons of water

Edible Silver Balls

Freeze Dried Raspberries

• Preheat your oven to 160C (fan)
• Grease and flour your chosen Bundt tin
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Whisk in the flour, baking powder, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined
• Scoop half the mixture into another bowl and gently stir in pink food colouring (I use Sugarflair Gels)
• Alternate between the two cake mixes adding a spoonful at a time into the tin
• Place in the oven and bake for 45-50mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Leave to sit in the tin for 30mins before tipping onto a wire rack to cool
• Once cool mix the remaining icing sugar with some water until it is a thick but pourable consistency
• Pour over the Bundt
• Decorate with a scattering of edible silver balls and freeze dried raspberries

Enjoy!

We really though something might be happening yesterday as I had some pains in the morning and they ramped up a bit in the evening but then they died off. It's been a bit on and off this morning with one stomach cramp that I timed and it lasted 1m15s but there has been nothing since then. We know the head is fully engaged following a presentation scan we had on Thursday so now it's just a matter of waiting...

One plus of maternity leave though is I can actually stay on top of blog posts and publish recipes on time instead of weeks afterwards (yes I know this will all change after bubs arrives but humour me for the moment please).

Yesterday, 21st February, we held our New Beginnings event for Wharfedale CCC at Cranberry's Cafe in Otley and what a gem of a place it is - I'll definitely be going back. Most people thought I was mad for booking in an event a week before my due date but if I hadn't I probably would have spent most of the day moping about; instead I got to indulge in cake and time with friends!

For the event I wanted to bake something I hadn't made before but also something fairly quick and easy. I had treated myself to the Blossom Bundt Pan with my birthday money (it's so pretty!) so this was a perfect excuse to use it. 

Whenever I want to bake a Bundt I always check out Dollybake's blog first as that girl seems to have thought of every flavour combination going. One thing I did notice she has done a few times was poured a jar of chocolate spread to cover the cake instead of using icing. Now this sounded ideal and like the perfect time saver. Pop the jar in the microwave for 20 seconds to soften it so that it is of a pourable consistency and voilà - perfect bundt covering!

Before deciding on the cake flavour I checked out what jars of spreads Asda had on their website while I was doing a "fill the freezer and hospital snack bag" shop last week and spotted a jar of white chocolate spread. I knew instantly I had to make something raspberry and white chocolate related and after a few tweaks to my usual victoria sponge recipe I came up with this...

White Chocolate and Raspberry Bundt

340g baking spread

340g caster sugar

340g SR flour

2 tsp baking powder

6 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp white chocolate spread

Punnet of raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)
• Grease and flour bundt tin of your choice
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Beat in the flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and spread
• Gently fold in a handful of raspberries and set aside the remaining for decoration
• Pour into the tin
• Bake in the oven for 50mins - 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Once baked leave to cool in the tin for half an hour before tipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely

To Decorate

Jar of white chocolate spread

Remaining punnet of raspberries

White chocolate shavings

Freeze dried raspberries

• Pop the jar of spread in the microwave for 20 seconds and pour over your bundt
• Tumble the raspberries into the centre of the cake
• Scatter with chocolate shavings and freeze dried raspberries

Enjoy!

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)

• Grease and flour your bundt tin.

• Add the milk and vinegar to a jug and set aside.

• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

• Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

• Alternating between the eggs and the dry ingredients, add a bit at a time until well combined.

• Whisk in the milk until smooth.

• Pour into a prepared tin and bake in the oven for 50-60mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

• Leave to cool in the tin for 30mins before tipping onto a wire rack to cool.

• Once the bundt is cool stir the water into the icing sugar a little bit at a time until smooth and thick but with a dropping consistency.

• Pour over the bundt.

• Decorate with chocolate drops.