A New Pan and a Yummy Spice Cake

I'm pleased with the result - this drizzled with Vanilla Bean Glaze

I've had a Nordic Ware small bundt pan with six flower shapes on my Amazon wish list for months now.  It's a specialty item - depending on where you find it, ranging from $23 to $35.  I haven't pulled the trigger because it seems like something I'd likely use closer to the holidays...and I already have so many specialty shaped pans...I kept waffling about whether or not to hit that order button.

Decorated with powdered sugar and some sugar crystals

When I was in Austin I had 20 minutes to spare before an appointment and there was a Goodwill Store nearby...and I decided to swing in to see if I might happen across a cake stand (I'm bordering on collecting cake stands...but space is holding me back...and I already have 3...do I really NEED more???).  You never know what you might stumble across at a Goodwill Store!  I'm a huge fan of consignment stores but charity stores are also worth a gander.  I've gotten good at fast scanning for what I seek.

Consider my look of disbelief when my eyes lit on a very similar Nordic Ware pan (I checked the brand to make sure) - which looked good as new, not a scratch on it, for $3.99!  This one was all roses, instead of the 3 different shapes...but, hey, I wasn't quibbling, this would certainly do!  I grabbed it.

The inside of the pan

The outside of the pan

Today I'm in the mood to bake and so I began to search out a dense cake recipe - and spice was niggling in my mind (our family loves a good spice cake).  I found a yogurt spice cake recipe and decided I'd give it a try.  I did change the spice options a bit and moved to white whole wheat flour (aka whole wheat cake flour) and mixed in some turbinado sugar in place of some of the white granulated.  Similar to a whole grain yogurt coffee cake I've made before, but different as I didn't want a coffee cake...but more of a dense cake I could glaze or frost...
and ultimately rose shaped :-)

So here's the recipe:

Spiced Whole Wheat Yogurt Pound Cake
Inspired by Georgie at Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup turbinado sugar

1 cup butter, softened (I used salted because that's what I had)

1 cup plain yogurt

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

The "wet goods"

The "dry goods"

Method:

Prepare small bundt pans like mine shown above (or a single regular bundt pan) with Baker's Joy or other baking spray which includes flour.  Hit all the crevices to avoid sticking.  This recipe will fill these 6 plus another 12 to 18 real mini bundts. 

Note:  Since I wasn't sure how much these would rise, I ended up over-filling the 6 and only had enough for 9 of the minis - and even they rose up over the edge.  The rose cakes, however, overflowed into the bottom of my oven.

< %$*@ , but thank goodness for self cleaning ovens!> 

If you fill the 6-per-pan size no more than half full, it should be perfect.  I measured 1 cup of batter and, in retrospect, that was wayyyyyy too much. (This is a common problem I have - miscalculating rising :-) Andddd, to make matters worse, I jiggled the half cooked rose pan full of batter to a spot, more in the middle, and away from the electric elements (because dang it smelled awful when the burning batter hit the electric oven heating elements) - and the centers all sunk before my eyes.  CRAP!!!!  All of that was avoidable.  Must remember, always better to under fill than over fill!!!

All of that said - carry on - don't make my mistakes - because this was a really delicious tasting cake!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a stand mixer, cream sugars and softened butter until lighter in color and fluffy. 

Creamed turbinado and granulated sugar and softened butter

Add eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. 

Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.

Eggs and Vanilla incorporated

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. (I used a 4 cup measure - one less bowl to wash)

Add 1/3 dry ingredients - blend.

Add 1/2 yogurt - blend.

Add second 1/3 of dry ingredients - blend.

Add the rest of the yogurt - blend.

Add the last of the dry ingredients and beat for 60-90 seconds until your batter is smooth.

Batter complete

Separate the batter equally between the mini bundts (and remember note above and do not fill more than 1/2 way with batter).  Bake for 20 minutes for minis, 25 to 30 minutes for 6-pan and 35-38 minutes for single bundt cake.  Cake tester should come out clean when done.

Allow to cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes and then turn out onto rack to continue cooling.

You can see the overflow was not attractive

After the trimming, they looked excellent!

The mini bundts (I already had this pan) were deemed "quite good" by the teen

Either dust with confectioner's sugar or drizzle your favorite glaze.  I like the Vanilla Bean Drizzle you'll find at the bottom of this previous blog post link.

A drizzled rose - yum

I'm pretty pleased with this yummy recipe and still escatic about my awesome find at the Goodwill Store!  It performed beautifully, released perfectly (despite the over flow, which I just cut off with an extremely sharp lightly serrated knife after they cooled about 20 minutes - you couldn't hardly tell!), and I got the pan for about 85% off retail. The only failure today, was user-error....but still, woo hoo!!!  Good cake!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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