Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries
Apr 19, 2010 Cakes, Strawberries
Yesterday I made the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries from April’s Bon Appetit Magazine. It’s almost a week before I move out of my mauve countertop kitchen and I wanted to make another dessert that would sit against the odd colored background as I took pictures for your enjoyment. From now on, You’ll have a nice wood countertop background to look at behind the food I’ll be making. The mauve sure was fun while it lasted.
This cake was good, but I was surprised at how different it turned out than I expected. It seems that I’m not the only one who had this issue. The icing sort of absorbed into the cake, but the picture on Bon Appetit showed beautiful lines of icing sitting happily on top of the cake. It was sweeter than I expected, and the cake wasn’t dense or fluffy… it was sort of … maybe spongy? I usually love Bon Appetit desserts but this one turned out to be just ok. It was really fun drizzling the icing on though before it absorbed into the cake.
Good thing I captured that moment on camera.
I don’t like posting recipes on here that I wouldn’t make again, but I think it’s probably good to post the not-so-good along with the wonderful. If you’re in the mood for a wonderful cake and I let you down by posting this, here’s my favorite strawberry cake, or if you want something else wonderful here’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I wish I had either of those right now!
Under the circumstances, this is a really good back up.
Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries
Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
CAKE:
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1 teaspoon bourbon
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
GLAZE:
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons (or more) whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
STRAWBERRIES:
- 1 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Directions
CAKE:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Butter and flour standard Bundt pan, then spray pan with nonstick spray. Pour bourbon into small bowl. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into bourbon; stir to blend well (reserve scraped vanilla bean for another use).Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolk 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in bourbon-vanilla mixture. Add flour mixture in 2 additions alternately with buttermilk in 1 addition, beating just until blended after each addition. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top evenly (batter will come only halfway up sides of pan).Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.
GLAZE:
Whisk powdered sugar, 4 teaspoons milk, and vanilla in small bowl to blend, adding more milk by 1/4 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle.Place sheet of foil on work surface. Place cake (still on rack) atop foil. Using spoon, drizzle glaze over cake in zigzag pattern. Let cake stand at room temperature until glaze sets, about 15 minutes. DO AHEAD Cake can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.
STRAWBERRIES:
Toss strawberries and sugar in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature until juices form, tossing occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cut cake into wedges and divide among plates. Spoon strawberries with juices alongside and serve.
Tags: Bon Appetit dessert, bundt cake, strawberry bundt cake, vanilla bean bundt cake
Clean and Simple Desktop Backgrounds
Apr 12, 2010 Uncategorized
I know this isn’t a recipe, but I wanted to share a fun website with you where I’ve been finding some great desktop backgrounds. I don’t usually use the food related ones, but some of them are pretty fun. When I do use food/drink desktop backgrounds I try to stay away from ones that make me hungry. Coffee cups are generally pretty safe, and I like the milk one a lot. The website is called Simple Desktops, and you can go there and download big versions for your desktop backgrounds. Scroll down to see more.
Lately things have been going really well. Brian and I decided to move closer to where we work so we aren’t each driving an hour every day, so we will be out of this house by the end of the month. I’m sad about leaving this house, although not about leaving the part of town we live in. This house has been great because of the big kitchen, the whirlpool bathtub, the awesome deck, and the big spacious living room. I love it, but it will be nice to be closer to my family and work.
So, for the next few weeks we’ll be packing and soon I’ll cook my last meal at this house. I’m trying to decide what it’s going to be, and when I decide I’ll probably invite some friends over and take lots of pictures to document the last meal here. I want it to be something fun that I’ve never tried before. In the last Bon Appetit I got there were some really great looking desserts, including a vanilla bean bundt cake with strawberry topping that I will hopefully make soon.
In addition to all the moving plans, I’ve been getting celebrating with my friend Melissa as she prepares for her wedding in June. Her first shower was Saturday and it was beautiful. I’m also attending the Little Light House Garden Party in two weeks. If you are in the Tulsa area and you want to go to a great event, you should really check it out. You can visit their website for all the details.
Well that’s all for now. I hope you enjoy the food desktop backgrounds. I’ll post back later this week with a recipe.
Tags: desktop backgrounds, food desktop backgrounds, simple desktops
