My two favorite meals are breakfast and dessert. So it goes without saying that I adore fruit-filled pastries, crumbly coffee cakes, chocolate muffins, and slices of nutty breads. These treats aren't quite meals on there own, so they always seem a bit indulgent to me.
Smitten Kitchen is a site that doesn't shy away from indulgences. This recipe for a summery Triple Berry Buttermilk Bundt cake stopped me dead in my screen-scrolling tracks. If that's a thing. After Bird's approval (and his trip to the store for fresh berries), it was in and out of the oven in an hour and a half flat.
Recently, I acquired a flour sifter (pictured above), and I find myself grabbing for it every time I bake. I really love to use it to break up pesky clumps of sugar! Now icing and me never really get along, and this one seemed particularly gluey. I'd recommend cutting the lemon juice next time, and not adding all the powdered sugar called for in the recipe. (That's what I'll be doing next time, at least). All in all, it was a success. Bird LOVES it, and so do I.
Recently, I acquired a flour sifter (pictured above), and I find myself grabbing for it every time I bake. I really love to use it to break up pesky clumps of sugar! Now icing and me never really get along, and this one seemed particularly gluey. I'd recommend cutting the lemon juice next time, and not adding all the powdered sugar called for in the recipe. (That's what I'll be doing next time, at least). All in all, it was a success. Bird LOVES it, and so do I.
You can follow the link above for the actual recipe or here is my variation:
Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt:
Cake2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups mixed berries
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups mixed berries
Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
Generously grease Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift 2 1/4 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and impossibly fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then, with the mixer on a low speed, add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in vanilla, briefly. Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture. Scrape down from time to time and don’t mix any more than you need to.
In a medium bowl, sift 2 1/4 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and impossibly fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then, with the mixer on a low speed, add your eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in vanilla, briefly. Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture. Scrape down from time to time and don’t mix any more than you need to.
In the bowl where you’d mixed your dry ingredients, toss the berries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. With a silicon spatula, gently fold the berries into the cake batter. The batter will be very thick. Be careful not to squish berries too much.
Spread cake batter — you might find it easier to plop it in the pan in large spoonfuls, because it’s so thick — in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the cake 180 degrees after 30 (to make sure it browns evenly). The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter.
Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting the cake onto a serving platter to cool the rest of the way. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and preferred thickness. Spread carefully over top of cake, letting it trickle down the sides when and where it wishes. Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Spread cake batter — you might find it easier to plop it in the pan in large spoonfuls, because it’s so thick — in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the cake 180 degrees after 30 (to make sure it browns evenly). The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter.
Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting the cake onto a serving platter to cool the rest of the way. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and preferred thickness. Spread carefully over top of cake, letting it trickle down the sides when and where it wishes. Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Photo via livkrysti