This is dense and moist vanilla and Amarula bundt cake with a melt-in-the-mouth crumb. Finished off with a milk chocolate ganache, it’s the perfect celebration cake.
The success of a bundt cake is its perfectly formed dome shape and for this, a denser sponge is required. You do not want to run the risk of your cake sticking to the tin here.
Amarula is a cream liqueur made from marula fruit only grown on the plains of subequatorial Africa. Marula trees can not be cultivated and they grow where they want to. The fruit is harvested in mid-summer by hand.
This vanilla bundt cake is made with a generous amount of Kerrygold butter which is so creamy. The butter is made from the milk grass-fed cows Irish dairy cows. It’s a dream to use in baking and has an incredible texture. I have used salted butter here and don’t add any additional salt.
A few tips for making a bundt cake
Make sure you use room temperature butter and eggs in this recipe
Ensure that the eggs are well incorporated into the batter before adding the next egg. You can mix the batter aggressively at this stage, but be careful not to overmix after the flour has been added.
Add the flour and liquid ingredients in three parts. This helps prevent dry clumps from forming.
You can leave the Amarula out of the syrup if you don’t drink alcohol, or substitute it for another liqueur that will pair with vanilla and chocolate. You could also flavour the syrup with lemon if you wanted to make a lemon-glazed bundt cake. This is what I will try next.
Ensure that the eggs are well incorporated into the batter before adding the next egg. You can mix the batter aggressively at this stage, but be careful not to overmix after the flour has been added.
Add the flour and liquid ingredients in three parts. This helps prevent dry clumps from forming.
You can leave the Amarula out of the syrup if you don’t drink alcohol, or substitute it for another liqueur that will pair with vanilla and chocolate. You could also flavour the syrup with lemon if you wanted to make a lemon-glazed bundt cake. This is what I will try next.
This bundt cake is a thick batter so it’s perfect to use as a base to hold other flavours and ingredients like dried fruit and chocolate chips.
Spray your bundt cake generously with baking spray. I use Cook n Bake in South Africa. If you are in the USA, cake goop works really well to grease your bundt cake tin.
I like to use a metal bundt tin and mine is a kugelhopft tin but works really well. I do not recommend using a silicone bundt cake mold.
As the batter is very thick, drop it into the pan in parts and give it a good tap on the counter after it’s filled to settle and avoid air bubbles.
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
285gm Kerrygold butter (room temperature)
380gms sugar
3 large free-range eggs
450gms flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
1 cup buttermilk
100ml sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
Syrup:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup Amarula
Milk chocolate ganache:
200gms milk chocolate
250ml (1 cup) cream
30 ml Amarula optional
INSTRUCTIONS
To make the cake preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.
Spray a Bundt tin generously with cooking spray (approx. 22cm x 12cm).
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. About 5 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time to the batter ensuring they are thoroughly mixed in before adding the next one.
Sift the flour and baking powder and baking soda. Mix the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract together.
With the mixer on low, add the sifted flour and buttermilk & oil in 3 parts. Scrape down the bowl and mix briefly until well incorporated.
Scoop the batter into the bundt tin and flatten it out with a spatula.
Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until golden brown. The cake is done when a knife is inserted into the middle of the cake, and it comes out clean. Loosely cover the cake with a piece of tin foil from about 20 minutes into the baking time to prevent over-browning.
Allow the Bundt cake to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes then invert it onto a plate.
Make the syrup while the cake is baking by adding the sugar and water to a small pot and simmering it for 5 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Add the Amarula.
When the cake is tipped out from the tin, brush it all over with the Amarula syrup allowing it to soak in.
Allow this to cool completely before topping with the ganache.
Make your ganache in advance of icing the cake as it will thicken as it cools. Finely chop the chocolate and add it to a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream and add it to the chocolate. Stir until it’s smooth and melted. Allow it to cool and thicken before icing the cake.
Written by Sam Linsell
This article originally appeared on Drizzle and Dip
