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Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes #BundtBakers

0 · · 20 Comments

Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes with fresh cream and sliced strawberries that are layered between slices of moist, vanilla strawberry cake.

Living the Gourmet: Revamp your favorite strawberry dessert with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. #BundtBakers

Living the Gourmet: Revamp your favorite strawberry dessert with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. #BundtBakers

Bundt Bakers is back everyone and this month I’m proud to announce, I’m hosting this delightful group as we bake together on this final month of summer…well, maybe not officially but by next month the school season will be in full swing and we’ll be talking about pumpkin spice and prepping for the holidays. Or is that just me? 😉

Nevertheless, it’s a great honor to be hosting BB for the very first time, and the theme for this month is…*drumroll please*…Strawberries!

It seems fitting to close out the summer with these little gems and since strawberry cake is one of my favorites, I had a clear direction for where I wanted to take our little baking group this month.

So, without further adieu, lets dive into the recipe which is surprisingly easy and oh so delicious. Don’t forget to check out all the other yummy bundts below! 🙂

Living the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakers

For this recipe, I was torn between adding fresh berries to the batter, worried that it might make the cakes a little tart. So in its place, I added strawberry jam to the batter and left the fresh slices for layering afterward.

Furthermore, I used pastry flour rather than all-purpose and I think it made a huge difference in the consistency of the cakes themselves. They are ultra light and moist.

The process is a relatively simple one. Once the cakes have cooled, carefully slice each one in half. Layer the berries, then the cream, and cover with the tops of the mini cakes as shown below. I filled the bundt hole with extra cream, garnished with a few more slices of strawberries and dusted each with powdered sugar.

Living the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakersLiving the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakersLiving the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakersLiving the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakers

Yields 6

Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes

10 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

30 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • Fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoons sugar
    • For the cakes:
  • 1½ cup fine pastry flour
  • 1½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons strawberry jam
  • ½ cup whole milk

Instructions

  1. In a chilled metal bowl, beat the whipping cream with sugar until form peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until its time to assemble the cakes.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a mini bundt pan or one regular bundt pan.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together pastry flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar. Add vanilla, eggs and strawberry jam until a smooth batter forms.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with 1 cup of milk. Be sure the mix the batter well between each addition.
  6. Divide the batter between the mini bundt molds.
  7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
  8. Let the cakes cool before transferring over to a sheet pan.
    9. Assembly:
  9. Slice each bundt in half, horizontally. Layer the strawberry slices, then a generous dollop of whipped cream. Top each off with the tops of the bundts. Garnish with extra whipped cream, strawberry slices and a dusting of confectioner's sugar if desired.
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https://livingthegourmet.com/2017/08/strawberries-and-cream-naked-bundt-cakes-bundtbakers.html

Living the Gourmet: Enjoy the final moments of summer with these Strawberries and Cream Naked Bundt Cakes. Fresh cream and sliced strawberries are layered between a moist, vanilla strawberry cake. #BundtBakers

Enjoy these mini bundts friends! Until next time 🙂

Toodles,
Tammy<3

BundtBakers

Psst! Check out all our lovely bundts on the #BundtBakers Pinterest board!

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Polenta Cakes

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This spicy, warm pumpkin soup is just what your fall menu is calling for. Add deliciously fried polenta cakes in place of ordinary bread or biscuits, and you have an extraordinary winter dish.

Living the Gourmet: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Polenta Cakes

There’s a certain, rather pleasant stereotype regarding the autumn season in New York. It’s a nostalgic yet thoroughly modern scene, city blocks lined with browning memorial trees blanketed in fog laden air, while the pedestrian crowds begin succumbing the first October chill, fading into their long coats and scarves. Each year, this metropolitan scene plays out as masterfully as if Stevenson himself had composed the plot and set the scene.

As a gourmet with an intentionally overdeveloped palate, and practiced appreciation for my trade, I like to think that the season’s flavors, particular to the New York region whose culinary culture is in a constant state of blissful flux, has at least something to do with it.

Take today’s offering for example, an autumn themed pumpkin soup, which pulls together and fuses a range of influences, from grilled jalapeno and marinated artichoke hearts, to ground cumin and oregano, to parmesan and fresh rosemary. For added measure, I like to serve this soup alongside a platter of homemade polenta cakes, which perfectly completes the autumn setting.

While this may not be the first thing you think of when you consider autumn in New York, I urge you to give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Living the Gourmet: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Polenta Cakes

Yields 4-5

Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Polenta Cakes

10 minPrep Time

30 minCook Time

40 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

    Spicy Pumpkin Soup:
  • 1/2 red onion – grilled - sliced
  • 6 oz. marinated artichoke hearts
  • 1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin
  • 3 large garlic cloves – grilled
  • 1 bell pepper – grilled and sliced
  • 1 jalapeño – grilled and chopped
  • 29 oz. can cannellini beans – rinsed and drained
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Vegeta
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 handful of fresh sage plus extra for garnish
  • 1 stem of fresh rosemary
  • Fresh grated Parmesan cheese or Romano
  • Olive oil
    • Polenta Cakes:
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs – seasoned or plain
  • 1 cup milk
  • Handful of fresh basil leaves – chopped
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • Canola oil for frying

Instructions

    Spicy Pumpkin Soup:
  1. Heat a large cast iron frying pan and place the unpeeled garlic cloves, jalapeño, bell pepper, and onion in the pan to grill. When the skin looks a bit charred, remove and let the veggies cool; then pinch the garlic from its skin and slice and chop the veggies
  2. Heat a sauce pot with two - three tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chopped veggies and the fresh rosemary and handful of sage and let sauté for a minute or two.
  3. Add the artichoke hearts with the marinade and the pumpkin and continue to gently simmer.
  4. Add the seasonings and the Vegeta; add the water and the beans and gently simmer on a low heat for 25 – 30 minutes.
  5. Heat a small frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and add a few leaves of fresh sage for a minute or two.
  6. Drizzle the oil and add the sage leaves to garnish each soup bowl, along with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper.
    7. Polenta Cakes:
  7. In large bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and mix.
  8. In a smaller bowl combine the milk, eggs, chopped basil and Parmesan cheese and whisk.
  9. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix.
  10. Heat a large cast iron frying pan over medium heat with a 1/4 inch of canola oil.
  11. Carefully spoon the batter into the pan and slightly flatten each with a fork. The oil should sizzle when the cakes are added. Do not overcrowd the pan.
  12. After 2 – 3 minutes; when the cakes are golden, carefully turn over and finish cooking on the other side.
  13. Line a platter with a paper towel to place the polenta cakes on when finished cooking.
  14. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
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https://livingthegourmet.com/2015/10/spicy-pumpkin-soup-with-polenta-cakes.html

 

Living the Gourmet: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Polenta Cakes

Enjoy with Love,
Catherine
xo

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

0 · · 41 Comments

Living the Gourmet: Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

These moist, naturally red velvet cupcakes are perfect for any occasion.

These rich, chocolatey treats boast of a subtle beet flavor offset by a cream cheese frosting made with evaporated milk. The result is surprising, distinct, and bound to become your new favorite. It’s red velvet reinvented!

So feel free to indulge in more than one cupcake 😉

Living the Gourmet: Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

Yields makes 12-18 cupcakes

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

10 minPrep Time

1 hrCook Time

1 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

  • 3-4 medium beet roots
  • 1 cup sour milk or buttermilk
  • 2 cups self-rising flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 1¾ cup white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • For Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 4 oz. cream cheese
  • 2 cups confectioner's sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons evaporated milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease or line a cupcake pan.
  2. Wrap beet roots in aluminum foil and bake for about 45 minutes or until beets are soft enough for a knife to slide easily through. Let cool, then peel.
  3. In a food processor, pulse beets. Add sour milk and blend until smooth.
  4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch and cocoa powder. Set aside.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla.
  6. Alternate adding flour mixture and beet puree to the wet ingredients. Fold each addition with a spatula, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, until you have a smooth batter.
  7. Fill each cupcake pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
  8. Remove the cupcakes and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.
  9. In the bowl of your standmixer with the whisk attachment, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, ¼ cup at a time. Add evaporated milk one tablespoon at a time until a smooth, thick frosting comes together. Top each cupcake with frosting.
  10. Refrigerate before serving.
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https://livingthegourmet.com/2014/11/red-velvet-beet-cupcakes.html

Living the Gourmet: Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes
Toodles,
Tammy<3

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