Friday 18 December 2009

My First Bundt Tin

Same cake - different cake tin! This is my favourite Chocolate and Orange Marble Cake, with an orange glacé icing, made in my new bundt tin.


It was a bit of an experiment, as I didn't really know how much cake batter I was going to need to fill the tin, or how efficient the non-stick surface of the tin was going to be. I decided that starting from a known cake would help me decide which cake recipes could be used in my tin in future.

As it turned out, this cake was too small by at least 50% - half as much batter again would probably have filled the tin to the top when baked. However, it was good to know that the finished cake still looked reasonably attractive, because the design of the tin isn't different around the base.

I greased and floured the tin carefully and the cake fell out easily, so hopefully sticking is not going to be a problem.

12 comments:

Zeb said...

It looks lovely! I have this tin I think, and also had no clue how much batter should go in it. I made that Dan Lepard brown sugar chocolate cake in it last time I used it and that wasn't enough to fill it either. It does put you off using them if you are not sure on quantities doesn't it? I wish there was an easy way to work it out. Do you think there is a way? The american sites talk about a 12 cup bundt tin or a 14 cup tin, do they mean cups of batter or cups of flour or water......??

Suelle said...

I think cup volume is the way forward, but even though I've read about bundt tin volumes I still can't seem to relate it directly to recipes. Perhaps because I don't like measuring with cups while baking.

For instance, this tin holds 10 cups (doesn't matter what's in the cup) to the brim (2.5 litres). Does this mean I need to look for recipes with about 7 cups-worth of ingredients, to allow for rising during cooking?

Perhaps I should look for recipes which use a 10-cup bundt pan, and translate back to metric weights, which is what I tend to do with American or Australian recipes I want to try.

Choclette said...

All sounds rather complicated, but you have come up with a rather good looking cake despite the quantity conundrum. Did it make for a more evenly baked cake?

Suelle said...

Hi, Choclette - I didn't notice any difference in the quality of the cake, but it did cook faster.

Lucie said...

Looks wonderful! I have a bundt tin on my xmas list! Lucie X

Zeb said...

I made this today in the same tin and used 50 per cent more batter and it was a pretty good fit.

Only seemed to take an hour to cook though at 180 top bottom heat (that's the not fan setting on my electic oven). So maybe it cooks quicker with the tube in the middle? Haven't cut it yet.... It looks good from the outside, cross fingers it is ok inside Joanna :)

Suelle said...

Hi Zeb - thanks for letting me know you tried the cake. It's good to know my 'guesstimate' was about right.

I think tube cakes do cook faster than the same mixture in a round tin - the metal of the inner tube will conduct heat into to the batter so it cooks from the inner edges as well as the ouiter edges (if you see what I mean!).

Hope you enjoy the cake.

Celia said...

Hi Suelle, Joanna (Zeb) pointed me to this recipe and it looks wonderful! Great that it uses almond meal - I find most butter cakes a little dry. I have a very large collection of bundt pans (posted photos of them on my blog a while back - collecting them has become a bit of an obsession), and they do take a lot more batter. Best way to determine how much more is to fill the tin you would normally use with water, pour that into the bundt and see where the level comes up to, then adjust your recipe accordingly.

Also, I drop the oven temp by about 20C, because the coating on the pans browns the cakes much faster. I'll let you know how I go with your marble cake recipe - now to choose which bundt pan to cook it in! :)

Cheers, Celia

Suelle said...

Thanks for the tips, Celia; I think the barrier I need to get over is that the bundt pan is the biggest cake pan I have now, so all my recipes will need scaling up.

I've been looking at the baking recipes on your blog - I think I'll be a regular visitor from now on!

Celia said...

Oh Suelle, this cake was simply wonderful! Thank you for the recipe - my first ever marble cake! My husband decided I'd "overswirled", but I think it looks very pretty. When I get it on my blog, I'll make sure to link to this post. Cheers, Celia

Suelle said...

Celia - I'm so pleased you enjoyed the cake, but the credit for the recipe goes to Annabel Karmel, not me. Sometimes I think my biggest talent is hunting down good recipes! LOL!

Celia said...

Suelle, as promised, I've uploaded my marble cake photos here. Thanks again, Celia