I get many questions over and over about certain topics…so I thought I’d interject a new little section into Mix and Match Mama world called Tips and Tricks. You’ll find a new link on the menu bar that will hold such tips and tricks in case you ever find yourself in a baking/cooking jam. The most common questions I get are, of course, about bundt cakes. I am the self-proclaimed bundt cake queen after all :). Here are just a few things I’ve learned while making bundt cakes…I’m up to #31 out of 52 in case you haven’t noticed. And those are just the bundt cakes I blog about (believe it or not, I do occasionally make unblogged bundt cakes…it’s an obsession really…).
Here you go…bundt cake tips and tricks…
1. Pam. Pam. Pam. Pam. My mom always says she uses flour but I Pam. Pam. Pam. You need to spray the heck out of that bundt cake pan. The heck out of it. A well greased bundt cake pan will always give you a cake that slides out easily. Don’t believe what the bottle of Pam says. It says just a spray, but you spray more. And more and more :).
2. So what if your cake sticks???? First, if most of it comes out, you just make a ton of icing and ice it all over. Believe it or not…sometimes my cake tops stick a little too and I just add more icing across the top and you guys are never the wiser. Icing hides a multitude of sins.
3. What if the whole thing sticks? You make cake balls. Cake balls are delish (will blog some later, promise!). All you do is grab a big mixing bowl, scoop all of your cooked/stuck in the pan cake and scoop it in. Then take a can of store bought frosting and mix it right in with the cake. You’ll roll out this mixture into a ball, freeze about 10 minutes, then dip each ball in melted chocolate. Add sprinkles and or nuts and you’ve got a verrrrrrrry tasty dessert. Never toss a cake stuck in the pan…you can always make cake balls.
4. Some people have mentioned to me that they let their bundt cakes rest in the pan a lot longer than 10 minutes. They assume the more the cake cools, the easier it will be to come out. They are wrong. When the cake stays in the hot pan, a bad thing happens. First, the pan doesn’t allow air to circulate the entire cake completely and it will become soggy. Therefore, the soggier the cake, the harder to remove from the pan. Ten minutes is the golden rule. After 10, you flip that sucker out to finish cooling.
5. What if you pull the cake out of the oven after 45 minutes and realize it still isn’t finished cooking? Stick that baby back inside. Turn the oven back on to 350 and cook it another 5 minutes, then check. However, don’t keep opening and shutting the door before 5 minutes or all of your hot air will escape and your cake will never cook.
6. What if I don’t have a bundt pan? Can I still make your cakes? Honey…here’s the deal…these cake recipes can be made in sheet pans, round pans or cupcake tins. Make it with what you got, just adjust the cooking time. Check the back of your cake mix box for appropriate times but yes, you can totally make any of these cakes with a variety of pans.
Ok! That’s it for now. Keep emailing and asking me questions. Love it! Love you too!
