Wee Feast

My talented sister took this photo.

This cake is plain in a good way. You can jazz it up with fresh or dried fruit, sneak in some chocolate chips, or just enjoy its mild simplicity. It’s also designed to be a perfect nut cake, where you use a little ground nuts instead of flour, and fold in some whole ones to the batter. Light, fluffy, and what you are hoping to get when you order pastry at most coffee shops (where I tend to be disappointed), this cake would be a great one to add to your repertoire.

Recipe

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

from Baking: My Home to Yours

• Preheat oven to 350F. Make sure the one of the racks is positioned in the center of the oven.
• Grease and flour a bundt pan (I used a 12-cup capacity).
• In a separate bowl from your mixing bowl, stir to combine 2 1/2 c. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt.
• Using your stand mixer (or a wooden spoon and sheer will if you don’t have one, although a hand mixer would do too), cream 1 stick (4 oz.) room temperature butter and 2 packed c. brown sugar.
• Beat in 3 room-temperature eggs one at a time.
• Beat in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.
• Mix in 4 oz. room-temperature applesauce. If you don’t want to use applesauce, you can use another stick of butter at the step with the sugar. I prefer applesauce to cut down on fat. I’m also a bit obsessed with apple flavor. If you don’t use the applesauce, you might want to include 1 c. buttermilk. I was almost out of buttermilk, so just used a splash (maybe 2 oz.). The applesauce thinned out the batter enough that I was satisfied. The butter would probably require more liquid, and buttermilk is so delightful that I would recommend you go for it in that case.
• When mixture is just incorporated, give it a gentle stir by hand. This is the time to fold in chocolate chips, extra nuts, dried fruit (these should be coated thinly in flour first to keep them from sinking in your batter), or fresh fruit.
• Pour into bundt cake pan, even out batter with spatula, and bake for an hour. You will probably need to use some foil to keep the cake from getting too brown. Check after 40 minutes.
• The cake is done when a knife inserted comes out clean. Rest on wire cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool at least an hour.
• To make maple glaze, mix up powdered sugar and maple syrup with a whisk until pourable, and spread over the cooled cake.