winter cakes

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Xmas is gone – all people think about how to lose weight & how to detox & how to… whatever. Before Xmas there were loads of recipes for cakes & cookies & all types of sweet stuff all over the food blog universe – although I didn’t post such a lot in the pre-Xmas Time. Now I think it’s time to look outside, take note of winter season, cold weather, wind & rain – & maybe also some snow… During this phase of the year we should have time to retreat in a cosy living room lounging in a sofa corner with some coffee or tea & a nice piece of cake.

I remembered some spice-laden cake from my childhood & looked for my baking tin (the one made of little bundt cakes). To make it a little more juicy I decided to add some morello cherries – not too many because I didn’t want any soggy mess which wouldn’t like to leave the baking tin after the oven session.

…& I had the idea to cover the bundt cakes w/ an icing of sugar & vanilla. This didn’t work out as originally planned because my icing was a little runny, however, it seeped into the cakes & made a nice vanilla finish. (My better half wasn’t so sad about it: the planned thick coat of sugar would have been too much sugar for my better half.)

So let’s start…

What do we need?

The spice aroma will come from cinnamon, cloves & mace so we only have the usual ingredients like:

• flour
• cocoa
• sugar & vanilla sugar
• butter
• eggs
• …& morello cherries.

It’s not astonishing that we start alike always. Butter, sugar, vanilla sugar & a pinch of salt are mixed thoroughly w/ an electric handheld blender. Then the eggs are incorporated.

…& don’t forget to preheat the oven to 160° C w/ fan… as well as draining the morello cherries (which should be pitted!).

All the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cocoa, spices) are mixed & the sugar-butter-egg mess as well as some milk is whisked in. Rather soon we’ll get a smooth cake dough.

The baking tin for 6 small bundt cakes has to be slightly oiled. Then the dough is spooned in carefully.

For the record:
The creator of the baking tin recommends to use a piping bag. I did, however, it didn’t work so well.  Lots of dough stuck inside the piping bag… So I now used a simple teaspoon w/ a long handle (aka a spoon for caffé latte). It worked. Take your time when filling the dough in the tin.

Finally I arranged morello cherries on top & pressed them slightly in the dough.

To the oven now… & about 20-25 min later: here are the bundt cakes.

Let them cool down in the baking tin for about 10 min – then turn over & let them drop out.

When the cakes are at room temperature start making the icing w/ icing sugar, milk & vanilla extract.

If you like a thicker icing just take some more icing sugar.

Otherwise that’s what I got!

(Oh – don’t forget to lay some baking paper under your cake stand before you start w/ the icing process. So you can save time for cleaning away the sugar drops…)

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

winter cakes

What’s better than some soft crumbly cake with chocolate, spices and morello cherries for winter days especially when coming as half a dozen? I filled my baking tin for six small bundt cakes with a load of creamy dough and fresh morello cherries - topped with a vanilla icing.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

ingredients:

for the cakes:

• 180 g butter
• 140 g sugar
• 10 g vanilla sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 190 g all-purpose flour
• 20 g cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
• about 200 g pitted morello cherries

for the icing:

• 100 - 150 g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

equipment:

• a handheld electric mixer
• a baking tin for 6 small bundt cakes

how to:

• Preheat the oven to 160° C w/ fan.
• Drain the pitted morello cherries.
• Mix the flour, the cocoa, the baking powder & all the spices.
• Mix the butter, the sugars & the salt with a handheld electric mixer until combined.
• Add eggs & mix again.
• Pour the mess in the bowl w/ the flour mix, add the milk & combine everything.
• Oil the baking tin.
• Spoon the mess carefully in the baking tin.
• Level the surface & put morello cherries on top (about 6 per cake).
• Press the morellos into the mess - carefully!
• Put the baking tin into the preheated oven & let it bake for about 20-25 min.
• Let the baking tin cool down for about 10 min,
• Then turn it over & let the cakes drop out.
• Let them cool down to room temperature.
• For the icing combine milk & vanilla extract & add the icing sugar - always a heaped tablespoon. Mix until soft & creamy; spoon all over the cakes.

Notes

Prep Time: Includes the preparation of the cakes as well as the icing.

Ground spices: If you like somewhat less spicy notes in the cakes just take only 50% of the ground spices.

Icing: When using only 100 g icing sugar the icing will get rather runny & will get soaked up by the cakes. Add more icing sugar for a more sticky icing.

The cakes are fine for about 2-3 days at room temperature. You may also store them in your fridge.

Sorry: no experience w/ freezing!
(Depending on former cake adventures I recommend not to freeze the cakes!)

(information on equipment)

I think 1 small cake may be enough for 2 people… Maybe you can also work with quarters when serving.

The icing is seeped into the cake. The cake is fluffy & spicy. Especially the cloves care for some distinctive acridity. The morello cherries care for some humidity although not sagging.

For the record:
If you like less spice just take less. It doesn’t harm the cakes.
If you like more morello cherries be careful because of the sogginess they may cause. For a start maybe you should take 9 instead of 6 cherries.

The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks 

Well, I don’t have a problem w/ eating a whole cake for coffee time… Filling me w/ energy for the rest of my office hours… fighting during the afternoon meetings…