#BundtBakers: Hot Cross Mini Bundts

Happy Easter!

When I saw that the theme for this month's Bundt Bakers, I was stumped. Easter in Jamaica means bun and cheese. It's not exactly a cake holiday. Our bun is similar to hot cross buns with dried fruit and spices. However. we bake it in loaf form. Some recipes use yeast while my recipe ditches the yeast and uses stout. I'll admit that Easter bun isn't my favourite (I'm usually not a fan of the mixed peel that some recipes use). However, when I am away from home, I crave bun at Easter time. Sometimes I just need to smell it.

I went back and forth about whether or not to do the bun in cake-form Tara, our host this month, reminded us that Easter encompassed Spring. That's infinitely easier to think of but I just could not let go of the fact that for me, Easter always means bun (and cheese). So I set about to put all the bun flavours into a mini bundt. It turned out to be a lot more simple than I expected. I decreased the flour so it would not be as dense and used a bit more melted butter. I was completely happy with the results.

What does Easter mean to you? Do you have foods that you only eat at Easter time? Here's what the other Bundt Bakers did with the theme this month:

• Babka with Bittersweet Chocolate Chunks from Laura at The Spiced Life
• Bunny Nest Carrot Mini Bundts from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Bursting-With-Berries Lemon Curd Bundt Cake from Felice at All That's Left Are Crumbs
• Carrot Tea Cake from Vonnie at My Catholic Kitchen
• Colorful Spring Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Easter Bunny Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Easter Egg Cake from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Easter Pound Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Hot Cross Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Lemon & Elderflower Bundt Cake from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• Lemon Coconut Bundt Cake from Kathia at Basic N Delicious
• Mini Lemon Spring Bundts from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Pineapple Pale Ale Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze from Melanie at Melanie Makes
• Strawberry Lemon Bundt Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Strawberry Poppy Seed Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days

Hot Cross Mini Bundts

Recipe by:  Kelster

Yield: 4 mini bundts (1 cup mini bundt pans)

Ingredients ½ cup raisins (plus liquid for soaking) Maraschino cherries (optional) 1 egg ½ cup stout ¼ cup milk ½ cup melted butter ½ cup sugar 1 ½ cup flour 2 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp ground ginger ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ¼ tsp ground cloves Melted jam or sugar syrup (optional) Melted white chocolate or frosting.

Directions Soak the raisins in stout, wine or water overnight . Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour mini bundts. If using cherries, chop the cherries and place at the bottom of the bundt wells. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, stout, milk, melted butter and sugar until thoroughly combined.  Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Slowly stir in until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Pour into prepared mini bundts. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the mini bundts comes out clean. Cool and remove bundts from pans and brush with melted jam or a sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until thickened).  Using melted white chocolate or frosting, pipe crosses on the mini bundts.

Notes

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.  If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. All recipes and photographs can be found on our individual blogs or our Pinterest board.