Pages

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Spiked Lemonade Bundt - #BundtBakers


I am the host of this month's Bundt Bakers and challenged my fellow bakers to bake a Bundt inspired by Girl Scout cookies. My fellow bakers may be surprised to learn that I have never eaten a Girl Scout cookie. I've just never seen anyone selling them. The fundraising-children outside my supermarket usually sell chocolate. I'm pretty sure that I saw a Girl Scout some weeks ago and she was holding one of those boxes of fundraising-chocolate. I think that when I was a Brownie in primary school, my friend and I may have sold some cookies one year. I have a vague memory of knocking on some gates in my neighbourhood. They were most likely just simple vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies. From what I gather, the US Girl Scouts are the main cookie entrepreneurs.


I wasn't a good Brownie and I was an even worse Girl Guide. I avoided camping - never even told my mother about it. When I first transitioned from Brownie to Girl Guide, I ordered my uniform but never picked it up. I know. Horrible. But it was complicated. You know, in the way that 10 year-olds can have complicated lives. A new girl moved into the neighbourhood and we started high school together. (High school starts at age 10/11 in Jamaica.) We were inseparable. I was at her house every day after school. Her mother was a dressmaker so I asked her to make my uniform instead of using my regular dressmaker. Then suddenly, C and I weren't friends anymore and picking up my uniform became a wee bit of an issue.

Adding Lemon-Rum Syrup

I have no idea what happened. When we talked about it years later, she didn't know either. I'm 100% sure that whatever happened was my fault though. There was no fight or anything like that. More than likely, I just got distracted. I was a VERY impressionable 10/11 year old (and beyond but let's not go there). I think it was another year or two before I got a new uniform made and started attending Girl Guide meetings. C and I ended up in the same class for the last 4 years of high school but it wasn't the same. We each had our core group of friends by that point but we did keep in touch off and on after high school. When she was in Florida with her family 3 years ago, we met up and ended up talking about baking bread. She introduced me to white wheat. High school regrets; I have lots.

I made a cake based on the Lemonade cookie (a shortbread dipped in lemon glaze). I chose this for one simple reason - it's the last cookie that I'd ever choose to eat. There are Thin Mints (chocolate), Samoas (more chocolate plus coconut) and Thanks A Lots (dipped in chocolate)! There would just be no reason to choose Lemonades. But I'm trying to branch out when it comes to dessert flavours. So it was time to find out what lemons had to offer. I figured that adding a little rum wouldn't hurt. I'd tell you that I ate this entire cake by myself in 4 days but I'm pretending that never happened.

Be sure to scroll down to see everyone baked!


 
Spiked Lemonade Bundt
Recipe by: Kelly   Adapted from: Cook's Illustrated
Yield: 1 cake

Ingredients

Cake

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup buttermilk, room temperature

¼ cup rum
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 egg, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature

Lemon - Rum Syrup
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup rum
4 tablespoon butter

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoon rum syrup


Directions

Cake
Preheat oven to 350 F. Thoroughly grease and flour a 10 - 12 cup Bundt pan.


Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl. In a separate container, mix together buttermilk, rum, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Cream sugar, butter, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time and beat until combined.

Add  the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating with 2 additions of the buttermilk mixture. Scrape down the bowl as needed


Scrape batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 40 -50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then remove cake from pan..


Lemon-Rum Syrup

While cake is baking, whisk together sugar and lemon juice over low heat until sugar is dissolved. When sugar has dissolved, add rum and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and stir in butter. Reserve 4 tablespoons of syrup.


Prick the warm cake all over with a fork. Brush the cake with the rum syrup. You can also slowly pour the syrup over the cake ensuring that the syrup has been absorbed before pouring more. Cool the cake completely.

Glaze
Mix together powdered sugar and enough of the reserved syrup until the desired consistency has been reached. Add additional water, if needed. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake.
Notes
  • In the cake, lemon extract would be a better addition than vanilla. 
  • For the lemon-rum syrup, the sugar will mostly dissolve in the lemon juice if left to sit for a while. You can let the two sit while you work on the cake so the syrup comes together more quickly when you're ready.
  • I used 3 large lemons in total for this recipe. I got a bit more than 2 tablespoons of juice from each. Each also yielded more than a tablespoon of zest. 


BundtBakers

#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. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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 Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

20 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting and picking such an amazing theme! Your cake looks heavenly! I LOVE a moist citrus bundt more than anything, but adding some booze to it just takes it to a whole new level of amazing! Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kelly, thanks so much for hosting this month's challenge it was interesting discovering girl scout cookies combinations :)
    Your bund looks very yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for hosting this challenge, Kelly! Rum and lemons sounds like the perfect combination. I have to get the cakes out of my house ASAP or they share a similar fate -- I meannnn, I have no idea what you are talking about!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was a very nice challenge, I am a little bit complicate to participate but I enjoyed a lot with all the bundts I am seeing :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I need to get a bundt pan! This looks so good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOVE your lemon bundt....even more so that it is spiked! Thanks for hosting this month, Kelly....it was a really fun challenge! : )

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you travel to Spain bring us a few boxes of these cookies!!! Great challenge this month for us, and very funny!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for hosting, that was a proper challenge for me and I loved it and learned a lot:) Your cake looks lovely, such a good idea to make lemon and rum syrup combination!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for hosting this months supertheme, Kelly, I looooved it! I have never eaten a Girl scout cookie in my life (impossible to find in Holland or Spain) but it was very inspirational :-) Yours looks delicious, and quite a challenge you chose ;-) See you next month!! -xx-

    ReplyDelete
  10. Such a great theme this month - thank you for hosting!! Your cake looks PERFECT - love the grown up addition! :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kelly, Thanks for your hosting and for your memories. At 10/11 you are not responsible for anything, your life runs ahead of you and everything changes fast. I have never tried a Girls Scout cooky but I have learned a lot this month thanks to you. Thank you again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anything with rum is a winner in my book. This sounds awesome! Thank you for being such a great host. I loved the theme you chose...great job. I had a lot of fun with my bundt this month ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for hosting this challenge, I have known the Girl Scouts and their whole world of cookies. It seems a perfect theme
    Your lemon bundt is wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you all! Glad you enjoyed the theme!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree with Anna. Life at 10/11 can be very complicated and more than half the time we are just trying to keep our heads above water. That you came out the other side with your sense of humor intact is an enormous accomplishment.
    Thank you so much for hosting this great theme, Kelly, and giving me a chance to reminisce as well. Your lemon Bundt is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your lemon bundt cake is amazing!! Nice story and thank you very much for your hosting!!! Great theme!!!! Congratulations!!

    ReplyDelete