Traditional Vanilla Bundt Cake

I'm not bringing you just one bundt cake recipe, but three : first, a basic and essential recipe for any home, the recipe for making an easy and delicious vanilla bundt cake . You can turn that same recipe, in a very simple way, into a lemon bundt cake or an almond bundt cake . At the end of the post I'll tell you how.

Bundt cakes are a very attractive way of making traditional cakes, so we couldn't miss this vanilla bundt cake in our recipe book, which is as easy as it is quick to prepare. I hope you enjoy it as much as we always enjoy it at home.

Remember that you can add any toppings you like to this bundt cake . Chocolate is definitely a great match for vanilla, but you might want to caramelize some walnuts or macadamia nuts and sprinkle them on top with a good drizzle of honey, add some chocolate or coconut shavings, make some syrup, or simply sprinkle some powdered sugar. The bundt cake is beautiful as is, so you can either leave it as plain as it is, or choose to decorate it. What will you do?

Ingredients

• 240 g unsalted butter, softened
• 250 gr of sugar
• 6 large eggs (300 grams), room temperature
• 1 tbsp (13 grams) vanilla extract
• 375 gr of flour
• 1 cc (3 grams) of salt
• ½ cc (2.5 grams) baking powder
• 240 ml whole milk, at room temperature

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. In the bowl of your KitchenAid , using the mixer attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the vanilla.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder (you can use the KitchenAid sifter attachment to measure out the ingredients as you sift them, which will make the cake fluffier). Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the addition of the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
6. Prepare the bundt pan with release spray or by brushing it with butter (we used the Brilliance pan ).
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter several times to firmly settle the mixture in the pan and to release any air bubbles.
8. Place the mould in the oven at a medium/low setting and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (approximately 1 hour). You will also notice that the cake appears to be coming away from the sides. Remove from the oven and let the mould cool for 10 minutes (if you take it out of the oven and try to remove it from the mould, it will break because it is so soft).
9. After 10 minutes of resting, turn it to unmold and let it rest on a cooling rack.

Once it's cold, if you want you can apply a chocolate or lemon glaze . Are you up for it? Here's a very simple and effective way to apply a lemon glaze very quickly:

Preparation: add the juice of 1 lemon to 120 g of icing sugar little by little, stirring continuously until the right consistency is achieved. If it is not enough, add a teaspoon of water.

Variations to make other cakes!

You can make variations of this cake in the simplest way and obtain other delicious bundt cakes:

To make a Lemon Bundt Cake: To make a lemon bundt cake, substitute 1 tablespoon (3 grams) of lemon zest for the vanilla extract; you'll add the lemon zest to the mixture after you've beaten the butter and sugar. Keep the rest of the directions the same, but don't add the vanilla.

For an Almond Bundt Cake: If you want an almond bundt cake, substitute 1½ teaspoons (6 grams) of almond extract for the vanilla extract, or a couple tablespoons of La Tourongelle almond oil ! You can also substitute 50g of the wheat flour for almond flour for a flavour boost. This bundt cake would be great topped with chocolate and sprinkled with ground almonds while still warm.

Grades

• We used the Nordic Ware Brilliance pan to make this cake, but you can make the exact same recipe in other Nordic Ware pans! Here you can see all the most popular ones we have in store.
• I've talked to you in the introduction and in the recipe about some toppings for this bundt cake, but you can also add chocolate chips or chopped walnuts or almonds ... Do some research with your favourite flavours and you'll be right! You can add them to the batter when you're ready to put it in the mould, but you still have it in the bowl: put it in the batter and mix well again so that the seasoning is evenly distributed.

Remember that this Sunday, November 15th is National Bundt Cake Day! You have to get your molds and oven ready, and we look forward to your bundts with the hashtag #bundtdayC&J , so we can see the beautiful bundts you make! We'll be waiting for you on Instagram .