torley manor

A brief comment on the name of this type of pan: I always thought that some clever inventor named a pan after their bad self but it turns out that it’s less clever and kind of stupid. The German word Bund means any number of things, but can mean collar or waistband or ring, essentially. The story according to wikipedia is just that the inventor put a “t” in the name …. just because. Kind of dumb.

Anyway, I really enjoy cakes made in the Bundt form — partly because they seem kind of more elegant and classy than other cake forms, and partly because my mom made a lot of Bundt cakes when I was growing up. The one she always made was a poppyseed cake, which featured 4 eggs if I recall correctly. I did successfully make a vegan version of that cake and was really proud of myself, but I almost never write down what I did to change a recipe and if I do write it down ….. I never note whether it was successful. A remarkably inefficient system.

I’m not sure where I found this cake recipe, because I pulled the hand-written ingredient list out of a pile of other hand-written recipes copied from all over the place with no notes on them beyond how hot and how long to bake them. If this is your recipe, my apologies for taking all the badass credit this cake deserves. It is perfect!

Ingredients:

• 1.25 c canned coconut milk (I you only have a 6oz can, use that and then add soymilk till you reach 1.25 cups)
• 1 c flaked coconut (I think unsweetened coconut is FAR superior in this recipe but if it’s 9:52pm and the Bloomfield Shur-Save only has sweetened coconut, make it happen.)
• 2/3 c yogurt (If you buy a small carton of soy yogurt, don’t bother measuring it. Just dump it in. It’s fine.)
• 2/3 c canola oil
• Zest of one lemon (or, see above Shur-Save scenario, you can use a hefty splash of lemon juice from a bottle. The zest actually does taste notably better though.)
• 4 c flour
• 2.5 c sugar
• 2 T baking powder (I usually do scant tablespoons because I’m paranoid about tasting the baking powder.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease the fuck out of your Bundt pan. I don’t care if it’s nonstick. Seriously gross yourself out by greasing it so thoroughly, especially the center column. That’s where it always sticks. I’m telling you.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large (LARGE) bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, and shredded coconut.
3. In a smaller bowl, mix the coconut milk, yogurt, oil, and lemon juice if you’re using it.
4. Gently mix the liquids into the dry ingredients. It won’t be quite as wet as you’re expecting it to be and that is okay.
5. Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, avoiding drips.
6. Bake for about 60 minutes (test after 50 minutes) and remove from oven. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before carefully loosening the cake from the pan and dumping it out on a rack to cool the rest of the way.

I made this batter into cupcakes once and made an insane frosting featuring coconut milk, and put shredded coconut and slivers of mango on top. Because I am crazy, I took one with me to the airport to welcome my sister home from an international flight. I think she liked it and simultaneously it made her want to barf. The lesson here is that this cake is good with just a dusting of powdered sugar on top. No frosting is necessary, unless you want to make your weary traveler friends feel gross.