orange cranberry bundt cake | apt 2b baking co

We have done a lot of leaf-peeping this fall. More than any year I can remember, and I am so thankful that we have been able to get out of the city so much. This time leading up to the holidays is always hectic with seasonal work and preparing to take some time off at the end of the year - so that, combined with the fact that our entire neighborhood has turned into a dirty and dusty construction zone has really inspired us to get the heck out of town. Being able to spend lots of time in the cool, clean air and fall colors has been totally revitalizing, and being able to let Arlo run around in the grass and teaching him how to fetch has been so, so fun!

Despite all that good fresh air, and good fall produce - I have been in a bit of a cooking and baking rut. I think it's because I have been doing a lot of recipe development for work and when I am cooking non-dinner food all day (and doing dishes) the last thing I want to do is cook more... This means that I have been buying a lot of produce with good intentions to cook it, but the truth is a lot of it ends up in the compost. BUT the good news is that fall cookbooks have been arriving in my mailbox on the the reg and flipping through them is giving me some major inspiration just in time for Thanksgiving.

This gorgeous seasonal bundt is from Sarah Keiffer's brand new Vanilla Bean Baking Book that comes out tomorrow!! Sarah has always been a source of baking inspiration for me, and her new book is an incredible resource totally packed-full of baking basics and treats with fun twists. Like many of you, my cookbook shelf is groaning under the weight of many, many baking books but this book is truly special. I had the good fortune to test a handful of recipes from this book and they are all stellar. Especially the chocolate chip cookies with crispy edges and yellow cake with chocolate and burnt-honey buttercream.

Bundt cakes are my fave and I'll use any excuse to break out my favorite Nordic ware pan. This one is a classic, dense and covered in gorgeous glaze, but not too sweet thanks to a generous amount of tart fresh cranberries. Its the kind of thing you can make for dessert, but end up eating for breakfast or lunch or every meal until it is gone or you beg one of your friends to take it out of your house. I sung the praises of cranberries for fall and winter baking in my book and I am so glad to see that Sarah loves them too, but I can also see myself swapping in blueberries or raspberries in the summer. I can also see myself baking all the way through this book. Congrats, Sarah!!

And one more thing, US Friends - You all better be voting tomorrow. If you don't know where your polling place is, just head on over to Google and they will direct you to the right spot. VOTE!

ORANGE-CRANBERRY BUNDT CAKE

FROM THE VANILLA BEAN BAKING BOOK by sarah KNIFER

Everyone needs a recipe for a good, all-purpose Bundt cake. I’ve made it here with orange and cranberries, but there is much room for your own interpretation. You can substitute any other small berry for the cranberries, and lemon for the orange. It’s perfect for a casual morning get-together, an elegant brunch, or afternoon snacking all by your lonesome. I make the cake the evening before serving to let the flavors fully develop. makes 8 to 12 servings

3 cups (426 g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 pound (3 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/4 cups (446 g) sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

5 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 heaping cups (227 g) cranberries, fresh or frozen

Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze (see below)

Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and orange zest, and beat together on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and Grand Marnier and mix on low to combine. Add one-third of the flour mixture and mix on low to combine. Add the orange juice and lemon juice and mix on low to combine. Add half the remaining flour and then the heavy cream, beating on low after each addition to incorporate. Add the remaining flour and mix on low until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir with a spatula to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 60 to 75 minutes, until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out with the slightest bit of crumb.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 25 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Top the cooled cake with the Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze (recipe below) and let set before slicing.

CONFECTIONERS’ SUGAR GLAZE

1 1/2 cups (170 g) confectioners’ sugar

2 to 4 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch salt

In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla, and salt. Add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to thin the icing to a preferred consistency. For a pure white icing, omit the vanilla.

lemon berry bundt cake | apt 2b baking co

Before we talk about this killer bundt, can we talk about the Olympics for a second? I freakin' LOVE the Olympics SO MUCH! One of the best perks of working from home is that I can just stream that business all day long in the background. I will watch any sport that's on - rowing, diving, synchronized diving (which is insane, btw), golf, tennis, dressage (did you know that horse dancing was a sport?!), water polo, weight lifting - seriously whatever is, on I will watch, and I will cry at every medal ceremony.

I will also cry especially hard when someone is the only person from their country to ever qualify for an event, like Indian vaulter Dipa Karmakar who barely missed a medal a few days ago. I will cry at every mention of the Refugee Olympic Team. I will cry every time someone makes history like Simone Manuel (first African American woman to win an individual gold in swimming!), Simone Biles (3 golds and 1 bronze so far in her first Olympic games, and one of the best athletes in the world!) Usain Bolt (so relaxed, so magnetic!), Wayde van Neikerk (ran a WR time from lane 8!) and Oksana Chusovitina (her 7th Olympics!) Michael Phelps (one million medals!), and there are so many more to tears come - track and field and synchronized swimming just started. I even get emotional thinking about how excited Leslie Jones is about the Olympics, and how NBC was so impressed they had to get her in on the action.

I know our world is exceptionally messy, violent, and imperfect right now and in the US we are living through a presidential election season (year?) that we cannot wait to be over, but the Olympics are giving me so much HOPE. To see people from all over the world and all walks of life (the Mexican beach volleyball player who is a PE teacher just killed me) who have worked so hard, for so long and often have sacrificed so much to achieve their dreams and manifest their destiny just fills me right up. I LOVE THE OLYMPICS.

One of the things I made while watching the Olympics last week was this super-yum lemony berry bundt with cornmeal and ricotta from Kristin Donnelly's new book, Modern Potluck. You all know I love a bundt and this cake was a winner, bright from the berries and fruit and the combination of cornmeal and ricotta gave the cake a wonderful texture and crumb that was great the next day too.

I am admittedly biased when I say that I love this new cookbook by Kristin, and it's because I shot the photos for it! As I was finishing up my own book project last year, Kristin called me up and asked if I would be interested in photographing her book and I jumped at the chance, and last April (and May) we assembled a crack team and shot lots of photos and ate lots of good food.

I had the great pleasure of sampling a ton of the recipes from this book on shoot days and I can truly give it a hearty two thumbs up. Hello, Bloody Mary Deviled Eggs, Aquabeet Cured Salmon, the tastiest Chinese Chicken Salad, lots of veggie dishes, desserts, and more. Modern Potluck is filled with recipes fit for any crowd, with a handy key that identifies vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free recipes, and handy tips for transporting and assembling when necessary. It is the perfect thing to have in your back pocket as we wrap up summer entertaining season and get ready for fall. Damn, I can't wait for fall. This summer has been brutally hot.

GIVEAWAY!

The lovely folks at SnapWare are giving one lucky winner a Cake Keeper, perfect for carting your cake to your next potluck (or storing it for later) and a copy of Kristin's wonderful book. To enter please leave a comment below with your favorite potluck dish. Giveaway open to US residents only and entries will be open for one week. The winner will be chosen at random, announced here and alerted by email. Winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize. Good Luck!

Winner has been notified by email. Congrats to Lana!

Lemon Berry Bundt Cake with Ricotta and Cornmeal

From Modern Potluck by Kristin Donnelly

makes one bundt

Use deep colored berries like blueberries and blackberries for a purple hued glaze like the one shown, raspberries will make a pretty pink glaze. Also, I am a glaze lover, so I doubled the recipe below for some extra impact. The gorgeous pattern on top of my cake is thanks to the Nordicware 10-cup Heritage Bundt pan I used (and was asked about many times on Instagram :)) and the cake batter fit perfectly, just make sure to generously butter and flour the interior for easy release. There's nothing more frustrating than a half-stuck bundt!

Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

zest of 2 lemons

1 1/2 cups ricotta

3 large eggs

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 cups late summer berries - blackberries, blueberries, raspberries

Glaze

1/2 cup late summer berries

1/4 cup water

1 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Generously butter and flour every crevice of a Bundt pan or spray with a baking spray that contains flour. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set a rack on top to use for cooling.

Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest with the sugar until the sugar is slightly moistened. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar with the 3/4 cup butter at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the ricotta and beat until incorporated. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Add the lemon juice. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, beating well between each addition. Very gently fold in the berries. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, springs back when you touch it, and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to the prepared rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the berries with the water and cook over medium heat, using a spoon to press on the berries, until they' re broken down and have released lots of juice, about 5 minutes. Strain into a small bowl, pressing on the solids to release as much of the color as possible (it's okay if a few seeds make it through).

Sift the confectioners' sugar unto a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the berry juice and mix until a smooth glaze forms (you may need a little more juice to make a smooth glaze). When the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze on top and let it drip down the sides.

Potluck Prep: The unglazed cake can be covered and kept at room temperature overnight. Glaze within a few hours of serving.