Caramel-Glazed Bundt with Pecans and Cherries
what are we even talking about!?
Cherries left on their stems, which is the detail that makes it. They go on at the end, standing in the wet glaze, and they are the reason this looks like a cake somebody made rather than a cake somebody bought.
A bundt tin punishes carelessness. Butter and flour every ridge, with soft butter on a pastry brush rather than spray, and then flour tipped round and knocked out. Half a stuck bundt is a bundt in the bin.
The glaze goes on warm, down the middle of each flute, and then it finds its own way. Poured over the top in one go it floods the valleys and leaves the ridges bare.
- Feeds
- 12
- Hands-on
- 40 minutes
- Bake
- 55 minutes
- Cool
- 10 minutes, then turn out
What you need
The cake
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup hot strong coffee
- 1 cup neutral oil
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
The caramel glaze
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp flaky salt
- 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
On top
- 1 cup pecan halves
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- Maraschino cherries, stems on
How it goes
1 — Butter every ridge with a brush, then flour it
Soft butter worked into every flute with a pastry brush, then flour tipped in, rolled round and knocked out over the sink. Spray misses the corners and the corners are where it sticks.
2 — Hot coffee into the batter, last
It blooms the cocoa and makes the cake taste darker without tasting of coffee. The batter will look alarmingly thin. It is supposed to.
3 — Fill the tin no more than two thirds
It rises more than you expect and a bundt that overflows seals itself to the rim of the tin and will not come out.
4 — 350°F for 50 to 55 minutes
A skewer into the thickest part should come out with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter and not bone dry.
5 — Ten minutes in the tin, then turn it out
Not five and not thirty. Too early and it tears; too late and the sugar at the edges sets it into the metal. Ten minutes, a plate on top, one firm flip.
pro tip — If it resists, lay a hot wet towel over the upturned tin for a minute. It usually releases.
6 — Cool completely before glazing
An hour on a rack. Glaze on a warm cake runs straight off onto the counter.
7 — Caramel: boil three minutes, then icing sugar
Brown sugar, butter and cream boiled three minutes, taken off, salt in, then the sifted icing sugar whisked in until it is thick enough to coat a spoon but still pourable.
8 — Pour down each flute, then decorate while wet
A spoonful down the top of each ridge so it runs into the valleys on its own. Then pecans, chocolate chips and the stemmed cherries pressed in before it sets.
What are we even talking about!? LFG.