DO THE BUNDT: CITRUS YOGURT CAKE

by Jeannette Ordas of Everybody likes Sandwiches

Bundt pans were created in 1950 by H. David Dalquist of Minnesota at the request of someone who wanted a lighter version of the traditional German cast-iron Kugelhupf (or bundkuchen) pan. The heavy ring-shaped pan was used to make coffee cakes, so Dalquist created a light aluminum version and founded the company NordicWare at the same time. The pans sold slowly until 1966 when the second place winner of the Pillsbury Bake Off baked her infamous "Tunnel of Fudge" cake in a bundt pan. The bundt legend was born!

While I've never had a Tunnel of Fudge cake (nor can I say it without a giggle), there's something about a cake baked in a bundt pan that helps to make the day just a bit brighter. So whip out your bundt pan and bake up a sunny cake made with yogurt, olive oil and Seville oranges! If you don't have a ridged round pan, just use a regular old loaf pan and keep a careful eye on things about 10 minutes before the end of the bake time. Don't have the bitter Seville oranges? Use lemons, limes, or grapefruit instead.

Citrus Yogurt Cake
(adapted from Joy the Baker)
2 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 eggs
3/4 c sugar
zest of 2 Seville oranges
juice of 2 Seville oranges + enough plain yogurt to measure 1 cup
1/3 c olive oil
1 t vanilla extract

Citrus syrup
juice of 2 Seville oranges
4 T sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour your bundt pan and set aside.

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

3. In another bowl, combine the sugar and the orange zest together. Blend well so that the oils in the zest release into the sugar and becomes fragrant. Beat the eggs into the sugar until well combined and stir in the yogurt, orange juice, vanilla and olive oil. Add in flour mixture and stir until everything is all mixed.

4. Pour batter into the bundt pan, smoothing the tops with a spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.

5. While cake is cooling, mix together the sugar and the orange juice in a small saucepan until the sugar melts. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the orange syrup over the cake. Poke the cake a few times with a skewer if need be to help soak in the syrup, because the wetter this cake gets with the orange syrup the better it will be.

Jan Halvarson

24 comments:

Helena - A Diary of Lovely said...

yummy I'm so making this soon! love a good cake and if it's a bundt even better!, thanks!

Luna Levy said...

big yum!

Michael Wurm Jr said...

wow.. i'm literally drooling! and just in time for spring. I'm making this for breakfast!

Natasha said...

How funny! I just posted a lemon-olive oil-yoghurt cake today, only I baked it in a regular cake pan as opposed to a bundt pan. Must be something in the air!

Nina McDermott said...

Oh no! I just made this (it's in the oven) because it sounded so good and as I was re-looking over the recipe I realized that there were no instructions about adding in the olive oil and so I never did!

When does the olive oil go in?

kickpleat said...

Oh crap! Sorry about that Nina! The oil goes in with the yogurt/juice and vanilla. Can't believe I left it out. But I'm actually curious to how the cake will turn out. I've often left things out of baked good and things have turned out okay. Keep us posted (and in the meantime I'll revise the recipe).

Joanne said...

Love the sound of this cake!!! Definitely the kind of cake to serve the in-laws with tea. I've been wanting to get a bundt cake pan for years now and it's on my list of things to buy for the kitchen (along with that KitchenAid mixer), but I just haven't had a cake recipe worthy of a bundt pan purchase. It's time!

Plantress said...

I am a baking slattern and so, shockingly I offer this tidbit: marmalaide works also. Dump it in! I made one of these recently with yogurt and concentrated OJ and orange peel but the ease of adding store bought marm can't be beat! Don't hate me for being a non purist

miranda said...

oh that looks so so good. why do i come across the desserts of my dreams when i've given up sugar (for the short haul). this one's going in my must-make folder.

miranda said...

oh, and i can never say 'bundt cake' without a touch of stepford-ness. :-)

Anonymous said...

TUNNEL OF FUDGE!!!! it's so yummy! I remember making it with my mom when i was little...then one day the box mix disappeared from the store...now i usually bake from scratch anyway, but wish i could find a tunnel of fudge recipe...

mexicali rose said...

ooooh can't wait to try this recipe! I just baked a cardamom vanilla bundt cake that was to die for, will be sharing the recipe, it was that good. thanks for posting this one:)

maija said...

It's definitely citrus season. I've been wanting to make a similar recipe for several weeks now, but have been cooking/baking other stuff (I made gingerbread instead last weekend).

This is the one I use if anyone's looking for a non-bundt pan recipe: http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/03/17/orange-yogurt-bread-recipe/

Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen said...

I made orange pound cakes a couple of weeks ago too! Yours looks delicious!

Julie said...

SO right up my alley! Nice to see you here! I didn't know Poppytalk did food.. so glad to see it! this cake just looks delicious.

Sew Flippin Cool said...

Yum! I've listed it in a Spring Break roundup on my blog, The Handmade Experiment. I've got tutorials on things to make and things to bake and a couple of cool etsy artists for things to take this spring break. Come on over and check it out and thanks for the inspiration!
http://emilyflippinmaruna.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/spring-break-week-things-to-make-bake-and-take/

Unknown said...

The cake's in the oven, the house smells incredible, but--crap!--it's already fallen (REALLY fallen), and I don't know why. I followed the instructions to the letter, no deviating. I used a Bundt-type pan, with a hole in the middle, but not as heavy weight. Could that be it? Maybe the syrup will make it all better.

jeannette said...

Hi Tammy, I'm not sure why your cake fell. Maybe your oven temperature isn't as hot as it should be or there were some trapped air pockets in your batter (sometimes just tapping the cake pan before you put it in the oven solves this). Or your baking powder might be old.

Carla said...

Olive oil in a cake? Hmmmmmm... I assume you are using light olive oil and not EVOO because the taste would come through, I think.

Knitting Out Loud said...

This looks delicious! I just made a Marmalade Cake which is quite similar has olive oil (a great cake ingredient) but you boil the fruit.

Leslie Fruman said...

Did you mean 1 teaspoon of baking powder -- or did you really mean 1 TABLESPOON????

jeannette said...

Carla, I use extra virgin olive oil. The taste is fine and I don't notice it very much, but I think it would be fine even if you were using a strongly flavoured olive oil. The citrus can stand up to it and I think it would be delicious.

Leslie, 1 tablespoon is correct :)

Unknown said...

Sounds divine. I cannot ever look at my bundt pan without thinking of that great scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the Greek mother doesn't know what a bundt cake is, or how to pronounce it, and eventually "fixes" the hole in the cake by putting a potted plant in the center...hysterical!

Texanadian said...

The tunnel of fudge cake was made by Ella Rita Helfrich...who is still alive and my close friends Aunt. She won a tractor (lived in the city of Houston, needless to say they sold it.)The fine folks at Nordic Ware never even sent her a free pan or a thank you...glad to see you mention it...btw you can't make the cake as the recipe stands as one of the main ingredients hasn't been made in forever!