THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS FOUR!

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by

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June 16th, 2013

My beloved blog turns 4  years old today! To celebrate, I assembled all the cake suggestions my readers offered two years ago, assigned numbers to each of them, and drew the winner cake. Celia’s suggestion was the lucky one, so I gathered all ingredients, took a deep breath and made her White Chocolate Bundt Cake to celebrate the occasion…

She wrote a great post about this cake, one that made the process almost pain-free to a person who hyperventilates with just a glimpse of a Bundt pan. Those crevices are evil. To make matters worse, the cake included that dreadful step of creaming sugar with butter.  But, a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. I did not run away from it, kicking and screaming. Sometimes it is good to resist a first impulse.

WHITE CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE
(from Celia’s  blog, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial)

for the cake:
450g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
250g unsalted butter, softened
440g white sugar
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
5 large (59g) eggs, at room temperature
115g white chocolate, melted and still warm
250g thick Greek yoghurt
115g  white chocolate chunks or chips

for the topping (optional):
115g (4oz) white chocolate
65ml (¼ cup) heavy cream
115g (4oz) milk chocolate

Heat oven to 350F.   Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with oil.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Slowly beat in the melted white chocolate. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the flour mixture to the butter in thirds, alternating with the Greek yoghurt. Beat for 45 seconds after each addition. You want to end with flour rather than yoghurt (improves the final texture of the batter). Place the batter in the pan in three layers, separating each layer with the white chocolate chips.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, but start checking after 45 minutes.   The top will be brown and a sharp thin knife inserted in the center will come out with a few crumbs on it. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then gently loosen around the edges before inverting onto a wire rack to allow the cake to finish cooling at room temperature.

Topping:  In a glass or ceramic bowl, heat the white chocolate with the cream until just melted. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then drizzle over the cake.  In a separate bowl, heat the milk chocolate in the microwave until just melted. Stir until smooth.  Drizzle over the cake.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments:  Things went extremely well with this cake from making the batter to inverting the pan to reveal a perfect cake in all its gorgeous glory!
I was already thrilled because contrary to 99.5% of the cake recipes I’ve tried, this one actually produced enough batter to fill the pan to proper capacity.  Every other recipe leaves me wondering if my kitchen has some type of black hole that sucks cake batters and takes them to another dimension.  Now, this is a nice looking Bundt pan, ready to be baked.

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I baked the cake, allowed it to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, chronometer in hand, heart pounding fast. And voilá, when I inverted the pan, this is the vision I was rewarded with:

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Is this a thing of complete beauty or what?  I BAKED THAT!  I know, I know, unreal…   I did several victory laps around the kitchen island, then a few around the house. Oscar followed me, wagging his tail, Buck got scared and ran away to hide.  Chief?  He slept through the whole celebration, but I won’t take that personally. A 14-year old dog earned his right to sleep through anything!

Time to ice the cake. That’s when the road got a little bumpy.  I should have read Celia’s post more carefully. She added a note to say that the white chocolate ganache is usually too liquid, so she prefers to simply melt the pure white chocolate to drizzle on top.  Well, my ganache was so liquid it disappeared into the cake.  I also did not do a very good job with the dark chocolate drizzle, so in the end I covered the whole cake with powdered sugar on top of the drizzle for cosmetic reasons.  Over-kill? Maybe.  I do agree with Celia, though. This cake is so amazing, a simple dusting with powdered sugar is more than enough.  We took a platter to the department and everyone loved it!

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One thousand four-hundred and sixty-one days blogging.  Food blogging brings many wonderful things with it. First, the virtual connections made with readers and other bloggers. Too special for words.  Second, it provides a journal of our adventures: travels for work and/or pleasure,  a sabbatical with its nano-kitchen challenge, the move of our home and lab to Kansas.  Third, it is a valuable database of recipes we tried and enjoyed. I normally don’t blog on a recipe that didn’t work, unless I feel it’s worth re-visiting it.  Sometimes I like to pick a recipe at random from the index, and read about what was going on with us at the time. Were we in Los Angeles when I baked that? Was that post written during a dreadful ice storm in Oklahoma?  Was Pits, our beautiful dalmatian still hanging around in our kitchen, stealing butter and T-bone steaks from the countertop? Has it really been four years?  😉

A very wise and dear mentor, Leon Rosenberg once told me: “Memory fails. Keep a diary.  You will be glad you did”.  I am sure glad I started this site, the closest thing to a diary I can keep up with…

To my readers, followers, fellow food bloggers, friends in real and virtual life, thanks for stopping by and warming up this place with your presence!
Now, I invite you to join me as I start the fifth year of Bewitching Kitchen!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns Three!

TWO YEARS AGO:  The Bewitching Kitchen turns two!

THREE YEARS AGO:  Bewitching Birthday!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Welcome to my blog!

55 thoughts on “THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS FOUR!”

  3. Congratulations both on the four years and on your cake success! I knew you would be able to do it. That cake is very pretty!

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  5. Congratulations on four years of great food, great writing (and English isn’t even your first language!) and excellent company. Sally, your blog is an inspiration and a good read, every time.

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    • Paula, what a sweet comment, thank you! I have many thoughts on writing in a second language, but unfortunately too hard to be prolofic on the cell phone, it will have to wait for another time. 😉

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  9. Happy birthday to Bewitching Kitchen, Sally! It doesn’t seem like 4 years, that’s for sure. I love the points you make about the blog being your reference for where you were and what you were doing when cooking certain dishes. It’s like your very own journal.
    The cake is a thing of beauty. I wouldn’t have touched the pristine surface with a thing and it would have been delicious. With the ganache soaked in and the drizzle on top, it had to have been richer than rich. There are things to be said for that, too. 😉

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  11. Happy Blogaversary ! Like a puppy your blog is all grown up now but still wagging its tail furiously and with such style – wow! look at your fancy cake – think you have that one spot on, great work xxxx

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  12. Congratulations, Sally! That really is quite a milestone. I just don’t think I’ll be making your cake anytime soon. I don’t have a bundt cake pan. I threw it away with my last attempt at baking a bundt cake. 🙂

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    • Thank you so much! The texture was incredible, you cannot quite see the little bits of chocolate chips inside, but once you bite into it… WOW! Quite a cake… raised the bar considerably to next year, so I might JUST have to quit blogging, you know… 😉

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  14. Happy blogaversary darling Sally! We thank you for the great opportunity you give us all these years by means of inspiration, creativity, and enthusiasm! Love your cake that dear Celia suggested to all of us! Have my love and my hellenic summer greetings from the warm island of kos! ✿◠‿◠) gina

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    • Thank you! Celia is a great source of inspiration on some levels: bread baking, growing her own vegetables, cakes, let’s not forget her chocolate tempering skills either, right?

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    • Time does pass too fast. It’s been three years since we went to Los Angeles for a sabbatica, two years that we came back, and one year in Kansas. How can it all be possible?

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  17. Oh, Sally, has it really been four years? I’m so lucky to be one of your blogging friends and can be here to help you celebrate! I’m lifting a glass of wine in your honor!! Cheers! Maybe I should do a little dance or run a lap too:D Here’s to the next four!! xx

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  19. HAPPY, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Bewitching Kitchen!! Ah, my very first blogging buddy… so much fondness in my heart for you and your lovely blog. I’m sending over four brilliant candles, a happy dance and a super excited, four-legged golden girl to salute you and all that you do in your magic kitchen! :). May there be many more years of fun and deliciousness to follow. Cheers to you Sally! Hugs, laughter and light – xOx.

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    • Thanks for the candles! And, of course your golden girl is more than welcome (at least virtually) with my pups – Oscar turned out to be quite an aggressive dog towards his species. We need to work on that. (sigh)

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  20. I got so carried away with the anniversary I forgot to mention how much I love the looks of this cake! White chocolate….mmm….. :).

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    • Obrigadissima, Angela! Mil beijos…. Voce anda fazendo tanta coisa gostosa na sua cozinha, quando puder tente esse bolo, tambem funciona como cupcakes segundo a Celia mencionou no blog dela.

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  24. Congratulations on four amazing years Sally!
    It has been a true pleasure following along part of this adventure with you. Thank you for all the time, effort and creativity that went into this blog. I am one of many who are grateful for finding your wonderful space and getting to know a rare person like you

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  26. Congratulations on your four years of blogging. I’m at about the four month mark so my blog is a mere toddler. It’s inspiring to read blogs that have been running for a long time – I just hope I can keep motivated in the way that you have. The cake looks extremely tasty. My stomach is rumbling just looking at the photos!

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    • Four years pass by so quickly! I hope you enjoy the years to come as much as you are enjoying the first four months…

      It is a wonderful hobby for me, I am so glad I stopped “thinking about having a blog” and went for it

      thanks for stopping by, and good luck with your site!

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  27. Congratulations Sally! Four years already?! I for one, and I have no doubt may others agree, am glad that you started this blog. And I’m so glad to have you as one of my blogging friends. 🙂 I hope we can one day meet! Your cake looks divine (and your bundt pan about as freshly clean/new looking as mine!). 🙂 Congrats on conquering the fear of the cake. As you know I share that fear and only make one if a special A or N requests one for their birthday (and only if I can’t convince them to pick another dessert!). I think you did a lovely job and if it tastes as good as it looks…I have no doubt it was devoured. Congratulations!!!! Many hugs to you. 🙂

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    • Wouldn’t it be nice if we could cook together someday?

      Well, at least we can have virtual get-togethers and share our adventures, even though we ARE a few thousand miles apart

      🙂

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