Monday, May 27, 2013

Colorful Funfetti Bundts


In the month of May, there were lots of birthday parties, celebrations, bake sales, Jamie Oliver´s Food Revolution Day, days off school and work and there were so many cupcakes, muffins, cakes and cookies to be baked that I was quite pleased to find a fun recipe (and a new one for me) on Laura´s lovely blog Baking in Pyjamas called Funfetti Cake. Laura is based in England and an avid and wonderful baker. With another three cakes to be baked for a bake sale at the primary (elementary) school sports event on Saturday, I did not hesitate too long before I decided to give Laura´s recipe for this colorful cake a try. I called the cakes Colorful Funfetti Bundts. The recipe calls for self-raising flour and luckily I had just replenished my stocks when visiting the Netherlands last week.




Funfetti cakes and cookies are not really known around here and I must say I never baked one before either. Of course, sprinkles on a cake are wonderful, but sprinkles baked inside was not something I had really considered before. This cake is a colorful confection that is easy to bake and it seems perfect for any celebration that involves at least a few little people.




I used round “Konfetti Sprinkles” from a well-known German manufacturer * that are available in many countries and they seemed to be the right kind of sprinkles for this cake. Nice, not too sweet and very colorful. Ususally, I am not the one to add food coloring to my baked goods but this cake looked so pretty and I knew that it would be a hit at the bake sale.




I decided to skip the seven minute frosting and bake two small Bundt cakes (6 cup capacity) instead of making a layered cake like Laura did. It seemed to me that Bundts are easier to slice at a bake sale and the weather was just so warm that I was afraid the cake would not to hold up for a few hours with a soft frosting (although the recipe for the frosting sounds delicious). I also decreased the amount of sprinkles to 100 grams and added a pinch of sea salt to the egg whites but other than that, I made no changes to Laura´s recipe.




My kids were delighted with the way the Colorful Funfetti Bundts looked like and were quite happy to take them to their bake sale on Saturday. This cake will certainly make a few repeat performances at our house, I am sure.




Colorful Funfetti Bundts
(Bunte Konfetti Gugelhupfe)

Ingredients for the Bundts
  • 110 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus some more for greasing the pans
  • 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) superfine (caster) sugar
  • 300 grams (2 cups) self-raising flour, plus some more for flouring the pans**
  • 250 ml (1 cup) milk, room temperature (I used 3.5%)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 100 grams (1 cup) sprinkles (I used one whole box of “Dr. Oetker Dekor Konfetti”)*
  • 4 egg whites (L), free range or organic if possible (plus a few drops of lemon juice for the bowl - optional see NOTE in the recipe)
  • a pinch of fine sea salt
  • some powdered sugar (optional)

** Self-raising flour is widely available in Dutch and UK supermarkets. Outside these countries and the US, it is not commonly used. Self-raising flour will not keep for very long. The baking powder absorbs moisture from the air, which reacts with other ingredients in the flour, affecting its ability to rise.If you do not have self-raising flour, combine plain flour with baking powder and salt, or add raising agents (such baking powder or use bicarbonate of soda) separately in your recipe.

Equipment needed

two small Bundt pans (6 cup-capacity)




Preparation of the Bundt Cakes
  1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
  2. Butter and flour two small Bundt pans, shake out the excess flour and set aside.
  3. In the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment set to high speed, cream together the butter and the sugar until the butter mixture turns light and creamy. This will take between 5 to 8 minutes. Scrape down your bowl with a spatula as needed.
  4. Using the medium speed of your mixer, starting and ending with the flour, add 1/3 of the flour, mixing until the flour just starts to disappear then add 1/2 the milk and vanilla and keep doing the same until everything has been added, taking care not to over mix the batter. 
  5. Gently add the sprinkles and mix just until the sprinkles are incorporated into the batter.
  6. Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. NOTE: to make sure that the egg whites whip up properly, use a very clean bowl. Following the advice of a much admired cook and baker, I always wipe out my bowl with a few drops of fresh lemon juice on a clean cloth before I start beating my egg whites.
  7. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter until no traces of the white can be seen. 
  8. Divide the batter equally between the two Bundt pans and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  9. Transfer the two Bundt pans to cooling racks and leave the cakes to cool for about 15 minutes before turning them out of their pans and transferring them to cooling rack to cool completely.
  10. Dust with powdered sugar (optional).




To round out the very colorful theme of these cakes, it is nice to decorate the table with colorful plates and forks and to showcase some even more colorful glass cake stands and deck the Bundts with some colorful paper flags.

The kids told me that the Colorful Funfetti Bundts were very well received at their bake sale in school and I was very happy that this recipe worked out so well.

Many thanks to Laura for posting this fun recipe and another big fat thanks for writing such a wonderful and kind résumé about my blog as part of your blog post about my Rhubarb and Almond Bundt Cake!




28 comments:

  1. These look absolutely stunning Andrea! I love how you've photographed them with the coloured flags and cake stands, I've never thought about a funfetti bundt before, but after seeing yours I'll definitely be thinking about it.
    Thank you for featuring my blog on your own, I can't wait to see more of your beautiful recipes and blog entries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are such a kind person, Laura, it was my pleasure baking your cake and featuring it on my blog! This was quite a colorful blog post and my kids adored not only the cake but also really enjoy this post! Thanks again for your lovely support! "See" you soon!

      Delete
  2. Andrea, these are gorgeous and so FUN! I couldn't resist something like this at a bake sale! Your photos are wonderful too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chris, you are very kind, in the beggining, I was not really sure about all that color but in the end the Colorful Funfetti Bundts tasted really nice , the kids all loved them and the decorations were fun to put on display. We were happy.

      Delete
  3. Hi Andrea,
    This cake is looking so tempting and I can't wait to try this recipe on my own. Lovely work as always. I hope your kids are proud to have you and this awesome cake. Have a wonderful day.
    Regards, Sonia

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sonia, thanks so much for your very kind coment - I think the kids are kind of happy to be pampered once in a while with a fun cake - and so are their classmates...seriously, they like to share part of the results from my baking frenzies with their friends and we have had many requets as a result (which makes me happy too).

      Delete
  4. Here you go again, stirring up that Bundt pan envy in me ;) What beautiful cakes... so elegant, yet fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz, thank you for your comment, I like the expression "Bundt envy", it actually sounds really cute!

      Delete
  5. The slice is gorgeous and the way you presented them is so appealing :) Now I feel like I need to bake this!
    Have a nice week :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nizz, it is nice to read that you like the cake as well as the mighty colorful pictures...we had such bad and rainy weather lately, that is was kind of fun to bring a bit of color into our lives!

      Delete
  6. Glorious and colorfull cake....
    Cute photograph with those lil flag !
    LoL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much - we all seem to need a little of bit of color in our lives once in a while!

      Delete
  7. This cake's all dressed up for the party!
    I've gotta get my hands on some of this funfetti.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Colette, if you cannot find these particular sprinkles, I know you could use other ones, smaller ones and I read that they also work very well.

      Delete
  8. I just love this cake. We have something similar here in the U.S. that we call "Confetti Cake." My niece adores it, and always has it for her birthdays. The U.S. version is a typical layer cake, not made in a pretty mold like yours. Ours is also frosted of course, like any good American cake would be, with buttercream, most often vanilla. The flags really make this look so darn cute. I love cake, especially the smaller ones; somehow I feel less badly when I eat the entire thing! I am suffering some serious Bundt envy now...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adri, thank you for your wonderful comment - I know what you mean, leave the frosting off and feel better about eating cake...same here. But, honestly, kids and adults are not that keen on frosting in this "dry cake" country...they almost alwys prefer Bundt type cakes. And add a bit of colorful decoration to a simple Bundt and you have an instant party at your hand!

      Delete
  9. I never baked cakes with confetti inside either, but they sure look festive Andrea! And you added flags and colorful forks! Just perfect for a bake sale or a children´s party.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paula, it seems that a bit of color does go a long way and adding such a simple ingredient as sprinkles (no matter what size they are) to a cake batter seems to bring big smiles to the kids faces.

      Delete
  10. These are just adorable! I can see how kids and adults alike would be in love with these funfetti bundts. I certainly am! I loved funfetti as a little girl. These pictures took me back to my childhood. Thank you for sharing, sweet friend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Monet, lovely comment, thanks so much! Although these cakes were new to me, they were certainly liked quite a bit and I will definitely be making them again.

      Delete
  11. Oh wow, these turned out so beautifully! Fun to eat too, I reckon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trishie, they were fun to eat and bake and were meant to make my kids and their schoolmates happy and they did, so, mission accomplished.

      Delete
  12. Your cakes are so beautiful-they will be the hit of any party or bake sale. And who doesn't love a bundt. I have a love affair with all sizes and shapes of bundts!
    Have a wonderful day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindy, then we share the same love affair - Ha! - Bundts are just the best, I cannot get enough of them either, in all kinds of sizes!

      Delete
  13. Don't you just love funfetti! Great idea to use it in the cake too. I love the little flags too - it's a party on a plate!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hester, certainly love those funfetti things, small or large. Once in a while that is exactly what I looking for, a fun cake, just for the kids of the house.

      Delete
  14. I actually bought colorful funfetti for the first time the other day thinking that I'll need one when I start baking more. Unfortunately I've been too busy to try baking anything yet, but I am excited to add colors into the picture (or I should say food)! Your mini bundts are SUPER cute! Bet your children enjoyed these a lot. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nami, thank so much for the lovely comment! Kids loved them, they were a great success at the bake sale and in the end, I was a happy camper too!

      Delete