Maple Nutmeg Bundt Cake

So it is now February 4th and my New Year’s resolutions have been a bust.  I set up four different excel lists to log my progress in each area of my life I wanted to improve.  Don’t look at me with those rounded, sky-high eyebrows.  I may seem like a sort of control freak but I always think I long for routine and organization.  Alas, it doesn't take long before my routine gets stale. Which it did recently and I felt like a deflated balloon spinning backwards in circles.

Anyway, I am sorry for my brief absence from the blog world.  Believe me I couldn't have missed you more.

Sometimes a change in routine helps.  Taking some time to myself, and talking with friends allowed me to gain some perspective.  Now I am all puffed up and back on my game.  So why not reward my return to yoga class with a little cake.  Maybe I should have a recipe under my belt when I need some more of that girl talk over coffee.  And this is a great excuse to use my new bundt cake pan.

How pretty is a bundt cake pan!  They are almost architectural, like an element of a castle.  If you check out Sur le Table at Christmas they have actual castle-shaped bundt cake pans.  A little powder sugar can look like snow.  That is less work than a gingerbread house so I wouldn't feel guilty eating it.  I don't have many bundt cake recipes in my cookbook library, so I did a little internet search.  Martha Stewart's site had more than a few interesting bundt cake recipes and this one is an adaption of one found there.  You should go here.  My craving for this cake was inspired by these nutmeg maple cookies on Smitten Kitchen's blog, (hence the addition of nutmeg) which were fabulous.  Bookmark them, print the recipe for later or  add them to your list of Christmas cookies.  Definitely remember them.

My mother warned me that the cake pan needs to be greased well.  It is easy for the cake to get stuck in those pretty little grooves.  My mother-in-law, an avid baker, suggested Wilton's Cake Release.  It's a soybean oil that you can brush on the inside of your pan.  Since it is an oil it will get in all those crevices and still keep our hands clean.  Soybean oil is flavorless so you don't have to worry that you are adding anything unwanted to your recipe.

This is not a cake for sinful, gooey cravings.  This is an elegant cake best enjoyed over conversation.  It's not too sweet with just a hint of earthy spice.  I should say that I may have been a little heavy handed on the nutmeg but that is just me.  Generally in baked goods the measurement for nutmeg is 1/8th 1/4th of a teaspoon.  So here is the recipe adapted from the Martha Stewart website.

Maple Nutmeg Bundt Cake

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter (or 12 tablespoons), room temperature
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
• 1 cup sour cream
• confectioners sugar for sprinkling
• Wilton's Cake Release for drizzling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and as always make sure your rack is in the center.  Drizzle Wilton's Cake Release into your Bundt pan spread using a pastry brush.  You are done when it looks nice and shiny and you have greased all the crevices. Whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Using a stand mixer, cream your butter and sugar.  Your butter should be at room temperature in order for the sugar to properly absorb the fat.  If it is too cold you will get air pockets, melted and it will separate.  Add your eggs one at  a time and allow each one to be blended thoroughly into the mixture.  Add maple syrup and vanilla.  Add your flour in thirds, alternating with the sour cream.  Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.  I test it with a long wooden skewer. If it comes out dry you are done.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.  If you do it too soon the cake will absorb the sugar and you loose the pretty effect.

Community Table: Biscotti di Pignoli

Pine nut macaroons.  They are the simplest cookie.  My mom made these at Christmas every year.  Like a lot of other moms, she made dozens of cookies at that time of the year.  Pink and green butter cookies that were piped out of pastry bags, cookies with rainbow sprinkles, snickerdoodles,  chocolate peanut butter clusters and, of course, pine nut macaroons.  I always ate too many of the chocolate peanut butter clusters.  They were definitely good but in that I'm-a-kid-and-I-get-to-eat-junk-food-today kind of good. I would always bring the pretty butter cookies to school.  The snickerdoodles were paired with hot chocolate on Christmas Eve so that we could leave a plateful for Santa.  Sadly, I overlooked the pine nut macaroons.

Maybe its that they sounded like cookies for grown-ups.  If you give any child a choice between chocolate and pine nuts, you know what they will choose.  Besides, they have no fancy colors or gooey texture.  They are just good.  Good in the way that something that has only four ingredients can be.  There is nothing fancy for these ingredients to hide behind.  I have seen other recipes that have flour and butter but for me it takes away from the taste of the sweet almond paste.

I like all the cookies my Mom makes but now I reach for the pine nut cookies first.

Biscotti di Pignoli

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 16 oz. almond paste (if you are from Napoli you would make your own from ground almonds, if you are not you can find it in 8oz cans a the supermarket)
• 1 cup pine nuts
• Confectioners sugar for sprinkling (optional) 

The fifth ingredient on the far right, confectioners sugar, is an optional garnish.  Actually, this time we left it off.  Papa` was already brewing coffee before they came out of the oven so no time to make them pretty.

The cookie sheets are lined with parchment paper.  This is my Mom and her baking is very organized.  Ingredients and bakeware are lined up and promptly put away in the order she is done with them.

After you separate out the egg whites, beat them with a fork until you get a little foam on top.

Mix sugar and almond paste first.  While the mixer is on low add your egg whites.

A taste, anyone?

Dad drops in to taste the batter.

Spoon out batter with about an inch and a half between each cookie.  Sprinkle pine nuts on the top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 300 degrees.

Serve with a good espresso!