Maureen's Kitchen

Cherry Bundt Cake Building a Dessert Buffet Stash

BY: MAUREEN HADDOCK

I love to bake and stash treats throughout the year. It makes spontaneous entertaining effortless and helps me accommodate the dietary needs of family and friends. I try to have gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free options on hand. It’s important to store these items in separate, welllabelled containers to avoid cross-contamination as well as flavour transfer. Serving the dessert items on assorted plates, or in bowls and jars, creates a festive table while keeping foods separated.

Winter offers us many special days, and at our house we have birthdays and anniversaries galore. I make our seasonal family favourites which have become tradition and then supplement the dessert table with a few extras from my stash.

It is important to know your desserts and the length of time they can be stored in a freezer, keeping their

original flavour and texture.

My Merry Cherry Chocolates

keep well for 10 months or more, while shortbread keeps for three months. A double-wrapped Bundt cake can be stored whole or in pieces for four to six months. It’s wise to keep a list of your frozen inventory so that you don’t forget about something delicious in the depths of your freezer.

If I am running low on goodies, I supplement my selection by making a few six-minute microwave oven treats. Popcorn in Caramel Sauce takes about eight minutes, start to finish, when you use your microwave oven. This treat is gluten-free, nut-free and totally addicting. I add it to my dessert table regularly. Microwave Oven Peanut Brittle is quick to make and delicious. It keeps well in a tin in the pantry. I have recently made an amazing microwave toffee that takes six minutes to cook and 30 minutes to set.

I enjoy trying new recipes as often as possible. This

year I made Cherry Winks, a vintage recipe from the 1950s. I often bake with maraschino cherries during the holiday season. For decades, I have made a Cherry Bundt Cake in late November or early December. This Bundt cake can be served as a table centre sprinkled in icing sugar or glazed. It can also be quartered, double wrapped and frozen for future company platters.

My husband and I eat one section of this cake over a few days, just to be sure it is companyworthy. He loves to pour maple syrup over a slice, but I enjoy it topped with yogurt and fresh berries. When glazed, it is delicious sliced and served with a cup of tea. Most years, I need to make this cake twice because it disappears from the freezer too quickly.

It is easy to thaw and serve this Cherry Bundt Cake with whipped cream and a makeahead fruit sauce. For many years, I served Festive Cherry Cake Trifle for New Year’s Eve to share the last pieces of the Bundt cake in a new way.

Maureen Haddock

Recipes in italics at www.getabiggerwagon.com

Cherry Bundt Cake

1 ¼ cups butter, softened 2 ¾ cups granulated sugar 5 eggs 1 teaspoon almond extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup undiluted evaporated milk 2 cups maraschino cherries, quartered

Prepare a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan by coating it with melted butter. Dust the pan with flour, tipping it upside down to shake off any excess. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven.

In a large bowl, blend butter, eggs, sugar and almond extract, using an electric mixer on low speed. Then beat on high speed for 5 minutes, until the batter is light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in batches, alternating with evaporated milk, mixing lightly after each addition. Fold in the cherries. Spoon batter evenly into the greased and floured pan. Bake at 350°F for 75 to 85 minutes.

Cover with foil for the last 10 minutes if it is becoming too brown. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and let it slide from the pan. Leave the cake to cool completely. Once cool, place the cake on a plate and cover it. Before serving, dust the cake with icing sugar or drizzle with glaze. This moist cake keeps on the counter for several days. Serve it in various ways to house guests or prepare it for the freezer. To freeze, leave the Bundt whole or cut it into sections. Wrap the cake or cake sections in a layer of wax paper followed by a layer of tin foil. I place the wrapped cake sections into one of my mother’s 1940s cookie tins and tuck it into the freezer until I am ready to add cake to a serving platter or cut it up for another dessert. This cake doesn’t crumble so it even works well served with a Chocolate Fondue or my Raspberry Brandy Fondue.

GLAZE

2 cups icing sugar, sifted ¼ cup butter, melted

2 to 4 tablespoons of hot water 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla Add the melted butter to the sifted icing sugar and stir. Add 2 tablespoons of hot water and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. There is a fine line between too much and too little water. If the glaze runs off the beaters it is likely thin enough. If you feel your glaze is too thick add water in small increments until you are pleased with the consistency.