I call these baby bundt cakes but the melted butter and ground almonds make them more like a classic French Madeleine in the shape of tiny bundt cakes.
But why would I do that? Why would I take a perfectly good madeleine recipe and turn it into a bundt cake? I don’t even like bundt cakes. But I do like alliteration. Bouncing Baby Bundt Cakes!
You see I was part of a team of bloggers who got together last night for a FoodBuzz 24–24-24 dinner. Nathan (The Chocolate of Meats), Andy (Wind Attack) and I were sitting around not too long ago bemoaning our lack of blogging inspiration lately. That’s when we came up with the idea of getting inspiration from each other’s blogs. We decided to invite Joy (Joy The Baker), Linda (Salty Seattle) and Kim & Melba (Out A Thyme) along for the culinary ride. Well, because they’re girls. And we felt we needed some girls!
So we assigned all the players a course for a dinner party to be held at my house. Then we set the plan in motion. As you can see I was assigned dessert. My inspiration came from Kim & Melba (Out A Thyme). Of course, there is more to it than inspiration and girls. Go to Nathan’s FoodBuzz 24–24-24 official post about the event and get all the details about how we inspired each other and see the rest of our inspirational menu!
And what’s an evening of cooking with friends without wine? So we also invited Whitney (Brunellos Have More Fun) to pair each of our recipes with excellent wine from Domaine LA! A helluva an evening was born, and here’s the video to prove it!
Baby Bundt Cakes with Lemon & Coconut makes 48 CLICK here for a printable recipe
16 T unsalted butter- 2 3⁄4 c confectioners sugar
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 t vanilla
- 4 oz coconut cream (not coconut milk)
- 3 oz blanched almonds, ground into a coarse powder
- 1 1⁄2 c all-purpose flour
- 1 t baking powder
- 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 T water
- coconut chocolate garnish, optional
Instructions
Melt the butter in a small saucepan, remove from the heat and leave to one side to reach room temperature. Use a pastry brush to grease each of the 48 spaces in the baby bundt pans or the insides of 24 classic madeleine shell-shaped molds with a little of the melted butter. Put them in the freezer until ready to fill. Reserve the rest of the butter for the cakes.
In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups confectioners sugar and lemon zest. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites, vanilla and coconut cream until quite frothy. In a third bowl combine the melted, room temperature butter, ground almonds, flour and baking powder. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
To large mixing bowl with sugar, add half of the egg whites and all of the butter, nuts & flour mixture. Mix together until well incorporated. Add the remaining egg white mixture, stir to combine. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
When ready to bake preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Use an appropriately sized ice cream scoop or large tablespoon to fill the molds. Plop enough batter in the center of each indentation to fill it about 3/4′s full. Though the batter is quite thick once chilled, don’t be tempted to spread the it out too much. It will fill the mold on its own as it bakes.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cakes are puffed, golden and just set. The exact time will depend on the size and material of your molds. I used a non-stick metal pan and mine took 15 minutes.
While the cakes are baking, make the glaze. In a small mixing bowl stir together the remaining 3/4 cup powdered sugar, lemon juice, and enough water (about 1 tablespoon) to form smooth, syrupy glaze.
When the cakes are done. Remove the molds from the oven and tilt them out onto a cooling rack. The moment they’re cool enough to handle, but still warm, dip each cake in the glaze, turning them over to make sure they are completely coated. After dipping, return each one to the cooking rack, pretty side up, until the cakes are cool and the glaze has firmed up.
Garnish with flakes of unsweetened coconut drizzled with chocolate in an overlapping web-like pattern. Freeze them until firm and break into attractive pieces as garnish. Optional.
Notes
makes 48 tiny 1 1/2″ bundt cakes or 24 classic shell-shaped madeleines. Coconut cream is often found in the liquor aisle of the grocery store.
SERIOUS FUN FOOD
Greg Henry
Sippity Sup
I’ve had The Caitlin before! It is incredibly delicious and leaps and bounds better than the traditional pimento cheese sandwich!
I just started googling my sandwich, and stumbled across your blog! Is this sandwich really featured in that cookbook? I will have to say the recipe is pretty close to the original! I worked at the Ham Shoppe while in college, and one day started making pimiento cheese (I did not grow up eating it, and never had the desire to try store bought… So I made mine with more cream cheese than mayo). Then I started “building my own sandwich” every day for lunch. Once everyone got over thinking I was crazy for putting sprouts and cucumbers on pimiento cheese, they tried it and loved it. We put a few sandwiches out for our customers to taste and eventually the owner put it on the menu. It makes me so happy that I have stumbled upon all this buzz about “The Caitlin” (I told them to name it something else, ha!) So anyways, now you know how it came to be. 🙂 Cheers!
That you found this piece and yes. It is really in that cookbook, pg 157. I love the internet. GREG
I grew up on pimiento spread in a plastic tub that my mom bought at the store in Dallas. It was really orange and I think it was all cheddar. I don’t really want to know what was in it. I’ll just enjoy the memory.
Though I’m not from the dirty SOUTH, I love a real pimento cheese sandwich! When I saw this pic on Tastespotting, I about fell the heck over. Pimento cheese, bacon, sprouts??? Laudy, Laudy YES YES YES!!
Ooh, this sandwich looks epicly amazing. I just need it for lunch tomorrow. Thanks for inspiring me…the picture were beautiful and took me to another place and time!
I’ve never had a pimento sandwich so this sounds incredibly curious to me. I agree there are definitely upsides and downsides of regionalism. On one hand, I appreciate that in most big cities you can get good everything. It’s great for a variety seeker or if there is something from one’s home city that one has a particular longing for, but on the other hand, there’s a huge loss of novelty and specialness. What a fun book.
I live in the big city and I love access to all my favorites as well as the unusual and exotic. But I cling to the romantic notion that something are better left where they belong. GREG
I had to take a second look. I’ve always complained about pimento sandwiches, but you sure have classed it up. And, now I’m going to have to try that white trash kind too, the ones I see at so many get togethers and I pass over. I guess I didn’t know.
You are kind of a nut for regionalism aren’t you? Never really thought about that until now. But isn’t that one reason we all love food so much? Because of how it teaches us so much about ourselves or about a culture?
I definitely love the Southern style of cooking… despite it not being friendly to my veggie needs. This book sounds wonderful.
I think we are both food romantics… GREG
Great post. As you know, I adore learning the cultural components of food. It’s the story, the tradition and the people that make it so, and make a good dish, great and more appreciated. Thanks for the info on the book. I’ll be sure to check it out. Eager to see if it includes anything on fried green tomatoes.
Well Fannie Flagg wrote the forward! GREG
“Minner cheese sammich,” as my father says. Or my husband, who says “paminnuh.” I take the middle road with “p’minner,” myself. I didn’t eat pimento cheese until I was well into my late teens — and had to ask myself why after so many years! My uncle makes the best pimento cheese and beer cheese in the county and we have a batch of both in the fridge at all times. I’m looking forward to a good p’minner cheese sammich and a glass of milk when I get home tomorrow!
cool! GREG
Greg: this is such a great write up. I am Southerner by adoption (as you know I am Italian…). I moved to the US South (Atlanta) a few years ago and have sprouted quite well here. There is an appreciation for slow times, especially slow food, and that resonates with me.
It seems like pimiento cheese (Southern pronounciation: p’mmenuh) is all the rage these days, and yours looks very appetizing.