Another sale purchase from earlier in the year was a Bundt tin. This one is a NordicWare, which is a brand that specialise in these sort of moulded tins. It weighs a ton!

Very exciting!

The batter was very straightforward, similar to Madeira cake with buttermilk added. There is a lot of sugar in the recipe – almost half a kilo. The recipe had no errata though, and all reviews were super positive so I moved on.

Creaming butter and sugar very well. It should be smooth and fluffy and not grainy. If it’s not done well enough it’ll lose height and it runs the risk of splitting when the eggs are added.

In with eggs!

Then buttermilk and flour, alternated.

I used baking spray in the tin, as it’s absolutely chock full of nooks and crannies!

In with the batter, making sure to get it evenly spread.

Into a low-ish oven for about an hour.

Smells amazing.

Left to cool until it could be handled, and then time to unmold!

After much cursing and cajoling, I ende up with this mess

…just a little ready to cry…

The bits of sponge I pulled off the tin tasted good, but very sweet.

When cool, it sliced well and though not pretty it was moist and quite tasty. There was no tang note from the buttermilk as expected, probably due to the vast amounts of sugar.

I went back to the tin later in the night to survey the damage, suspecting that I just hadn’t greased the tin enough, or should have used soft butter instead of the oil spray.

That brown bit there? Solid sugar! It was like crappy caramel with cake stuck in it! There was so much sugar in the recipe that it melted and welded itself to the tin. Slightly vindicated…

I think if I was going to bake this again I’d try cutting the sugar by 20% to begin with. More butter on the tin too, maybe!