Shelly's Recipe

NUTTY, CHOCOLATY, SWIRLY SOUR CREAM BUNDT CAKE

Category: Cakes

For the Swirl:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup plump, moist raisins (dark or golden) or dried currants (I omitted these)
2-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt

For the Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting (optional)

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 to 10 inch (12 cup) Bundt pan, dust the interior with flour and tap out the excess and tap out the excess. (I cheated. I used Pam.) (If you’ve got a silicone Bundt pan, there’s no need to butter or flour it.) Don’t place the Bundt pan on a baking sheet-you want the oven’s heat to circulate freely through the Bundt’s inner tube.

To Make The Swirl: Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix

To Make The Cake: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter. With the paddle or whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat on medium speed for 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the sour cream. Still working on low, add the dry ingredients and mix only until they disappear into the batter.

Give the batter a last stir or two with a rubber spatula (just to make sure all of the dry ingredients are properly incorporated) then scoop out about one third of the batter into the Bundt pan. Evenly sprinkle on half of the swirl mixture, then spoon in the rest of the batter. Make a shallow indentation with the back of the spoon in the center of the ring of the batter and fill it with the remaining swirl mixture, then cover the mixture lightly with the batter on the sides of the indentation. The batter probably won’t cover the mixture completely, and that’s fine.

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the cake rest for 10 minutes before unmolding it onto the rack to cool to room temperature.

Just before serving, dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar, if desired.