Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sunday baking: Quadruple-ginger/pear bundt...bread pudding

I'm going to a fall party at a friend's house today, and we're to bring a favorite autumn dish. I decided to bake something, and thanks to Mary the Food Librarian, I know that TODAY is International Bundt Day (I'm not sure who says so, but it works for me). So I decided to make a bundt cake.

Her pear-ginger bundt looked good, though in her notes she said it needs more ginger. That reminded me of the ginger cake I made earlier this spring. I decided to combine the two, and the Quadruple-Ginger/Pear Bundt cake was born!

I had most of the ingredients at home, except the ginger.



It was a bit laborious to grate the 1/4 cup fresh ginger, and dice the candied ginger, AND make ginger simple syrup, but I think it'll add some amazing flavor to the cake.



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Quadruple-Ginger/Pear Bundt 

Ginger simple syrup combine:
  3/4 c water
  3/4 c sugar
  2-inch slice (or so) of ginger, peeled and sliced
Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove ginger & allow to cool.

Prep work (do while the syrup is simmering & cooling):
 * peel, core and dice 2 pears (I used Anjou, I think)
 * peel and shred 1/4 c ginger
 * dice about 3 T candied ginger; add a bit of sugar to keep it from sticking together.

Dry ingredients - in a bowl, combine:
  3 c flour
  1 1/2 c sugar
  2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  1/2 tsp salt
  2 tsp ground ginger
  1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wet ingredients - in a larger bowl, combine:
  1 c milk
  2/3 c canola oil
  3 eggs & 1 egg white
  the 1/4 c grated fresh ginger from above
  1/2 c of the ginger simple syrup from above

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones; mix gently. Add the diced pears to the batter. Pour into a greased & floured bundt pan. Sprinkle on the diced candied ginger, and use a spatula to work it into the batter.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.


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Well, it smells great. Unfortunately it broke a bit when it came out of the pan. Did I not cool it long enough? (I waited ten minutes) Did I not grease & flour the pan well enough? (or should I skip that step in my nonstick pan?




Maybe I should've whipped some cream and called it good...but I didn't think of that. Since I'm bringing this to a party, I tried slicing it and arranging it on a plate, but that didn't look any better. As a last-minute move, I've cut up about 3/4 of the cake and put it in a pan with 3 eggs and 1 3/4 cups of milk, then baked it at 350 for another 40 minutes. It's bread pudding!!!


2 comments:

  1. Beth, I love the transformation of the Bundt to the bread pudding. And, man, you certainly amp'd up the ginger! (For the sticking...I get this question a lot and I have had things stick...I usually use a boatload of that Pam with Flour spray and I hit the pan only right before I put in the batter. In 30 days of Bundts, I went through 2 cans of the stuff! My friend doesn't like the spray and uses melted butter mixed with flour and brushes it on.) Thanks so much for celebrating Bundt Day! (I have no idea who made up this holiday but I'm just going along with it!!! :) I'm doing a little round up later this week. So many people made Bundts - it's great! - mary the food librarian

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  2. Final report: the bread pudding was pretty good. In retrospect I should've added some chocolate, just to amp up the baked decadence!

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