I have been more than a little obsessed with citrus the past few months. It started with lemons – I bought a giant bag of them and couldn’t stop baking. When I wasn’t baking with them, I was burning my favorite lemon zest candle so the house was filled with the aroma anyway. In the past few weeks I’ve moved on to oranges. We’re sort of in that weird in-between phase here in the Northeast with respect to produce. The calendar tells me it’s spring but it’ll be a few more weeks until I can find my favorite spring produce in the stores or at farmer’s markets. I am dying to get my hands on some gorgeous asparagus – it’s one of my favorite veggies, but its season is oh so short! Until then, I’m all about oranges. I went a little crazy flagging recipes so this is the first of two I’m planning to share this week.
I had every intention of making this recipe as written, really I did, but my baking mojo just wasn’t with me. It probably didn’t help that I was diverting at least 50% of my attention to the March Madness games either 🙂 The cake is supposed to be studded with chocolate chunks, but I forgot to add them and didn’t realize until I’d already spooned the batter into the pan. At that point I just said “to heck with it,” figuring I’d get the same flavor profile as long as I added the glaze. I didn’t even notice I’d made a more egregious error until I was typing up the recipe for this post. Two eggs? Hmmm, that can’t be right, I know I only used one. After double checking the recipe, I confirmed I’d only used half the eggs called for – ooops! I guess it’s a testament to the forgiving nature of this cake that it still turned out well for me.
I’ve never been much for the chocolate/orange combination, but these little bundts made me a believer. The cake is packed with orange flavor, thanks to the combination of orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice in the batter as well as an orange sugar syrup spooned over the warm cakes after baking. I thought the chocolate glaze added just the rich touch of richness without overwhelming the orange. One more thing – I used my mini bundt pan, which has 6 1-cup wells, to make this recipe but you could also use one 6-cup bundt pan. Alternatively, double the recipe and bake it in a standard 12-cup bundt.
Mini Orange Bundt Cakes
cake and syrup adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties! (via Smitten Kitchen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest (about 2 oranges)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
Syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Ganache
from Martha Stewart
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons rum (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray the wells of a mini bundt pan with cooking spray with flour.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk the orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla together in a measuring cup.
Add the sugar and orange zest to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Rub them together with your fingertips until moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the bowl, and cream with the sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with the remaining tablespoon of flour and fold into the batter. Divide the batter evenly among the wells of your mini bundt pan. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the syrup, combine the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Turn the mini bundts out of the pan onto a wire rack and spoon the syrup over the warm cakes. Let the cakes cool completely.
To make the ganache: Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Add the heavy cream to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low until simmering. Pour over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes. Add the butter and rum (if using), and whisk gently until smooth. Pour glaze over cooled cakes.
Makes 6 mini bundts
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So sweet looking. I saw those mini bundt pans and thought that would be cute and here they are. I just bought the chocolate fondant pans and want to give it a try. BTW, a little luck, TS picked up my Blackberry Fools but FG did not. Baby steps… Good news is…I’m getting a new computer and that might help. key word: might 🙂
Agh! The mini’s are SO much cuter! Love them! I have to get some of these pans. 🙂
Damn, these look good!
LOVE little mini bundt cakes! I might make some this weekend 🙂
I’m also in love with citrus right now.
I love chocolate and orange together!
Tracey these little bundts are adorable! What a fun and festive spring dessert, and I love the flavors you used. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Chocolate and orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I have made this recipe with and without the chocolate chunks and it is awesome either way.
Your little bundt cakes are the perfect size.
I don’t follow March Madness much, but I can tell you it is crazy here in Lexington since the Wildcats have made it into the Final Four!
I love food in small sizes like this – what a great presentation of deliciousness!
I love chocolate and orange together (especially that chocolate orange you smack on the counter to break apart), so I’ll have to try this one. I’ve eyed it many times in Ina’s book, but never taken the plunge. I think chunks of anything are a little jarring in otherwise soft cakes, so the glaze is probably the way to go!
They look perfect, guess they didn’t need that second egg. 🙂 I can’t tell you how many times I find the eggs, or the butter, or SOMETHING left on the counter after I put the pan in the oven.
LOL…I was thinking, “Well, these could be chocolate chunkless and I would be one happy camper because I could leave that chocolate drizzle off so easily as well.” Might just try that as I am on a citrus kick over here as well.
Such little beauties! I need to break out my mini Bundt pans 🙂
ugh, my bracket totally got screwed up! Despite a little distraction, the little cakes look lovely. Can’t wait to see what else you make with those oranges!
Lovely! Makes me want to run out and buy a mini bundt pan, asap! 🙂
Tracey,
I don’t even know what recipe to try first from your blog. I was in Coconut heaven looking at your coconut posts, so I might have to start there. Beautiful blog with tons of exciting recipes to try. Thank you!
It’s so cute!!! Looks so yummy!!!
Such cute little bundts! I have a couple of mini pans and I don;t know why I don’t use them more. Thanks for the recipe and the reminder.
I’m not usually a big fan of citrus desserts but I will definitely make an exception in this cse. These cakes are light, moist and sweet with a great orange flavor! I didn’t try them with the chocolate glaze but Jack preferred those.
Thanks for sharing!
beautiful! Is it bad if I want to add the chocolate chunks and the glaze?? 🙂
These look so pretty! I need to get a mini bundt pan ASAP. 🙂
Oh my! they look irresistibly good and sweet. I want to try this over the week end..That Mini Orange Bundt Cake will surely be a hit to my grand kids. Hope i can do it perfectly right. Thanks, great post!
Gorgeous cakes, and I am sure that they taste as amazing as they look!