24 Days of Christmas, Day 19 Spruced-up Vanilla Cake

Big White Canada

 It’s a heavy cast aluminium Nordic Ware holiday bundt tree pan and can be found here. 

We searched long and hard for the perfect cake receipe for the gorgeous tin and by george, I think we’ve found it! Aunty Anne baked this up yesterday and brought it into work… it was a huge hit and was demolished within minutes.

Of course you can put this recipe in any pan and it really does taste the same. :-)

SPRUCED-UP VANILLA CAKE 

Spruced-up Vanilla Cake

 (Serves 8 -12)

INGREDIENTS

For the cake

225g soft butter, plus more for greasing (or use special cake tin spray)

300g caster sugar

6 eggs

350g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

250ml/g plain fat-free yoghurt

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-2 x 15ml tablespoons icing sugar

For the Strawberry Compote

1kg rhubarb or 2 x 400g packets trimmed rhubarb

1 x 340g jar best-quality strawberry jam

METHOD

For the cake

Preheat oven to 180°C and put a baking sheet in at the same time

Butter (or oil) your large, regular or fir-tree shaped bundt tin very, VERY thoroughly.  (Try soaking some paper towel in oil and rubbing it over)

Either put all the ingredients except the icing sugar into a food processor and blitz together; or mix by hand or in a freestanding mixture following these instructions:

   -Cream together; the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy

   -Add the eggs one at a time, whisking each one in with a tablespoon of flour

   -Fold in the rest of the flour, and add the yoghurt and vanilla extract

Pour and spoon the mixture into your greased tin and spread about evenly

Place the tin on the preheated baking sheet in the oven and cook for 45-60 minutes until well risen and golden.

After 45 minutes, push a skewer into the centre of the cake.  If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. Let it sit out of the oven for 15 minutes

Gently pull away the edges of the cake from the tin with your fingers, then turn out the cake, hoping for the best

Once cool, dust with the icing sugar pushed through a small sieve, to decorate: think fresh snowfall on the alps.

For the Strawberry compote

Trim the rhubarb and cut into 2.5cm slices

Put into a saucepan (with lid) with the jam and stir together

Put the lid on the pan, and over a low to medium heat cook for 10 minutes, removing the lid only briefly now and then to give a stir

Then, take the lid off altogether, and turn up the heat so that the pan bubbles away for about 4 minutes

Tip into a wide-mouthed measuring jug and allow to cool, before transferring to a prettier jug or two for the table (if you can be bothered).

Pour over thick slices of the cake and serve with a blob of yoghurt.

NOTE: You can make and freeze the compote 1 week out and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.