Big bundt energy
Because your cakes deserve some shape
The secret to bundt cakes
Bundt cakes never sink in the center because there is no center. Cooking tip or philosophical breakthrough? You decide.
We had a blast thinking deep bundt thoughts after listening to She’s My Cherry Pie this week with guest Melanie Johnson, a food writer in London who writes, styles, and photographs a beautiful cooking column for Country Life magazine. She released her first cookbook, Bundt, last year, and, like everything she does, it has an English-accented charm that makes us want to invite friends over for tea and Chocolate & Vanilla Marble Bundt Cake (recipe here), served on chippy china and a floral tablecloth.
Her book proves that bundt cakes are perfect for beginners. The one thing standing in our way? The terror of flipping the finished cake. If you’ve ever failed to release a bundt from its ridged pan, then scraped out cooked cake with your hand and frosted it with tears, you know this moment is high stakes. But Melanie has three crucial tips for bundt success:
Grease the pan with a homemade paste of flour, oil, and shortening, which creates a smooth barrier between the pan and cake batter (recipe in her book or on her TikTok here)—some call this “goop.”
If you’re greasing the pan with butter and flour or baking spray, do it right before you put the batter in—too far ahead and the butter will pool at the bottom.
Don’t release it too early or too late. Let the cake rest for 10 minutes on a wire rack. When it’s still warm but able to be touched by hand, flip it.
Happy bundting!
CATCH SHE’S MY CHERRY PIE ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, OR YOUTUBE.
Thank you to Nordic Ware for supporting our show. Use code CherryBombe15 for 15% off.
Shop the show & more
Start with a copy of Bundt, naturally
Then pick up a few Nordicware bundt pans, perhaps this castle one…
If you don’t make any homemade goop to grease your pan, use a spray like Baker’s Joy
Catbird’s Black & White Cookie Charm is back!
Wise words
“When I was doing chemo, I found it really tough to find joy in anything. Because nothing material can make you happy… I found flowers made me feel happy—and baking.”
– Melanie Johnson
Rabbit hole to chase
Start pinning every one of Melanie’s recipes in her Country Life column. It’s “a very British magazine,” she says, where you can find tips for raising sheep next to gorgeous country home tours and Eton mess strawberry blondies.
Fun Fact
Melanie went to Leith’s Culinary School, which was founded by The Great British Bake-Off’s Prue Leith.
Question for the class
Have you ever made panna cotta in a bundt pan? (Well, you can!)
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hard to go wrong with a classic bundt!!
that Mina park cake is divine! happy summer solstice