Baked Sunday Mornings: Vanilla Bean Malt Cake

I own an absurd amount of bakeware, including a fair number of specialty pans that don't get utilized very often. But even though I own a classic Bundt pan, a fleur de lis Bundt, a heart-shaped Bundt, and multiple mini-bundt pans, I didn't have the 6-cup Bundt called for in this week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe, Vanilla Bean Malt Cake. Fortunately, the recipe says you can use a 10-cup Bundt pan and just end up with a shorter cake.

The first step in this recipe is to scrape the seeds of a vanilla bean into a teaspoon of bourbon, and stir to combine. I didn't quite get this step, because there's a name for vanilla beans that have been steeped in alcohol. It's called vanilla extract. Plus, the vanilla seeds remained clumped together and didn't combine well with the bourbon at all.

Anyway, to make the batter you cream softened butter with dark brown sugar and granulated sugar; add eggs and an egg yolk; add the vanilla and bourbon; and the alternately add in the dry ingredients (flour, malted milk powder, baking powder, and salt) and buttermilk. You pour the batter into a buttered and floured pan and bake.
The cake is supposed to take 35-45 minutes to bake if made in a 6-cup pan. The recipe notes that if you use 10-cup Bundt, the cake might not necessarily require a baking time adjustment, but that you should check the cake early and often for doneness. My cake required 50 minutes in the oven. The batter expanded quite a bit during baking, but then contracted significantly upon cooling. The finished cake looked fine, but it was conspicuously short. After it was cool, I drizzled on a glaze made from powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
This cake has an exceptional texture; it is incredibly tender and moist. The flavor of the cake was good -- it was vanilla with a touch of malt (I got the malt more in the aroma than in the taste), and it might have been my imagination, but I thought I could detect a trace of the bourbon. The glaze didn't do much for me flavorwise, but I thought it was pretty. My tasters loved the cake, and I was quite pleased with the way it came out.

Recipe: "Vanilla Bean Malt Cake" from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Comments

Bourbonnatrix said…
Love your cake! I don't own a 6 inch pan either so I used individual bundt pans! Worked great!
Great looking bundt! I didn't have the correct size pan either. But I thought it was very cute having a short bundt cake! This really was a tasty cake. And super moist.
Anonymous said…
Looks like even those of us with ridiculous cake pan collections don't have this one, but it's now on my list! I made minis, but my glaze was super thin. I love your beautiful, thick, white glaze. Even as a short cake, it's still really pretty! :)
Susan said…
This cake was delicious - I need to try it again in a regular pan. Yours looks great.
Anonymous said…
Almost 2 years late to the party . . . I made this cake and mistakenly used Ovaltine instead of Malt Powder. It was surprisingly good! But I lost a good deal of cake to my pan (I used a 6" bundt pan). I must not have greased the pan well enough. But having said that, I will try baking this again with the correct, Malt Powder, NOT Ovaltine! Raylene
Sally said…
do you think I could make this as a layer cake? THANKS!
Yes, I do -- although I'm not sure what size pan would be the best equivalent... My best guess would be an 8-inch or 9-inch round. Baking times could definitely vary, though, so check the cake early!.