sheer damn delight … Tunnel of Caramel Cake

How wonderful is a good bundt cake? There’s something so homey and comforting about a moist wedge, usually with some kind of fantastic sugary glaze, that makes me so stinkin’ happy. The last month has been a bit crazy – travel, wicked jetlag, insane Olympic viewing marathons – that I badly needed something homey and comforting. My cooking mojo was running low and dinner has often consisted of a bowl of popcorn or a plate of raw vegetables and whatever I could round up to act as a dip. For the last several posts, I’ve made foods from recently maligned countries, and while very good, they weren’t cake. I needed cake. When I saw my friend Cathy Barrow’s recipe in The Washington Times for a Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake, I perked up. I had meyer lemons. I had butter and eggs and whatnot. Game on.

It was good. Very good. A lemony riff on the classic “tunnel of fudge” cake, this one has a ribbon of meyer lemon curd running throughout the center. For the lemon filling, she used an interesting technique of mixing cream cheese into the curd to stabilize it a bit and make it stay in place during baking. I’ve used cream cheese often for this very purpose and applauded her ingenuity for a bundt cake filling. Too often ribbons and swirls just sort of melt and disappear in a cake batter. It got me to thinking. Could I make a caramel version? As much as I like lemon I really like caramel. Could I make a lightly spiced cake with a really fat ribbon of caramel running through the center? Let’s see.

Short answer: yes. And it’s not that difficult. I started with a purchased can of dulce del leche, the Nestle version from the Hispanic aisle of my regular old grocery store. As much as I enjoyed that lemon cake, making the lemon curd and waiting overnight for it to chill was a bit of a drag. Purchasing a can was easier and because of the thickness, I knew it would work. I also knew it would be consistent each and every time. While I love a homemade caramel, it would vary batch to batch and more importantly, I didn’t want this to become more complicated than it had to be. Purchased was the way to go.

For the cake, I adapted a brown sugar bundt cake recipe I found online that looked good, spooned half the batter into my pan and filled the center with a thick river of caramel/cream cheese filling. Topped with the remaining batter and carefully smoothed into place, I popped the pan into the oven and crossed my fingers.

I shouldn’t have worried. It worked perfectly. I tested the dulce de leche both plain and with cream cheese to see which worked better and while plain, straight out of the can, worked just fine the cream cheese version was so much better – smoother, richer, creamier. As it isn’t much more work – just stirred together – I went that route. Of course, the cake needed just a little something extra – a thick butterscotchy glaze with a few pinches of sparkly flaky salt made this perfect. In my world, a bundt cake better have an icing.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: PERFECTION. For such a delicious cake, this one comes together with surprising ease. I gifted quite a bit of it to several people and each and every one texted me to say how much they enjoyed it. That just doesn’t happen. Some? Sure. But all? Never. And that’s pretty much all you need to know.

nine years ago: Khachpuri (cheesy Georgian bread)
eight years ago: Stovetop Smoked Salmon
seven years ago: Fresh Paczki (homemade Polish donuts), Chocolate Cabernet Sauce
six years ago: Chocolate Malt Pots de Crème, Baked Cheddar Olives, Whatchamacallit Brownies, Orange Sweet Rolls, Barley Marmalade Scones, Irish Oatmeal Pudding
five years ago: Irish Whiskey Cakes, Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies, Chocolate Pudding Cake, Chocolate Cherry Buns
four years ago: Chocolate Crème Filled Cupcakes
three years ago: Flourless Chocolate Cookies
two years ago: Chocolate Banana Bread, Dark Chocolate Tapioca Pudding, Toum and Lamb Chops (Lebanese Garlic Spread), Tuscan Rice Pudding Torte, Gravlax (Cured Salmon)
last year: Beer Braised Onion & Bacon Tart, Brown Butter Blueberry Ricotta Cake, Chocolate Cherry Financier, Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramels, Triple Chocolate Cream Puffs

TUNNEL OF CARAMEL BUNDT CAKE
Makes 12 servings
My bundt pan is a fairly standard and pedestrian pan that releases well with a simple butter/flour coating but there are some really fantastic, incredibly detailed pans out there. For those with deep crevices and details, grease well with a combination of shortening and flour as outlined in this article.  Note – it’s important that the cream cheese for the filling is at room temperature to blend smoothly. Plan accordingly. 

for the cake:
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature, for the pan
12 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (¾ cup/1 ½ sticks)
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon bourbon
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 ¼ cups buttermilk

for the filling:
one 13.4 oz can dulce de leche
5 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon flaky salt, such as Maldon

for the glaze:
4 Tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon
pinch or two of flaky salt, such as Maldon

1. Preheat oven to 300°F and lightly coat a standard Bundt pan with butter.
2. Sprinkle with flour, rotating to coat bottom and sides of pan and especially the center tube.
3. In the sink, give the pan a good solid bang and dump out any excess flour. Set aside until needed.
4. For the filling: in a medium bowl with a rubber spatula, combine the dulce de leche, cream cheese and salt until well combined. Set aside until needed.
5. For the cake: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Set aside until needed.
6. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape the bowl.
7. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition then add the bourbon.
8. Gradually add the flour mixture in three additions alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
9. Scrape the bowl and mix until everything is well combined.
10. Spoon ½ the batter into prepared pan, smoothing neatly.
11. Spoon the filling in a ring in the center of the batter, taking care not to allow any filling to touch the pan sides if possible.
12. Spoon the remaining batter into the pan on top of the caramel filling and carefully smooth to fully cover the filling.
13. Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean, about 55-60 minutes.
14. Let the cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
15. Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
16. Before glazing, lay 4 strips of parchment paper in a square on a serving platter.
17. Place the cake on top of the parchment on the platter. (The glaze tends to crack when the cake is moved so I like to glaze directly on the serving platter to minimize this problem. The parchment paper keeps the platter clean from drips.)
18. For the glaze: melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat then add the brown sugar, cream and salt.
19. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly.
20. Boil for exactly 1 minute then remove from the heat.
21. Let the mixture to cool for a few minutes then gradually whisk in the powdered sugar and bourbon.
22. Let cool, whisking occasionally, to prevent a skin from forming, until the mixture is quite thick and pourable. If it cools too much or seems too thick, add a splash of cream to thin. The thicker/cooler the mixture, the less will run off the cake while glazing.
23. Pour the glaze over the cake, moving quickly but steadily to evenly cover.
24. Before the glaze sets, spinkle with a pinch or two of flaky salt to garnish.
25. Let the glaze set fully before serving the cake, about an hour.
26. remove and discard the parchment strips and serve.
27. The cake keeps extremely well for a few days if tightly covered.