Marilyn Manson Bundt Cake

"Fail to see the tragic, turn it into magic"

Turn it into magic indeed Brian. I was going to London town to see one of my faves, and getting my shins scraped with an inky needle... sounds like the perfect occasion for cake. Last time I saw the decadent Rebecca, she had set me a bundt challenge. I adored this. I cannot believe I have never made a Marilyn Manson bundt before, I mean, what kind of grown up antichrist superstar am I?

My high school days consisted of looking surly, dying my hair black, wearing a 'Smells Like Children' hoodie, and having a school bag which said 'kill yourself now because you're dead in my mind' on it. I was a real treat. It was kind of the obvious route being so naturally deathly white.

I was obsessed with Marilyn Manson, and was convinced that one day I would marry bassist Twiggy Ramirez. There's time... although there's no way I'm getting married again! His lyrics would stay with me for years to come, and definitely shaped the way I see the world today.

Smells Like Children cover, my school bag, homework diary, lack of eyebrows at 14, and my beloved Twiggy in his pink dress

So I set about watching my favourite Marilyn Manson video, Dope Hat. It's their take on the boat ride from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so this was the perfect theme for a cake; swirly sweets, bright colours and the Spooky Kids at their best. Give it a watch... you know you want to...

The cake itself is an indulgently moist chocolate fudge cake, drizzled with bourbon icing, the hole filled with lots of fruit laces, rainbow astro belts, gobstoppers and chewy snakes, and topped with a top hat, obviously.

The most important thing was that Rebecca loved it, with a close second being actually getting it from Horwich to Finsbury Park in one piece, in torrential rain!

I very much doubt you're going to recreate this one, but hopefully it's given you some ideas of your own. Challenges are good... People loving my cakes is the only drug I will ever need. It rules.

Now I'm off to write on my handbag with glitter glue.

"When all of your wishes are granted, 

many of your dreams will be destroyed"

Jack Daniels and Coke Bundt

I went to see one of my faves the other week, that absolute darling Rebecca Vincent. She was doing a lovely little guest spot at Tooth and Talon Tattoo, so I popped down to get some more flora added to my arm.

I've been making bundts for about seven years now, so the hardest part by far at this stage is coming up with ideas which reach beyond lemon drizzle and chocolate. I never make the same thing twice, and it has to be something that excites me. 

After consulting with a couple of work buddies, I was settled on a Jack Daniels and Coke bundt for Rebecca and her tattooing pals. You can make this as strong or as weak as you like, by playing about with the amount of bourbon you use in the cake and icing. I made this one boozy as hell.

She set me a challenge for the next bundt. Post to follow...

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter
• 100g of vegetable fat 
• 550g golden caster sugar
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 450g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml of Jack Daniels and Coke - I used a premixed can
• 4 tbsp Jack Daniels (optional)
• 500g icing sugar
• More Jack Daniels to make a runny icing, or you can use a mixture of bourbon and water.
• Cola bottle sweets to decorate

Method

1. Grease and flour a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch).
2. Soften the butter and vegetable fat and then cream in the sugars in stages.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on a slow setting.
4. Add all the remaining dry ingredients to a large bowl.
5. Add the Jack Daniels to the premixed JD & Coke.
6. Sift in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by 1/2 of the liquid. Repeat until all the flour and liquid is used up. Fold it in gently...
7. Tip: at this stage it will look a bugger. This is fine! 
8. Give the whole thing a quick mix for about 10 seconds or until well combined. It will no longer look above mentioned 'bugger'.
9. Spoon the mix into the prepared tin and give it a good whack on the worktop. Because the cake has fizzy stuff in, it will hold a lot of air bubbles. Too many may mean the tin design is lost. 
10. Tip: Don't fill your tin more than 3/4 full. Stick any excess in muffin tins.
11. Bake at gas 3/160 C for about 2 hours. Just turn it after about an hour and a half.
12. It should be shrinking from the sides and a skewer should come out clean.
13. Let it cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn it out. Note, you tend to get a bit of a 'fluffy' inch at what ends up being the base of the bundt. This is caused by the air bubbles in the mix rising as it bakes. Embrace it. 
14. Allow to cool fully before icing. 
15. To make the topping, add enough Jack Daniels/water/a combination of the two to the icing sugar. You're looking for a runny consistency whilst maintaining a thick mix.
16. Tip it over the cake in a frivolous fashion.
17. Decorate with cola bottles and whatever else makes you happy. 

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

Please see my Creative Commons Copyright information for more details. Thank you.

Terrible Cat Bundt

This bundt is an utter masterclass in bad taste. Imagine the scene... I'm sat at work, about to finish for the day and get the ingredients for my mum's birthday cake, with zero inspiration. When you've been baking them for pure time like me, you start to run out of ideas. I turned to my pal Richard, who asked what my mum likes in general; 'cats, pink, and glitter'. 'Do that' was the reply. I did as well you know.

Our Kaz loves anything that's a bit over the top. She has at least 275 cushions on each couch, and even her Christmas decorations are pink (read 'evil'). I already had a bag of amazingly naff plastic cats (as you do), and loads of glittery, shimmery, and all round twinkly items in my bundt cupboard. I was off!

I'm not going to post the recipe for this one, as it could be done to any bundt, although I am 100% convinced that not a single one of you will ever recreate this monstrosity. Served on a Cath Kidston tablecloth, and gazed upon her own felines Nellie and Ruby, she adored this cake. She asked if they helped, I advised no, as they are cats. I filled it with Dolly mix, as my mum is the one who gave me the name Dolly so many moons ago.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Pretzel and Salted Caramel Bundt

Bundt nerves... I was off to meet Mr Nordic Ware, Marcus for our annual catch up at the Cake and Bake Show. I realised the week before that I had never actually made him a bundt, which seemed almost perverse, so I sorted myself out and got my pinny on. As if he had never actually tried my cake before... I could have been an utter charlatan who made things that taste of muck and dust.

I have never been so nervous whilst baking before! I decided to make a pretzel and salted caramel bundt after spotting a bag of giant pretzels in M&S, and being quite smitten by the idea of decorating with them. I then went on this mad spree of finding all sorts of pretzel related items, most of which I didn't actually use, and had to dispose of by eating them. Tough gig.

Second task was to get said bundt to Marcus in one piece, whist travelling to Event City, over the heinous Barton Bridge, in rush hour traffic. He then had to get it home to the Midlands without it looking like an utter wreck! I'm reliably informed that it got there just fine, albeit missing a few pretzels... luckily he had quite a few.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml toffee yoghurt (I used Muller Light)
• 12 medium sized pretzels

Topping:

• Carnation caramel
• All the pretzels. I used Giant (M&S), salted caramel (Tesco), and popping candy ones (M&S).

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour and bicarbonate of soda.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the vanilla extract.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
9. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
10. Poke in the 12 pretzels in the formation of the hours on a clock. Ensure they are just covered.
11. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
12. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
13. When completely cool, warm the caramel slightly in the microwave until it's slightly runny. 
14. Tip it over your cake and let it drip down. 
15. Decorate you have to use every pretzel you excitedly found whilst shopping. Hell, throw some glitter on too!

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Elf Bundt

I effing love Will Ferrell. On the flip-side, my mum despises him, and hates Buddy even more. I have no idea how this is even possible, and if I didn't look just like her, would be perhaps questioning my parentage. I obviously made this a couple of weeks ago, I'm not some January pervert, but the post has been delayed slightly owing to an unfortunate bout of pleurisy. Nasty.

I'd wanted to make this for an age. I decided to base it on the Elf four main food groups of 'candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup'. So it went a little something like this... maple syrup flavoured cake, covered in icing, glitter, sweets, candy canes, and Poptarts (obviously). The smell when I removed the lid from this one was enough to knock an elf off his shelf! Gee wizz, it was quite something.

So if you fancy making an understated Elf cake, this is how...

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 250ml maple syrup yoghurt (I used Yeo Valley)

Topping:

• Icing sugar
• Water
• Enough sweets to make you puke

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the vanilla extract.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
9. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
11. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
12. When completely cool, add enough water to the icing sugar to make a runny icing. 
13. Tip it over your cake and let it drip down. 
14. Decorate like a lunatic in a sweet shop.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Gingerbread Latte Bundt Cake

I meant to do this one last year, I just ran out of festive baking time. Plus, there's only so much cake my lot can eat. I'm not actually a fan of coffee flavoured cakes, but this one's a bit of an anomaly. If you like coffee cakes, you'll be just grand, if you don't, it's not an overpowering flavour because of the spices. You could make this at any time of year, but it's a nice festive alternative to the muck that is Christmas cake.

It might seem like sacrilege to use instant coffee, but there is method in my madness. I wanted a slightly stronger flavour than what was in the yoghurt alone, and the freeze dried granules stay like coffee 'chips' or flecks in the cake, and look nice!

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp gingerbread coffee syrup (I used Monin)
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 250ml latte flavoured greek yoghurt (I used Muller)
• 3 tsp good quality instant coffee 

Topping:

• Icing sugar
• More gingerbread syrup
• Water

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the vanilla extract and syrup.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Add the coffee granules.
9. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
10. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. It will be quite thick.
11. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
12. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
13. When completely cool, add enough syrup to the icing sugar to make a runny icing. You can use a bit of water if you like.
14. Tip it over your cake and let it drip down. 
15. Decorate in a festive fashion.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Parliament Tattoo Speculoos Bundt

Photo credit: Barba VanDømd

I adore Rebecca Vincent. She loves Harry Potter, has the most accurate moral compass of anyone I have ever met, is full of wisdom, and happens to do the best tattoos ever. Forever ever. I travel to London to have her scratch me with ink, which never feels like a chore. I love Parliament Tattoo and the other folk who work there, especially that little cutie Barba, who takes the best photos!

After a shit-house year, I decided to have a tattoo which represented comfort. When things were particularly bad, I started seeing robins everywhere; looking through the window, sat beside me as I ate lunch, one feeding another a foot away from me, in my work car parking space etc... They always made me smile because they reminded me of my legendary rabbit boy, Robin. I knew I had to have a little lad on my arm, so he'd be with me all the time. I've put the before and after pictures below just so you can see how amazing she actually is!

Whether I'm day tripping to London, or Rebecca comes to Manchester, I always take baked goods. It's the law. I've done a couple of Harry Potter themed cakes for her already, but this was Christmas time, so I decided it had to be 'Parliament Tattoo Christmas' themed. The studio is full of animal skulls, crazy foliage and religious paraphernalia, so I had to make something along those lines. I made a spicy Speculoos flavoured cake, with Jack Daniels Honey icing. Festive like.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 4 tbsp Speculoos spread. Lotus and Lidl both do this. If you can't find it, regular Lotus Biscoff spread will work just fine. 
• 250ml honey flavoured low fat yoghurt 

Topping:

• Icing sugar
• Jack Daniels Honey bourbon (optional - you can use apple juice or water instead)
• A shitload of cake glitter (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the vanilla extract.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Dollop in the Speculoos spread.
9. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
10. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. It will be quite thick.
11. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
12. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
13. When completely cool, add the bourbon to the icing sugar, and mix to make a runny icing. You can use a bit of water if you like.
14. Tip it over your cake and let it drip down. 
15. Blast with glitter like you're decorating a grotto.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Toffee Apple Bundt Cake

Evening all. Sorry I've been missing in action, but my Mac bit the dust! I'm back on track now, but literally have about fifteen recipes to write. Granted, some of this was down to having more energy to bake than to write... Anyway, here I am with a proper shiny lad for you.

I had this idea a while ago, and by some miracle remembered to make it when toffee apples were back in town. I could have made my own, but I went old skool, and got them from the grocer's down the lane.

This cake was for for some friends who had been bundt-less for a little while, so I decided to sort them out. Many thanks to Phil, who acted as bundt custodian, super-slicer, and cake informant to the masses. Sterling work.

Anyway, to the cake. This has to be in my 'family of faves'. Spicy apple cakes rock my socks, but this has the added bonus of having a toffee flavoured sponge. Using fresh apples in spices rather than chunks ensures you get a nice even apple flavour throughout the cake too.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar (plus a little more for dusting the apples later)
• 150g dark brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g plain flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon (plus a little more for dusting the apples later)
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml toffee yoghurt (I used Muller Light)
• 1 medium eating apple
• 1 tin of Carnation Caramel

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray or melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add the extract.
6. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
7. Pour the yoghurt into a jug.
8. Meanwhile... Peel and core your apple, and thinly slice. Don't worry about lemon juice to stop browning, instead dust with cinnamon - just enough to coat the apples. Give them a good stir. 
9. Sift a third of the flour mix into the main bowl, followed by half the yoghurt mix. Repeat this until everything is combined.
10. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
11. Pour 3/4 of the mix into your prepared tin. 
12. Poke your apples in, in a clock formation.
13. Cover with the rest of the mix.
14. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
15. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
16. When the cake is fully cool, stir the caramel and tip it over the cake.
17. Decorate with toffee apples, or whatever you like really!

Maxibon Bundt Cake

I'd never even heard of Maxibon bars. You all know I love a bundt shaped challenge, but when my friend Wayne suggested an ice cream bar themed birthday cake, I had to do a bit of research. This involved a trip to my local Tesco, purchasing a box, and eating two in my lab coat (read pyjamas) to check for flavour, consistency and aesthetic. I saw my challenge, and accepted it.

It comprises of rich vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, half drenched in chocolate with hazelnuts, the other half with Maxibon biscuits. Easy gig. The melted ice cream bar will help transform your cake from a vanilla sponge, to actually tasting like the genuine article, so don't skip this. This is bundt alchemy, bakers. Embrace it, Snape would be so proud.

Needless to say that this cake got a bit of a laugh as well as destroyed. Mission accomplished!

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml vanilla yoghurt 
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 200g chocolate chips
• Two Maxibon bars, biscuits removed and ice cream melted

To decorate:

• 1 jar chocolate spread (not Hazelnut)
• 100g finely chopped hazelnuts
• Biscuits from your melted Maxibons (I used more...)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray/melted butter, and dust with flour. 
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and chocolate chips.
6. Pour the yoghurt and vanilla extract into a jug.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined.
8. Tip in the chocolate chips which are now covered in flour, which will stop them from sinking like stones!
9. Stir in the melted Maxibons.
10. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
11. Tip your batter into your prepared bundt tin.
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
13. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
14. When the cake is fully cool, melt your chocolate spread in the microwave until it's quite runny.
15. Stir in the chopped hazelnuts.
16. Tip over the cake.
17. Decorate with your Maxibon biscuits, and bits of the box if you so please!

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Wedding Bundt Cake

When the going gets tough, some people turn out to be utter angels and restore your faith in humanity. Enter Nicola. I barely know her, yet her kind words have been a real comfort to me when I felt at my lowest. She's a little firecracker whose positivity is truly infectious. She reminded me that choosing happiness really is the best way, and that negativity has no place in my life.

Well she was getting hitched. There was only one thing for it. Nicola is a designer, a lover of hip hop, uses words I don't understand, and is generally down with the kids in every fashion. It had to be the naffest of all wedding inspired cakes; I'm talking feathers, fake rings, pearls, glitter, silver balls, a garter, and those God-awful kitsch decorations that can still be sourced in 70s friendly cake decorating shops. Unfortunately, most folk through it was pretty! Oh, and it was made using her favourite beer. Obvs.

I hatched a plan with my pals Katey and Rick to surprise little Noo on her last day in work before the big day. Needless to say she was over the moon with her cake, which made me a happy little bundt baker. Bundts happen to good people...

Pics shamelessly stolen from Instagram @Noo_Law

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter
• 100g of vegetable fat 
• 550g golden caster sugar
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 450g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml Heart and Soul Session IPA (or lemonade, or anything else fizzy for that matter)
• Still tropical water (not essential, but will bring out the tropical flavours in the hops)
• 300g icing sugar
• The naffest of sprinkles and decorations.

Method

1. Grease and flour a regular sized bundt tin (2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch). 
2. Soften the butter and vegetable fat and then cream in the sugar in stages.
3. Add the eggs one at a time on a slow setting.
4. Add all the remaining dry ingredients to a large bowl.
5. Sift in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by 1/2 of the liquid. Repeat until all the flour and liquid is used up. Fold it in gently...
6. Tip: at this stage it will look a horror. Do not worry... 
7. Give the whole thing a quick mix for about 10 seconds or until well combined. Tah dah!
8. Spoon the mix into the tin.
9. Bake at gas 3/160 C for about an hour and a half. Just turn it after about an hour.
10. It should be shrinking from the sides and a skewer should come out clean.
11. Let it cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn it out. 
12. Allow to cool fully before icing. 
13. Mix the icing sugar with the flavoured water, so that it's a thick, yet pourable texture. 
14. Tip it over the cake with the same frivolity as tossing a bouquet! Same goes - try not to hit anyone.
15. Sprinkle with as much naffness as you can get your hands on.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Amaretto and Lemon Birthday Bundt

The more posts I write about my friends, the more I realise that none of us are a full shilling, as my grandad would say.

Understated, shy, quiet, beige... said nobody ever about Anna. She's my kind of odd lad; she has lilac hair, a plethora of brightly coloured tattoos, and she's probably the most enthusiastic Zumba teacher you will ever meet. Oh, and I really like the way she says fluf-eee in a Swedish accent. She's actually Swedish, not a weirdo. Well, she is a weirdo, but for totally different reasons.

It was her birthday recently. She's been a bloody diamond with me recently, and always seems to know the appropriate action to take; sometimes it's an emergency kitten GIF at 11:30pm, or a slab of cake delivered to my desk, with no words, just a look*.

Partial to a splash of Amaretto, I decided to do an almond and lemon flavoured cake, laced with Anna's favourite tipple. Any cake where you add ground almonds ends up being moist and slightly heavy in weight, yet strangely light in texture. I needed something a bit sturdy to hold the weight of all the glittery, sugary stuff I topped it with!

Not cutting the cake at work made Anna the most unpopular person since the fool who 'parked in the god damn barrier' incident of 2015. Does Anna strike you as someone who cares? Absolutely not. She skipped out of that office, and even managed not to get the kids drunk off icing. Winning.

Stole this right of her Facebook, I did.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 330g Homepride plain flour
• 25g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml lemon yoghurt 
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 5 tbsp Amaretto

To decorate:

• Everything.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
• Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray/melted butter, and dust with flour. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
• In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• Pour the yoghurt, vanilla extract and Amaretto into a jug.
• Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined.
• Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
• Tip your batter into your prepared bundt tin.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
• Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
• When the cake is fully cool, decorate however pleases you. I made my icing out of icing sugar mixed with Amaretto, and threw the party aisle of Tesco at it... 

* The look meaning, I couldn't give three shits about your gym plan, you need cake. Eat it. Now.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Belgian Waffle Bundt Cake

It's a bundt cake, but it actually tastes like a caramelised, toasted waffle. If that wasn't enough, it's then topped with more waffles. Waffles, waffles everywhere. Wafflesville, Waffle County.

I was walking round Sainsbury's when this idea hit. I bloody love a good waffle. I was buying some boring chicken before a particularly heinous gym session, and I was craving them more than anything on Earth. And there she blows. Never one for a boring bundt, I was dreaming of stacking it sky high, drowning it in caramel then drizzling with more syrup. It was happening.

I feel I need to warn you though, this is not for the faint hearted, and only serious sugar eaters need apply. This has to hold one of the quickest 'desk to demolished' times we have so far. This one was snaffled pretty quickly, perhaps on a par with the Salted Caramel and Peanut, and Malted Milk creations.

Quite a few of you asked for this recipe ASAP, so please accept my apologies for the delay, but expect a flurry of bundt recipes over the next few weeks as I catch up!

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml toffee yoghurt
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 toasted waffles
• 3 tbsp golden syrup

To decorate:

• 1 tin of Carnation Caramel
• 4 more toasted waffles
• Berries
• Sugar pearls

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray/melted butter, and dust with flour. 
3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
6. Pour the yoghurt and vanilla extract into a jug.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined.
8. Whizz up 2 of your waffls in a food processor, until they are large crumbs. Tear the others into 1cm squares - ish. 
9. Stir the obliterated waffles into the cake mix with the golden syrup.
10. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
11. Tip your batter into your prepared bundt tin.
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
13. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
14. When the cake is fully cool, warm the caramel in the microwave until it's a runny texture, then tip over the cake in a fanciful fashion.
15. Decorate with more toasted waffles, a drizzle of golden syrup, berries and sugar pearls. Understated, you know.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Eton Mess Bundt Cake

Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of cake, as you well know. However, puddings are my first love. I very rarely make them, because it would be a horrible, ugly scene, involving me, a spoon, a full pie and a vat of custard. Possibly a trip to A&E. Definitely a total disgrace. It's best that I stick to making bundts, which are then taken to public places and shared by many.

I've mentioned this before, but I get my full set of sweet teeth from my dad, and my grandad, Bob. Father's Day is always laced with cake in our family, and this year someone had the genius idea to make them pudding based. Cake puddings. Pudding cakes. Hell yes.

So I set about it. First up, Eton Mess Bundt Cake. This is suck a simple cake to make, but has that wow factor for all to behold! My dad sent pictures of this cake to pretty much everyone in his phone book. Proud as punch, he was.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml strawberry/raspberry yoghurt 
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

To decorate:

• Berries
• 1 tub of whipping cream
• Meringue nests broken into pieces

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray/melted butter, and dust with flour. 
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
6. Pour the yoghurt and vanilla extract into a jug.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined.
8. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
9. Tip your batter into your prepared bundt tin.
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
11. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
12. When the cake is fully cool, whip the cream until it sits in peaks, and dump it on top of the cake. No faffing with it please, it should look like a big cream nest.
13. Decorate with berries and shards of meringue.
14. Look smug and bask in its glory.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Harry Potter Butterbeer Bundt Cake

I am a massive Harry Potter fan. I've read, and reread the books many times, been to the studios, dressed up as a death eater, and literally bought the t-shirt(s). At some point there will be a tattoo, but I'm still plotting that one. That leads me onto my other obsession; tattoos. Had my first tattoo at 33 and there was no stopping me from that point! I had no intention of having a tattoo until I found the most remarkable lady through a fiend on Instagram. She was based in London, but this mattered not - I was going.

Loser on a broom

Rebecca has been covering me in flowers and berries for the last two years. I adore that woman. She gets me. She made allowances for my mental OCD when I had my first tattoo, seems to know what I want, even when I don't, and is just bursting with love for others. She's one of the kindest people I have ever met, she's remarkable at her art, and shares my love for all thing Potter.

I adore baking for folk I like. It makes me incredibly happy to make something I know they'll love. I was always plotting a Potter themed bundt for Rebecca. Her little girl, Rosie is a superfan too, so it had to be something for both of them.

Did a bit of Hermione style planning... So, I when I tried actual butterbeer, it tasted of very little, although I got the gist of what it should be like from the description in the books; sweet butterscotch, with a slight spice to it for warmth. Merlin's beard! I'd cracked it. The best bit was the decoration. You do not tone Potter down! I threw everything at the bugger... Bertie Bott's Every Flavour beans (watch out for earwax ones though), jelly slugs, a chocolate frog, a snitch, and a shedload of glitter.

I had the best time making this cake. My last tattoo was a very special one for me, as it marked a massive change in my life, which had not been easy. But in the words of Albus Dumbledore:

'Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light'

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml toffee yoghurt
• 3 tbsp butterscotch syrup (the type you use in coffees - I used Monin)
• Tin of Carnation Caramel

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add the vanilla extract.
6. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spice. 
7. Pour the yoghurt into a jug.
8. Stir in the syrup.
9. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
10. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
11. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
13. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
14. When the cake is fully cool, tip the Carnation caramel into a jug and give it a stir. It's runny enough to pour. 
15. Tip it over the cake with the same urgency as catching the elusive snitch. Quickly is best.
16. Decorate with all the Harry Potter related stuff you can get your wand on. More is more in this case. 
17. Sprinkle with gold cake glitter and utter your favourite spell. 

Lumos...