Cake Simple: Recipes for Bundt-Style Cakes from Classic Dark Chocolate to Luscious Lemon-Basil

by Christie Matheson, Alex Farnum (Photographer)

Bundt-style cakes appeal to everyone busy home bakers appreciate how simple they are to make, and cake lovers adore the endless (and delicious!) variety of shapes and forms they can take. This collection of more than 50 recipes delivers retro fun with a sophisticated spin, offering everything from nostalgia-inducing classics and decadent indulgences to adorable minis and even vegan versions of this eponymous treat. Enticing photos throughout showcase these whimsical, irresistible desserts and will have anyone with sweet cravings begging for this circular sensation!

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food

132 pages, Hardcover

First published September 21, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Christie Matheson is a writer living in San Francisco and Boston. Her work has appeared in Body & Soul, Glamour, Shape, Boston, San Francisco, Yoga Journal, and The Boston Globe Magazine. She is coauthor of The Confetti Cakes Cookbook, Vineyard Harvest: A Year of Good Food on Martha's Vineyard, and Tea Party and is the author and photographer of the outdoor travel book Discover Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am rating this a 4/5 right now just based on how excited I am to make these, how simple they sound, and how delicious the pictures look.

I picked this book up a little bit by accident. I'm in my hometown for the holidays. I went to my dad's workplace (which happens to be a library) to have lunch with him today. I stopped by early so I could peruse. Low and behold, there was an entire display about holiday baking. Goodie! Literally! I picked this one up because, let's be real, I adore bundt cakes. They're so freakin' cute and oh my god a jubilee pan looks so gorgeous and I want one like, yesterday. Anyhow, I didn't want to waste my time on it if it was just going to have the same-old, same-old kinds of recipe. So I flip, and I immediately land on "Cornmeal Lime Chile with Glaze". I'm sold.

In actual fact, this book is well-divided according to theme. The first section is classics, the second decadent, the third food snob ones, and the fourth minis. While I only took a recipe or two out of the food snob section, all were interesting and would be delicious if, say, I liked Earl Grey or rosemary. I'm also really excited for the classics and the decadents.

Having said all that, I have yet to actually BAKE any of these recipes. Will update when have actually baked. Am thinking of baking one a week until I'm through. Yummmmmmmm.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bundt cakes have a '50s retro appeal that I love, and this book features a nice mix of old favorites (yellow cake, red velvet cake, coconut cake) with new food trends (salty caramel cake, mint-mojito cake, bourbon-chocolate cake.) I have made seven of the recipes from this book (for parties, I didn't eat them all myself!) and they turned out great. If you want to bake cakes from scatch this book is a great start. (Bonus: bundt cakes have none of the layers or smooth frosting top that make standard cakes tricky for beginners.) Negatives: Not every cake has a photo and I wish each recipe offered a side-note on adjustments needed to bake in mini-bundt pans vs. standard bundt pans. While there is a five-recipe section devoted to "minis" ("mini-bundt cakes are the new cupcake") EVERY recipe in the book can technically be baked in minis. Financial downside: this book features such lovely cakes in specialty shapes like cathedral and rose petal that you may find yourself wanting some new cake pans.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bundts, all bundts.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, the recipes get more creative the deeper you read.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made the Mexican chocolate cake and it came out amazing. Everything I've made from this book has come out nice and moist. I can't stop making bundts.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book with some witty little recipe introductions, and some great-looking recipes. The Yellow Cake with Chocolate Ganache was a huge hit for my daughter's birthday. The small volume is a collection of some standard cakes, such as the afore-mentioned yellow cake,some standards with a twist, such as Smore's cake, and some more intriguing combinations, such as Olive Oil-Rosemary. Contrary to another review, I did not see evidence of the author espousing the use of cake flour in the in her introductory remarks, but she does recommend using unbleached organic flour. Cake flour is used in some of the recipes (rather than all-purpose flour) for which the intended result is a lighter cake with a finer crumb. Definitely will rely on this for future baking.

[ANg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love this book. I don't own a copy, my local library has several and I have checked it out SO many times, yes I should write the recipes down but I just love the book!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have tried 75% of the recipes, and each one has been delicious. There is just something about a Bundt cake. they are so pretty. I have about 3 pans. I even have a Christmas one. True Nordic Pans, the key is plenty of oil and flour, let cool and then remove. Comes out perfect everytime. The book is called Cake Simple, the recipes are not simple , they take time. Sometimes plenty of ahead time planning, that's truly one downfall. But you learn to work around that.
Its my favorite Bundt cake recipe book!

[Queer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The design and execution of this book is very good indeed. At least two of the recipes seem to be fairly unique contributions including Vanilla Bean Pink Peppercorn and Kumquat Coconut with Tarragon glaze. The rest of the recipes feel like fairly standard contributions to any contemporary cake cookbook. There is also no real explanation as to why some recipes vary from using cake flour even though she espouses it in the introduction.

Summary: Good but not great.

[Ikyoto · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I've cooked the Lady Bird Lemon bundt which was delicious and simple. May increase star rating as I cook more cakes, but right now my rating is middling positive since I wish the author had gone into more detail about removing the bundts from the pans. This seemed like a big omission from a book entirely focused on a specialty pan.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm....

Some to try, I think: Brown Sugar; Mint Chocolate; Vanilla-Pink Peppercorn; and Mexican Chocolate with Spiced Dulce de Leche

Some to skip, I think: Orange Pecan; PB&J; Fuyu Persimmon; Kumquat-Coconut with Tarragon; Cornmeal Lime with Chile

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly found this cookbook, but I was really impressed by the middle two chapters. I'm the type of person who likes seeing new recipes (instead of vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream all day), so I was excited by the cornmeal/lime/chile, spiced chocolate/dulce de leche and PB&J bundts.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this on a whim yesterday, and then had to start a fruitless search for pink peppercorns, for a vanilla pink peppercorn bundt cake.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love me some Bundt! Copied the recipes for the Cranberry Creme Fraiche, Apple Butterscotch, Salted Caramel, and Earl Grey cakes.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only saving the PB&J bundt cake.