From the Bundt Lady's Oven...I mean Desk

What can I do about this Dry Cake?

A lovely woman recently bought Kiss My Bundt cookbook, and asked a baking question. 

Lovely Customer: Hope all is well. I had a question regarding the lime basil cake. When I make this it seems to get a little dried out too fast. Any suggestions on making this a little more moist?

 

After I thanked her for buying the book and being a fellow Bundt Lover, I shared that all of the recipes that were in the Kiss My Bundt Cookbook were tested at least 3 times, some up to 5 times.  Recipes were tested by acclaimed chefs, baking experts, and inexperienced home bakers.  The reason I mention this is just to say that our recipes yield great cakes. 

If you bake one of our recipes and it comes out questionably, it’s likely the result of equipment, oven temperature, or technique.

We’ll get to the bottom of this!

 

 

The Lime Basil Cake from the Kiss My Bundt Cookbook is a butter-based cake.  That being said, the following advice can be used for any of the butter-based cakes that you may make that come out a little dry.

 

(1) Since the recipes in the book measure by volume rather than weight, make sure to measure the flour using the "Scoop and Level" technique I refer to in the book. 

(2) Sift all dry ingredients after you've measured them.

(3) Stop after the Dry-Wet Alternation.  When mixing the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture, be sure to stop mixing at the point you no longer see any more flour. Mixing beyond the point that the flour is dissolved is "overmixing" which will make the cake dry.

(4) Be sure not to over bake the cake.  Check the cake 5 minutes earlier than you did the last time.  As soon as a toothpick/skewer/knife inserted in a cake comes out clean (e.g. no wet batter on it), the cake is done.

(5) Once the cake is baked, try covering it with a frosting or a glaze.  This helps keep the cake protected from dry air.

(7) Keep the cake covered with a lid or saran wrap after it’s all done, and especially after it’s been cut into.  Please know that butter cakes dry out really fast.

(8) Don’t refrigerate a butter cake as it will get really dry.  Imagine a stick of room temperature butter.  It’s soft, really moist.  Now imagine a stick of butter fresh from the fridge.  It’s hard.   A butter cake that is room temperature is soft, but once it’s in the fridge, the butter will get hard (as butter does).  

 

Good luck,

Chrysta

 

Chef-Owner-Author-Instructor

Kiss My Bundt Bakery

 

 

 

Salted Caramel Sauce

 

Fresh From Our Newsletter:

One of the newest things we'll be doing in our newsletters is sharing our favorite new recipes, and with each newsletter, give you a new way to build upon previous recipes.

This salted caramel sauce, you'll be able to pour it over cake or ice cream, or just right into your mouth.

Next week on our blog, we'll show you how to make salted caramel ice cream, with a great recipes with photos.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup granulated white sugar
• 1 C cups heavy cream, warmed in the microwave to about 170 degrees (hot to the touch, but not boiling)
• ½-1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon. (do this at the end, to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Pour sugar into the bottom of a skillet. *Chef's Note: I prefer non-stick skillet for the easy cleanup.
2. Heat sugar over medium heat, stirring sugar just until it starts to melt.
3. When the sugar begins to melt and turn amber, simply swirl the sugar until it is amber in color and all sugar is dissolved.
4. While sugar is melting, warm heavy cream until it is hot to the touch. About the temperature of a piping hot cup of coffee.*Chefs Note: Warming the cream makes it easier to incorporate into the hot caramel. Cold cream will cause the boiling hot caramel mixture to seize.
5. Once the sugar is all dissolved, removed from heat and slowly add in the warm cream. *Chefs Note: The mixture will bubble, but will calm down as you continue to whisk in the cream.
6. Add sea salt and whisk until dissolved.
7. Use immediately, or cool in a container.
8. To store, cover and refrigerate. Use within 2 weeks.

 

Kiss My...Summertime Steaks

While I love to bake bundt cakes, I'm not a one trick pony! :)  I love food, and as we begin to launch our new website (dear Lord I hope that's soon!) you'll find all of my food interests in one place.

This weekend is one of those rare times where I'm not cooking for a living--I'm cooking for friends, and I'm really looking forward to that.

As a result of my dinner party/Game Night, and as a result of some new recipes I have to test for an upcoming Baking Class in Berkeley, CA at Kitchen on Fire, this Bundt lady is up to new tricks in the kitchen, and I promise that new recipes and photos are coming to the blog soon.

In addition to Cream Scones, Strawberry Shortcakes, Salted Caramel Ice Cream, and Bacon Roasted Fingerlings, I decided a recipe that would be great for tonight's guests would be a flavorful flank steak. 

Photo taken from: stakeitout.com

Flank steak is very affordable, very flavorful, and great for big groups.  But, it is a muscle and can be tough if you over cook it, or most importantly don't cut against the grain.

Whether it's a recipe from my own cookbook, or a recipe from my favorite blogger, I always review technique and the underlying science behind the recipe.  That way, I'm more likely to have culinary success.  As I learned last night, sometimes the best intentions can be foiled by bad technology* (stay tuned for my post on Salted Caramel Ice Cream)

In my crash-course in steaks, I pulled up one of my favorite blog posts on this topic.  http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/03/why-should-you-cut-meat-steak-against-the-grain.html

 

Happy Eating--photos soon! :)

 

6 Incredible Years Later...Let's Celebrate and Donate!

Most of you reading this know my story. I'm Chrysta Wilson, Chef/Owner of Kiss My Bundt Bakery, a.k.a the Bundt Lady.

I've spent most of my life baking for family and friends, starting when I was 8 years old with my Easy Bake Oven. My entire life, everyone told me that the cake was really good.  "But," I Thought, "there are a lot of good bakers out there.".

I longed to find ways to introduce my love for baking and cooking into my professional life, especially after late night Food Network marathons.  I would always wonder how I might be able to work in the food industry in a meaningful way to both make amazing products and help develop the love of Baking and Bundts in others.

Then, six years ago, the person that taught me the love of baking (My Aunt Dia) passed away, and this was the catalyst to make that change in my professional life.  I realized then that life is short:  we don't have time to short-shrift our dreams.  (I later re-learned this lesson 1 year later when my mother passed away)...

My love of baking, flavor development, and desire to work in the food industry grew to be so large that it couldn't be contained in my office cubicle.

Six years ago, today I officially launched my part-time dream until a full-time reality.

 

If someone would have told me back in 2005 that:

• One day there would be a retail brick-and-mortar bakeshop opened...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be voted "Best Cupcake in LA" (Twice)...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be featured in the Los Angeles Times Food Section (Four Times) for delicious and innovative flavored Bundts......and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be one of the top highest reviewed bakeries in Los Angeles...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be featured in the New York Times Business Section...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be written about in our favorite magazines, like Angelino, Westways Magazine, Family Circle Magazine, Sunset Magazine...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would be featured on all local LA television stations...and...
• My favorite reporter of a network would come and do a 3 hour "feature" within my bakery...and..
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would win awards for both it's Bundts and for it's Baking Classes...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would teach Baking Classes in cities across the United States...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would write a cookbook that would become one of the highest ranked Baking Cookbooks on Amazon.com...and...
• The you can buy the Kiss My Bundt Cookbook in Barnes and Nobles across the United States...and..
• That Kiss My Bundt Bakery would even HAVE a cookbook...and...
• Kiss My Bundt Bakery would have nearly 4,000 supporters and fans on Facebook/Twitter...
  • (Actually, back then, we didn't even know what Twitter was!)...and...
• That I, Chef/Owner Chrysta Wilson, would sought after to audition for the same food network shows that I loved (and that I would turn then down based on principles and core-values misalignment)...and..
• That I, Chef/Owner Chrysta Wilson, would be chosen as one of the most Interesting People In Los Angeles for the LA Weekly 2010 People Edition...

Well... If someone would have told me all that, I would have said they were crazy.  All that would have seemed so impossible.

And yet, here I stand, 6 years later, with all the joy that comes from seeing your Dreams come true, wrapped in a box with ribbons.

 

So, on this 6 year Anniversary, I want to thank each and everyone of you for your support, your purchases, your compliments and feedback, your comments, and your incredibly good taste.

T  H  A N  K  -   Y  O  U

We're celebrating 6 years today by participating in a charity bakesale that will raise money to fight Childhood Hunger.

Leave No Cookie Behind

@Scoops

12 N Heliotrope, north of Melrose, west of Vermont, in East Hollywood.

2pm-till we Run Out!

http://nocookieleftbehind.wordpress.com/donate/

Come by and say Hi!

Again, without your support and purchasing power and relationships, I know that Kiss My Bundt is just a girl that can bake.  (There are millions of us out there).  Thank you for helping me make Kiss My Bundt Bakery much more than that!

-Chrysta Wilson, Chef/Owner/Instructor, Kiss My Bundt Bakery

Email:  info {at} Kiss My Bundt {dot} come

 

Win a Kiss My Bundt Cookbook or a Bundt!

 
We are coming up on our 6 year anniversary from a daydream to a nationally-known bakery business.

As we prepare to launch our new website (hopefully soon!) and launch our Summer and Fall Baking Classes, we need your help!

We want to Hear From YOU!

We want to know what  kinds of baking class you'd be interested in taking. 

• What kinds of baking techniques would you like to learn? 
• What kinds of sweets do you wish you could make? 
• What ingredients do you love and want to bake with?

How to win a book or a bundt:

Simply leave us a comment with your answer to anything of these questions (leave your comment on our blog or our facebook page), and your name will be entered in a raffle for a free Kiss My Bundt Cookbook OR a Bundt Cake shipped to your house!

Feedback/Comment must be entered by Saturday, June 11th at 5pm.

Your information will help us build our tri-weekly baking class schedule that will begin mid-July 2011.

Thanks for the support, and see you soon!

xo

Chrysta

Chrysta Wilson, Bundt Lady

Chef, Owner, Instructor, Author

Kiss My Bundt Bakery

Eat your heart out this Valentine's Day. No really....

It's Valentine's Day today, and sweets are pretty much synonymous with this holiday.

Lily Vanilli, a  baker in London took the heart theme of Valentine's Day and is keeping it real.  Maybe a little too real. 

 
Thanks to Eric M. for sharing this link.

That's right.  They made actual heart, biological heart, cakes.  Complete with blood.

Very Sookie Stackhouse-ish.

 
I'm not sure I'd eat one or want to watch someone eat them, but I think the craftmanship and creativity is amazing.

 

 
Want to be grossed out and see someone eat these bloody hearts like they stepped out of 28 Days Later or Zombieland?  Click here for the full link.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Barnes and Noble has picked up Kiss My Bundt!

I was so blessed to work with Life of Reiley, who provided amazing big-picture thinking, great editing, beautiful layout and design, and photography. 

I couldn't be more pleased and proud of my book, Kiss My Bundt:  recipes from an award winning bakery.  It's available through KissMyBundtCookbook.com, but also Amazon.com and a few local booksellers in Los Angeles.

Distribution is key to the success of a book.  You want to get your book in the hands of the most people.  

For me, this desire is fueled because of the messages of hope and "Dream chasing" in my book, as well as amazing recipes with foundational food science tips that can make anyone a "pro" baker!

 

 

I just heard from my publisher that (WOO HOO!) Barnes and Noble is distributing my cookbook, Kiss My Bundt, in a few test markets across the US.  If those sales go well, my hope is that the book will be at every Barnes and Noble.

And then every other many, many more bookstores in America.  

 

If you live or know anyone in these cities, please go out and get the book :)

Then go to our facebook page and tell me all about it!  

 

Cities:

California:

• Corte Madera
• El Cerrito
• Emeryville
• Fresno
• Newport Beach
• Oceanside
• Palm Desert
• Redlands
• Roseville
• San Jose
• Torrence
• Ventura

 

 

Florida

• Boca Raton
• Jacksonville (Chrysta went to Elementary, Middle and High School here!)

 

Georgia

• Alpharetta
• Savannah

 

 

Massachusetts

• Boston
• Hingham 

 

New Jersey

• Springfield

 

New York

• Staten Island
• Kingston
• Albany 

 

North Carolina (my birthplace!)

• Durham

 

Washington

• Bellvue

 

Wisconsin

• Green Bay

 

 

Texas

• Sugarland

 

Virginia

• Arlington

 

We are developing dates for January and February 2011 Baking Classes.

Please stay tuned!

On February 20, 2011 we will be teaching a Cookies and Bundts Class at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley, CA. http://kitchenonfire.com

DuncanHines-Gate (Tale of the Hip Hop Cupcakes)

Controversial Post, I realize.  But something in me couldn't ignore this and be quiet.  If you're uncomfortable with the topic or images of race, please skip this post.

-------

In addition to being the Chef and Owner of Kiss My Bundt Bakery, I have another business focused on social justice and community building.  I make sure not to blur these lines, because people come to Kiss My Bundt for lighthearted fun, baking classes, or to learn how to get great cakes and confections.  You don't come here for social commentary on the state of race relations in America.

But with a recent Duncan Hines advertisement video, the two passions in my life, as well as my experience being an African-American Chef raised by parents who grew up in the segregated American South where they faced these images in the 1950's, have intersected, prompting me to at least comment, especially after my friend Chrystal of Duo Dishes was so bold to write this post early this morning:  http://www.duodishes.com/2010/12/20/the-duncan-hines-debacle/. 

I commented on their blog (i'll repost that comment at the end of this blog post as well).

But first, the video: Disclaimer: Depending on when you try to access this video, Duncan Hines may have pulled it from You Tube.

 

 

 

Defined:  Classic blackface is where Anglo-American "white" actors would use burnt cork or paint to color their faces dark black and imitate their best stereotypes of African Americans, beginning in the 1830's.To learn more about blackface, here is a Wikipedia link, thought you can google the subject as well.

 

I understand that the topic of race is a polarizing one.  I have facilitated this conversation among elected officials, government agencies, nonprofits and communities across Los Angeles County.  It's a hard conversation, one most people actively avoid. I'm hoping to not be polarizing by raising Duncan Hines-gate here.  I know that some bloggers and businesses who've talked about this issue have lost followers and business.

We all see and interpret information through our own lenses, lenses shaped by our experiences. So, while I don't feel the intent of this video was to offend, I think some people find it offensive and I think Duncan Hines should have been aware of this.  You may see nothing wrong with this video.  No judgement here.  This is just one of those posts to get discourse flowing.  I'm not a "tar heel" even though I'm from North Carolina.  I'm open to all sides.

-Chrysta.  Chef, Owner, Instructor.  Kiss My Bundt Bakery.

 

My comment on the Duo Dishes' Post: 

Duo Dishes,

Well-rounded post–I think you tackled for me what’s the heart of the issue–Duncan Hines should have had someone on staff that said “Hey, this COULD be perceived as racist and at the very least negatively impact our minority base” and stopped the video from going public.

The lack of diversity (race or perspectives) at Duncan Hines is dangerous for any company with a multicultural, global potential consumer base. When you don’t have diversity of ideas, especially among people with decisionmaking authority, you get public relations challenges like these “Hip Hop Cupcakes”.

When I was a little girl growing up in the American South, my mom was the only African-American manager in her division and she served AT&T as their Diversity Manager. I remember her teaching me about cultural sensitivity at age 8 over an ad that AT&T corporate created that wasn’t sensitive at all. She immediately knew it would be bad–and it turned out that way for AT&T.

The concept of the ad was that AT&T Universal Card was available around the world. Innocent so far, right? The ad’s visuals were a map of the world, and on each continent was a cartoon drawing of a child in ethnic garb. The US has a “white” looking boy in a baseball uniform maybe. Over Europe was a Dutch looking girl in clogs. Over Asia was a Japanese girl in a Kimono. Over the continent of Africa was a dark black monkey with pink lips and a big smile.

I don’t think AT&T’s executives sat around a table and said “Let’s poke fun of blacks by having their continent not be represented by a child but instead a savage animal–a gorilla!–since slaves and their decendents were called that. This’ll be great!”

Instead what happens in these corporations is the lack of cultural sensitivity that allows campaigns like these past the cutting room floor.

23years later I remember that AT&T ad.

Thank you for writing about this issue. Perhaps the net-effect of this DuncanHines-gate is that your readers go to their industries a little more aware of how they can introduce cultural sensitivity in their daily grind.

Warmly,

Chrysta Wilson
Chef/Owner
Kiss My Bundt Bakery
(sent via IPhone so please excuse any typos)

Gets Bundts Tomorrow for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is this Thursday!  Are you prepared?

Our Thursday Farmer's Market was just switched to Tuesday (tomorrow) since Thanksgiving falls on our regular day.  This means you'll be able to get Bundts for Thanksgiving afterall!

Sorry for the late notice--we just found out too!

 

Bundt Cake Options:

Individual Baby Bundt Cakes (the 4"-inch diameter bundt cakes) in the following flavors for a discounted $4 each!:

• Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Pumpkin Spice Cake with Fall Spice Glaze
• Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
• Belgian Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
• Luscious Lemon Drop Cake with Lemon Glaze
• Maple Bacon Cake with Maple Glaze

 

Big Ol Bundts Cakes:

We will have a few pre-made Big Ol' Bundt Cakes in the following flavors.

• Pineapple Upside Down (Big Ol) Bundt
• Pumpkin Big Ol Bundt Cake with Cinnamon Spice Glaze

We may add more at the last minute--we'll post on Facebook/Twitter for those last minute offerings.

You can just walk up to our booth and choose a Big Ol' Bundt from the selection at the Farmers Market, or email us ( info at kissmybundt dot net)  and reserve yours.  As an FYI, we cannot fullfil every request given this last minute market pop-up and our baking restrictions.

 

Getting your Bundts

Pick-up for all bundts will be at our Hot Pink Booth at the Century City Farmers Market.

When: Tuesday, November 22nd, 2010, 11am-2:30pm

Where:  TOPA Building Courtyard.  1800 Avenue of the Stars, Century City. Just adjacent to Santa Monica Blvd.  See Map.

Parking:  

• Westfield Shoppingtown Century City Mall.  You'll need validation from the mall.  You can then just walk across the bridge to the market. Rate is $3 with validation from a Mall Store.
• 1800 Avenue of the Stars.  Park underneath the market in the parking garage.  Rate is $2 every 15 minutes).  

 

Two ways to Purchase:

• Select and Purchase at the Market:  You can walk up to our Hot Pink tent at the Century City Farmers Market and purchase 1 or more baby bundt cakes out of the available selection.  Cash Payment only.  (We're working on getting mobile credit card processing available onsite tomorrow.  We will Update as soon as that is secured)
• Pre-purchase: You can email your order from the above selection to info {at} kissmybundt {dot} net and be prompted for how to "pre-pay and reserve" your cakes to pick up at the Farmer's Market.

Again, we will try and fulfill every request, but may not be able to given on limited supply.

 

Thanks and see you tomorrow!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!