Peppermint Bundt Cake
This moist Peppermint Bundt Cake with swirls of red and a rich chocolate glaze is the perfect holiday dessert!
Servings: 15
Ingredients
- 8 oz package cream cheese, softened (226g)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (168g)(Should be cool enough to hold its shape but soft enough to easily dent when pressed.)
- 2 cups sugar (400g)
- 6 egg whites room temperature (If using carton egg whites, see back of carton for details on amount per egg white)
- 3 cups cake flour- see Notes for substitution (342g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (8g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1¼ cup buttermilk - See Notes for substitution (296g)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (we used canola oil) (64g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (6g) (If a lighter shade of crumb is important to you, you can use clear imitation vanilla extract.)
- 2 teaspoons Peppermint Extract (8g)
- Red Coloring Gel to tint 1 ½ cups of reserved batter liquid red food color is fine also
For the Chocolate Glaze
- 4 oz dark or semi sweet chocolate (we used chocolate chips)
- 2 oz heavy cream or whipping cream
Decoration
- *Crushed Candy Canes Optional- We sprinkled them on top of the cake.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt pan or tube pan. (We used a 15 cup pan with a baking capacity of 12 cups.) See notes.
- Go ahead and separate your eggs, saving only the 6 egg whites needed for this recipe. Set them in a bowl to the side. (If using carton egg whites instead, pour the appropriate amount of egg whites into measuring cup and set aside.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
- In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
- Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Mixing on low speed, add the 6 egg whites one at a time (it's fine to estimate), mixing 3-5 seconds to incorporate after each addition.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (We did 3 additions of the dry mixture, 2 additions of wet).
- Mix the batter just until well combined- be careful not to over-mix.
- Reserve 1 ½ cups of batter and place in a small bowl. Tint this batter red.
For the Marbling Step
- Add the batter to the prepared bundt pan. I alternated between white batter and red batter. I had three "layers" of white batter and two of red. Layer however you like, this is a forgiving process.
- Tap the pan on the counter to level out the batter and then run a knife through the batter a few times to swirl the colors together.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. The cake should spring back when the top is lightly touched. Baking times may vary. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before turning out.
- This recipe makes 7 ½ cups of batter.
For the Chocolate Glaze
- Combine the 4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 2 oz. heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in small increments. (Start with 30 seconds and follow up with 10 second increments as needed until the chocolate is almost melted. Then, stir until smooth.)
- The chocolate will thicken as it cools. Once the cake has cooled and the desired consistency for the glaze is reached, spoon, spread, or drizzle over the top of the cake and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
Notes
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
Substitution for Buttermilk: Add 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup. Add milk to the 1 cup mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
Bundt Pan: This recipe makes about 7.5 cups of batter. Our pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups and measures about 10 inches. If you are working with a smaller pan, it will take longer to bake. Be careful not to overfill. (General rule of thumb: don't fill pan past ¾ full. There should be no less that 1.25 inches from the top of the batter to the top edge of the pan.)