Lemon-Honey Bundt Cakes

Good great delicious things come in small packages. If you don't have a mini bundt pan, I highly recommend getting one, especially if, like me, you haven't had luck with traditional large bundt cakes. Whenever I'd hear the word bundt cake, I used to think of a clump of dry, unfrosted cake that sticks in the back of your throat. To make matters worse, I always had a hard time unmolding big bundt cakes...half of it stuck to the pan, resulting in a very ugly 'mound' of crumbly, bland, sometimes half-baked cake, and an equally ugly desire to hurl the pan at something (namely a window, an oncoming Semi, or a schizophrenic oven.) However, that all changed once I began using the mini-me version.

Mini bundt cakes are much more diplomatic and sweet. They fall nicely out of their molds and, because of their tiny size, they're much less dry. Whatever recipe you are using gets compacted into a neat little package, allowing the full flavour of that recipe to shine through.

In this case, I was more than elated to have lemon take the lead role! The wee bundt cakes are super-moist (even without the honey syrup), and they're literally bursting with bright, happy citrus flavour. If you can muster enough patience to allow the syrup to soak into the cake, you'll be rewarded with mouthful after mouthful of sweet honeyed-lemon bliss. And because the cakes are small, you won't feel too guilty about having more than one...another perk of being petite.

Lemon-Honey Bundt Cakes (adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

Cake ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup sugar
13 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Syrup ingredients
1 vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract)
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of honey
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Method
Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325°F. Generously grease and flour a 6-well bundtlette pan. Tap out any excess flour.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest and sugar. Using your fingertips, rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted, using the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the lemon sugar mixture, and beat until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add the eggs, beating well (for about 1 minuter after each addition.) Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, blending each addition until just incorporated. Do not over mix, and be sure to scape the sides of the bowl as needed. Using a large soup spoon (which I found easier than using a bulky measuring spoon), spoon the batter into the prepared pan and try to spread it out as evenly as possible (don't worry if they're not completely flat.)

Bake for 17- 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

As the cakes are baking, prepare the syrup: Carefully split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan. Add the water, sugar, honey and butter. Heat over low heat just until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

When the cakes are ready to come out of the oven, transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the them rest upright in the pan for 15 minutes, then gently tap the pan on a work surface to loosen the cakes. Set the rack over a sheet of waxed paper and carefully invert the cakes onto the rack.

While they're still warm, brush each cake with the syrup. Once they are cool enough to handle, you can gently dunk each one in the saucepan, allowing the syrup to absorb into the cake. Place the now-heavy cakes onto a wire rack above a sheet of wax paper (to catch any drippings.) Serve at room temperature with your favourite cup of tea.

Makes 6 mini-cakes.