Holidays – Me Tea and Lucy

This Mother’s Day I got some pretty great presents. Two of these were a mini-bundt pans and a new bundt book. The mini bundts are so cute. They are supposed to be single serving, but they are a large single serving. They take about a cup of batter per mini-bundt, which actually makes good size cake.

The book I got is called Kiss My Bundt. It is a recipe book from a bakery in California that specializes in bundt cakes, which is a pretty funny idea. I like it because it has some bundt ideas I haven’t seen before, like the Basil Lime recipe I made yesterday. Luckily I had just bought a basil plant, so I was ready to go. Although Alec, my dad, and my brother were all skeptical, they were very good cakes. The flavor was not particularly basily or limey, but it was tasty nonetheless. I made some butter cream frosting to put on the top. The frosting would not have been necessary, but it made a nice addition. If you have only a big bundt pan (the 10-12 cup) you can still make this recipe–just bake it longer. I usually find that big bundts take about an hour, but start checking it at 45 minutes depending on your oven.

Basil-Lime Bundt

1/3 cup basil leaves without stems (I just grabbed a few big leaves off my plant. I don’t think this needs to be all that specific.)

1 1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, room temp

1 3/4 cups sugar

3 eggs, room temp

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon lime juice (I used a lot more–juice from 3 limes)

1 teaspoon lime oil or zest from 4 limes (I had zest from three limes because that is all I had.)

Chop the basil and put it in the milk. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.

Cream the butter with an electric mixer until soft and smooth. Add in the sugar, mix well. Add in the eggs, mix well.

At this point, add in the lime zest, the juice, and the vanilla, and mix.

Beginning and ending with the flour, add 1/3 of the flour mixture in. Then 1/2 the milk mixture, then the flour, then the milk, then the flour, until all is mixed together.

Transfer the batter to the bundt pan(s) which have been prepared with Baker’s Joy.

Bake at 350. The book says to bake it for 18-22 minutes. I baked mine for about 30 and honestly I wish I would have left it in a little longer.

Let the cakes cool in their molds for 15 minutes. Pop them out and let them cool to room temp on cooling racks.

Meanwhile make the frosting…

3/4 cup butter, room temp

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1-2 tablespoons milk

Cream the butter until soft and smooth. Slowly add in the sugar. Add vanilla, and enough milk to make it creamy and spreadable. I also threw in some lemon extract to give the frosting a little something extra, but it certainly is not necessary. It is easy as that. It is ready to spread on your mini-bundts.

Happy Mother’s Day, and happy bundt making!

I am going to start by saying that I did not get very good pictures of this brunch. I have never hosted a holiday before, and I was a little preoccupied by preparing it, so I kept forgetting to take pictures. I apologize for that. However, things did go well. I was not entirely sure what I wanted to make for brunch. Plus, we were headed to Easter Service so I needed stuff that I could make ahead of time. I decided on doing a breakfast casserole, an egg strata, deviled eggs, and a bundt cake. I also had coffee, tea, orange juice, and stuff to make Arnold Palmers (pretty much the best drink ever).

First the bundt cake. I made the lemon one I invented not too long ago. Here is the link to that recipe:

https://meteaandlucy.com/2011/04/12/lemon-bundt-cake/

This time I added one cup of milk to the recipe. It did change the consistency. This cake was much denser and more moist. However, it was lacking the nice crumble of the other. Both were good; I think I may leave the milk out in the future.

Next up is the French Toast Casserole. This recipe is from the newspaper a number of years ago.

Ingredients:

1 loaf cinnamon bread (with or without raisins depending on preference)

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 teaspoons butter

1 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Method:

Cut the loaf of bread into cubes. Take about 1 cup worth of the cubes and set aside. Put the rest of the cubes in a greased 9″ by 13″ Pyrex baking dish. Meanwhile mix the eggs, milks, and vanilla together. Pour the egg mixture over the bread making sure all the cubes are moist. Put the in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, melt the butter and add the set aside bread cubes and the nuts. Mix until all moist and sprinkle over the egg/bread mixture in the pan. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes. Serve with syrup and strawberries (optional).

Ideas: I would have liked it to be a little sweater so I would not have had to add syrup in the end. I wonder if adding brown sugar to the egg mixture would have that desired effect. I also think it would be good if you added some apples to the dish. I might try that next fall when apples are in season again.

Egg Strata:

This one I made up, and it worked great. The above picture is the strata before it was baked. I don’t have a picture of it baked. Sigh. This is a dish that you can personalize easily.

Ingredients:

10 eggs

1 cup cheese

1 cup milk

about 1/3 of a baguette, cubed

vegetables (I used potatoes, onions, asparagus, red bell peppers)

sausage (optional though good)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix the eggs and milk together until well blended. Mix in the cheese and bread cubes. Make sure the bread all gets moist. Fold in the vegetables and sausage. I pre-cook the potatoes and the sausage, but I put everything else in raw. The vegetables end up cooked but still crisp that way. Pour the mixture into a greased 9″ by 13″ Pyrex casserole dish. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. You can put a knife in the center and it will come out clean when the strata is done.

Note: I have made this pre-made this strata and let it sit overnight. I have also made it and baked it immediately. I honestly can’t tell much of a difference (sitting overnight might have a slight advantage, but it is slight). I would just do what is more convenient for you.

Finally here is a couple of funny picture of Lucy in her Easter dress:

Category: Holidays

Lime Basil Mini-Bundts

Easter Brunch: Egg Strata, French Toast Casserole, and a bunch of other stuff