Poppy Seed Almond Cake

I now understand how Claire feels each time she had to start over with Gourmet Makes because I had to do this recipe twice—not because this recipe was hard, but I royally screwed up with the actual baking process. Isn’t it frustrating how you can get all the ingredients correct, but if you mess up the oven part it can all go downhill?

I loved baking a cake from scratch; this is an area I am especially interested in learning more about. Growing up, we pretty much always used a boxed cake mix and made the frosting from scratch. Whether you have a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, it’s basically a step-by-step process adding the ingredients all to the same bowl. But where I went wrong was the damn Bundt pan.

During the first attempt, I used my gorgeous new swirl Williams Sonoma Bundt pan that I got for our wedding. I knew the shape might cause some complications since it’s not always recommended in other recipes, so I made sure to oil it well and add the flour like Claire said (I didn’t know until I read through Claire’s book that grapeseed oil is neutral like vegetable oil, good to know!). When I poured the batter into the Bundt pan, it went up to the top of the pan, and I still had some batter leftover (to confirm, I did not eat THAT much leftover batter, I know the limits). I thought that part was a little strange, but on I went with putting it in the oven. About 40 minutes in to the baking time, I started smelling something burning. I opened the oven to discovered it overflowed! A huge portion of the batter was baking into a heart shape on the bottom of my oven. This was just the start of my problems.

I baked the cake for 90 minutes after noticing my bake time typically needed a couple extra minutes. When I took it out, I let it cool for about a half hour (Claire said to wait 15 minutes). The Bundt pan was still very warm after that, but I wanted to get it out. Claire said to use a butter knife to carefully separate the edges of the cake, but that didn’t do much in getting it out. I tried to hold it upside down and hit the pan so it would fall out, but no luck. After 20 minutes of trying to get the cake out with the help of my husband’s muscles, the cake ended up in pieces across the counter, I bruised my wrist hitting the pan too hard…and I started crying. Like, how did Claire not cry when things fell apart on Gourmet Makes?! It felt like an absolute fail.

After pondering what went wrong, I looked at the recipe again; that’s when I read that Claire recommended a 12-cup Bundt pan. I looked at the size of mine…it was a 6-cup Bundt pan! This quickly explained why my batter overflowed in the oven, and why it wouldn’t come out of the pan. It was clearly overbaked being in such a smaller Bundt pan, and likely soaked in any oil it possibly could in the process, including the oil I put in the pan. I went to bed thankful I had realized what I did wrong, but determined to get it right on a second try.

The next day, I remade the batter, and instead I split it between two 6-cup Bundt pans. I sprayed the crap out of both Bundt pans with PAM spray; I’m just going to assume Claire doesn’t really use PAM, but I’m totally here for it. I did not flour it like she mentioned; but once again, after the Bundt cakes were already in the oven, I read the bottom notes of the recipe where Claire said it’s good to use butter in intricate baking dishes because that thicker layer in the nooks and crannies will help the cake slide out easier. I should also mention since I was making this recipe a second time, I had to substitute a couple items because I was low on ingredients. I used half a cup of whole milk greek yogurt because I was low on milk, and 1 1/2 cups of cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. It did not change the consistency (or taste!) of the batter. Since my pans were half the size of Claire’s recommendation, I only baked them for 45 minutes instead of 89 to 90 like she said for the 12-cup Bundt pan, and that was the perfect amount of time. There was no overflow, and they looked perfectly baked when I took them out. I let them cool completely, about another 45 minutes.

Then the moment of truth…I took a butter knife around the edges carefully, and it already seemed these babies were doing better this time around. I flipped them on the cooling rack and voila! Perfectly baked Poppy Seed Almond Cake! And with the orange glaze it is absolutely divine. I will be making this again for sure, and I’m happy to learn almond, poppy seed, and orange flavors work together fabulously.

So moral of the story… I need to read the ENTIRE recipe, top to bottom before I make something. With other recipes I can typically read a couple steps ahead and be good, but Claire makes important notes at the bottom of the pages that truly will make or break the dessert. As Claire asked in the Ruffles Gourmet Makes episode, is it better to have an easier time making a simple dessert, or strive for something more complicated that involves more stress for a greater reward? I’ll take the complications if it makes me a better baker.

I love watching Claire's videos after I make her recipes, it helps me see where we differed in technique and learn even more! Here's her video for Poppy Seed Almond Cake, turns out it was a favorite amongst her team!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlRFuMjvZE