Melbourne Cake Club - A Traditional December - Gluhwein Bundt Cake

On Thursday, 10 December, The Melbourne Cake Club met at Dalya's house to celebrate A Traditional December.

Dalya had set the scene by decorating her table beautifully, and serving us all a glass of bubbly to kick off.  She also served each of us a glass of delicious eggnog (complete with a rum toddy) to keep us partying on.

Dalya's cake this month was a South American tres leches cake: 

It was beautifully moist and light and sweet.

Allison made a gorgeous Chocolate Fruit Cake, a Nigella recipe that she has been making at Christmas for the last five years:

You can't see it, but there is gorgeous silver glitter on top as well as the sugar snowflakes and silver cachous to give the cake a festive feel.

I made a Gluhwein bundt cake with marzipan, cherries, chocolate and Negus (a version of gluhwein based on port), inspired by my German ancestry:

Finally, Abi made a wonderful chocolate babka, that was warm and oozing lovely chocolate within its layers:

Here's my laden plate of cake and beverages (Abi came a little later so her babka is not in the photo):

And my heaving plate of leftovers:

The verdict on my Gluhwein bundt cake was that everyone enjoyed the complexity of flavours and the marzipan.  However, my personal view was that it was slightly drier than I would have liked - it was quite crumbly to cut, and I think it would have benefitted from a glaze or some frosting.

My Gluhwein bundt recipe was translated badly by Google Translate from a German website called Eating and Drinking - you can find the original recipe here.  I made a few changes as, for example, Gluhwein fix and packets of vanilla sugar are nowhere to be found in Australia.

My adaptation of the recipe for Gluhwein bundt cake is as follows:

For the Gluhwein (Negus version):

125ml port
125 ml water
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 strip each lemon and orange rind
2 dessertspoons sugar

Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan and heat until warm but not boiling.  Remove the rind.

For the cake:

250ml Gluhwein
250g bottled sour cherries, drained
100g grated marzipan
250g butter
200g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
4 eggs
250g plain flour
50g cornflour (corn starch)
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
100g grated dark chocolate
2 tablespoons rum

Boil the Gluhwein and reduce to 150ml in volume.  Add the cherries to the Gluhwein and allow them to soak for 20 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Grease and flour a bundt tin. 

Drain the cherries, collecting and keeping the Gluhwein that is drained off.

Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and marzipan together in a stand mixer until creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. 

Remove 1 tablespoon of flour and set aside.

In a separate bowl, sieve and mix together the remaining flour, cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and baking powder, then add the dry ingredients alternately with the reserved Gluhwein to the cake batter and mix well between each addition.  Stir through the grated chocolate.  Pour the batter into the prepared bundt tin.

Toss the drained cherries with the reserved flour, then scatter evenly on top of the cake batter.

Bake the cake at 180 degrees for one hour or until cooked through.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack.  Brush the hot cake with 2 tablespoons of rum.  Allow to cool completely.

Serve with whipped cream.