TWD: Milk Chocolate Mini Bundts

The thing about Dorie Greenspan's recipes is that they are so good, so professional, and so foolproof that you can end up being kind of lazy about things and still wind up with a good result. Such was the case with this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt cakes. To start with, Dorie clearly specifies that you should use "premium milk chocolate." Well, my one grocery stop the day I made these was going to be Piggly Wiggly, where the best milk chocolate available was this:


My days tend to fall into one of two categories: (1) days when nothing will come between me and my Callebaut, and (2) days when the very thought of loading these three kids back into the van to drive to Whole Foods for fancy chocolate is the height of absurdity. I was having day #2, so I went with the Hershey's. I've also been known to make cupcakes from a box. But really, Hershey's is good enough to support an entire amusement park, so surely it could hold its own in a couple of mini bundts.

My pans weren't exactly mini, and they weren't exactly bundts. I can best describe them as smallish and bundtish:


I think I found the pans at Target - they were called "dome pans" or something like that. They annoy me every time I use them, because they are never exactly what I want. Anyway, the upshot of all that is that my baking times were a little off -- these really needed to bake longer than the recipe calls for. I lost count of how many times I stuck these back in the oven for another 2 minutes, another 3 minutes. In the end, I probably overbaked them by a few minutes. Nothing that a little Reddi Whip couldn't fix!

I intended to make the glaze, and even went so far as to melt some bittersweet chocolate (which overfloweth in my pantry, unlike milk chocolate) for the glaze, but then I realized I didn't have any corn syrup. So I ended up serving the first cake sans glaze, and I figured I'd pick up some corn syrup to make glaze for, and then photograph, cake number two.

The kids and I LOVED this cake warm out of the oven. I can't identify the flavor, but it sure wasn't chocolate. Just that magical combination of butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and Hershey Bar, I suppose (and mini chocolate chips, which I threw in there for fun). I immediately thought of my friend Amanda, who does not like bittersweet chocolate. I'm so making this cake for you, sister! This is really a great chocolate cake for people who prefer milder chocolate, or who don't like chocolate at all. I don't think anyone would know this was a chocolate cake if you didn't tell them (at least not if you make it with Hershey Bars and don't glaze it).



In keeping with the lazy theme, I never did make the glaze, and I never did photograph the second cake in natural light. I'll spare you my long boring list of excuses. But don't you love the twinkle of the incandescent light as it catches the glass cake stand under the overhead kitchen fixtures? Nope, you won't get that outside at 4 p.m.

I finally decided to eat the last (still naked) cake on Sunday night, several days after I made it. And it was still fabulous! But that's a Dorie recipe for you - you can use inferior ingredients, skip a major component of the recipe, and let it sit there for days getting stale, AND IT IS STILL DELICIOUS. So you can only imagine what her recipes taste like when you actually follow her instructions!

Thanks to Kristin of I'm Right About Everything for a great pick!