What exactly are cakelets, you might ask? They’re Bundt cakes, only smaller!
With all the beauty, sweetness, and flavour of a full-size cake, these miniatures are ideal for individual consumption. Unlike cupcakes, the flavour focus is on the cake, not the frosting.
These Autumn Spice Cakelets take on the intricate design of the 2 ½–cup pan in which they are baked.
You can dress them up by sandwiching two like pieces with frosting or dipping individual pieces in melted chocolate and rolling them in chopped nuts.
But they are also beautiful right out of the pan, unadorned. I used them in the Inslee Fariss Autumn Bounty Table to fill the grapevine cornucopia for an edible centrepiece.
Autumn Spice Cakelets
- Yield: Makes 24 cakelets. 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 76 g or 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 134 g or 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 120 g or 1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 10 ml or 2 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 82 g or 1/3 cup yoghurt or buttermilk
- Brown food colouring
- Brange food colouring
- 28 g or 1 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
Instructions
- Have all ingredients at room temperature.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour the pan; set aside. If using a good-quality baking spray containing flour, apply it just before filling the cavities.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (3–5 minutes). Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter-sugar mixture and beat on low speed (1 minute). Add the yoghurt or buttermilk and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Colour the batters
- Divide the batter into 4 equal parts*
- Part 1: Divide among the walnut-shaped wells in the pan.
- Part 2: Mix well with 1 or 2 drops of brown food coloring. Divide this portion of the batter among acorn-shaped wells.
- Part 3: Mix well with 1 or 2 drops of orange food coloring. Divide this portion of batter among pumpkin-shaped wells.
- Part 4: Add the melted bittersweet chocolate; mix well. Divide batter among pinecone-shaped wells.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (about 10 minutes). Cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Invert the pan over a cooling rack and decant the cakelets. Cool completely.
- For additional decorating ideas, adhere like shapes together with buttercream frosting or dip the acorn tops in melted chocolate and roll them with finely chopped nuts.
Notes
- *Tip: weigh the mixing bowl of your stand mixer before adding any ingredients. Then, subtract that weight from the bowl containing all the mixed batter ingredients. Dividing the difference by four will provide the amount to put into each bowl before colouring the portions.
- Adapted from Nordicware Recipes.
