Bake

My Grandma Bessie's Bundt Kuchen

by:
September 10, 2013
3.5
2 Ratings
  • Serves 12-16
Author Notes

I enjoy baking with mostly organic ingredients; lately I’ve been using organic Einkorn wheat flour (an heirloom, non-hybridized variety with less gluten than regular flour quite a bit. If you cannot find Einkorn wheat flour (I like the Jovial brand), use unbleached, all-purpose flour. I haven’t tried it yet, but I believe you could make a gluten-free version of this cake with almond flour; chopped apples would be a nice addition if you plan to make the cake in the fall. —WinnieAb

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Ingredients
  • Streusel
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 cup organic Einkorn wheat flour (or unbleached, all-purpose flour)
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup organic salted butter, cut into 8 pieces
  • Cake
  • 3 cups organic Einkorn wheat flour or unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 small lemon, zested
  • 1 cup milk (I use organic, whole milk)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup salted organic butter
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar (I use organic sugar)
  • 5 eggs (I use organic, free-range eggs from my backyard chickens)
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bundt pan with butter (be very generous and be sure to cover the entire surface), then coat the butter with flour.
  2. Make the streusel topping: mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Rub the butter pieces in with your fingers until small clumps form. Set aside.
  3. Sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder, and lemon zest and set aside. Mix milk with vanilla extract and set aside.
  4. Beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, alternating with the milk mixture. Scrape the bowl, and then beat on low until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
  5. Sprinkle 1/3 of the streusel mixture into prepared pan. Spoon about ½ of the batter on top of the streusel, then sprinkle the rest of the streusel evenly over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter into the pan over the streusel.
  6. Bake for 1 hour, or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for about 15 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a serving platter to remove.

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I grew up in a restaurant family (my parents owned the now closed Quilted Giraffe in NYC) and I've always loved to cook. My interest in the connection between food and health led me to pursue a graduate degree in naturopathic medicine. I don't practice medicine anymore; I have a blog called Healthy Green Kitchen that I started in May of 2009 and I wrote a book called One Simple Change that will be published in January, 2014. I live in upstate New York with my family and many pets.

4 Reviews

Myrna February 9, 2022
Not bad. Be sure to use a very good cimmamon. I didn't and the cake left a bad after taste. Not the recipe's fault
ghainskom May 16, 2014
Scrap that! My 7yo loved it! The trick? Letting the cake cool down. It tames the saltiness..
ghainskom May 15, 2014
Substituted unsalted butter plus 1 tsp salt/100g butter because I didn't have salted butter on hand. My 2 yo liked the cake. My 7 yo was less enthusiastic, I believe due to the salty note. I enjoyed it.
JohnL February 18, 2014
I love coffee cakes and yours looks very moist and buttery. I like your technique with the streusel, putting half in the empty pan and half in the middle of the cake. I bet that keeps the top layer streusel extra moist. I have 10-cup and 15-cup bundt pans. Do you recommend a particular size?