No ifs or ands; plenty of bundts

The news of Bundt cake pan creator H. David Dalquist’s death Jan. 2 at age 86 might have set off a slight wave of sentimental baking, but the folks at his Nordic Ware factory already knew that a whole lot of Bundt pan baking was going on.

Northland Aluminum Products Inc. of Minneapolis, which makes Nordic Ware, sells more than 1 million Bundt pans each year and is the top-selling cake pan in the world.

When Dalquist was asked to produce his take on the German kugelhopf pan in 1949, it was just another addition to his family’s line of ethnic bakeware, according to Dianne Hennessy King, an Alexandria, Va., resident who was editor of Pillsbury Publications in the early 1970s. Pillsbury and Dalquist’s company were both based in Minneapolis, and King remembers when a single recipe — the Pillsbury Bake-Off second-place Tunnel of Fudge Cake — generated a name recognition for Nordic Ware that has never diminished. “The fluted look of the Bundt pan seemed to catch the consumer’s fancy,” she says.

The fact that anyone can produce a lovely, nonlopsided, sculpted cake that doesn’t beg to be frosted is perhaps the real reason for the Bundt pan’s perennial popularity, according to company spokeswoman Claudia Ross.

As a result, Bundt cakes grace many a bake sale table and dinner host’s doorstep. An apple cinnamon Bundt was among the first recipes featured in the new PBS television cooking series “Everyday Food.”

Who can forget the bewilderment of Lainie Kazan’s Greek mother character in the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as she’s handed “a cake with a hole in it” from her middle-American in-laws to-be? (She plopped in a potted flower, but people have long been moved to fill up the middle with fruit and more.)

Those who have made a name for themselves in the baking business confirm that Bundt appeal is understandably steady.

“Their big rose pan is kind of like my signature now,” says kitchen scientist and “Cake Bible” authority Rose Levy Beranbaum, who often uses that model to bake her kugelhopf bread. That pan, introduced in Nordic Ware’s line of non-geometric floral designs in 2003, produces an end result that features concentric petal layers on top.

Beranbaum got a special tour of the Nordic Ware plant late last year — her first time there. “The nice thing about Nordic Ware is that they never have decreased the quality of their Bundt pans,” she says, referring to the company’s consistent use of cast aluminum.

Bundts are big even in Japan: Beranbaum recently hosted a group of “pretty serious pastry people” who came to the United States for a week of sessions with culinary professionals. The group’s tour leader was Makiko Fujino, dubbed “the Martha Stewart of Japan” and a student of Beranbaum’s from 25 years ago. Through translators and enthusiastic gestures, each Japanese student made it clear to Beranbaum that they wanted her to use the rose pan during their class. By week’s end, they each had a pan of their own to take home.

A 1997 Washington Post article reported that Dalquist, the industrial engineer, was asked by members of a Minneapolis Hadassah chapter in 1949 to cast a better version of the ladies’ ceramic baking molds used to bake Bundkuchens, or “gathering” cakes. Such traditional European baking pans were round and scrolled, with a tube running through the center in order to bake big, dense cakes.

Dalquist developed an eight-lobed, fluted heavy-metal pan the next year that fit the bill, which he trademarked as a “Bundt.” The resulting 12-Cup Classic remains Nordic Ware’s bestseller today. Shapes, sizes and designs now range from a connected loop of what appears to be layered sand castles to Beranbaum’s favorite rose pans (big and small), from a broad sunflower to a small community of Gothic cathedral arches, and from cupcake-size hearts to 2004’s new round of pointed holiday trees. The latter looks particularly nice with a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

Several of the more recent Bundt pan models have originated from months of test designs by the company’s own sculptors and from its partnership with Williams-Sonoma, which in turn has the exclusive rights to sell particular designs for a certain period of time before the rights are released to Nordic Ware and other kitchenware purveyors.

Nordic Ware’s Bundt pans all have nonstick interiors these days, a feat the company pioneered in cookware, according to King. Small booklets produced by the company (price: 25 cents) in the late 1960s offered recipes for Harvey Wallbanger’s Cake, Basic Gelatin molds and proudly announced their pans’ Teflon II interiors. That innovation must have made the prospect of cake extraction all the easier.

The Bundt pan’s ability to help produce a moist and uniformly browned cake has induced hundreds and hundreds of recipe variations. The one that really secured the Bundt’s place in the baking pantheon — the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Tunnel of Fudge — cannot be produced to the letter, as the Pillsbury Double Dutch Fudge Buttercream Frosting Mix it calls for is no longer being made.

But oh, the places people have gone instead: In addition to modern takes on the Tunnel, the White Pepper and Ginger Lemon Cake, Rum Cake, Coffee Kuchen, Caramel Banana Cake. … Recipes for jellied salads and breads made in Bundt molds are endless. Nordic Ware ( www.nordicware.com) also sells mirror-image Bundt cake keepers and various cake mixes.

“I love my Bundt pans,” says Brenda Rhodes Miller, a Washington author who has just published her second cookbook, “The Church Ladies’ Celestial Suppers and Sensible Advice.” She still has her orange and yellow Classic models that were made by Nordic Ware in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

“About 15 years ago, they inspired me to dress up my cornbread and sausage dressing for Thanksgiving,” she says, and she’s been making the improved version ever since. Miller buttered a pan and stuffed the dressing in it. She remembers that it took a long time to bake: “When it came out in this beautiful Bundt shape, I put a bowl of cranberry jelly in the middle where the hole is. It was an unexpected treasure in my cabinet.”

There are many variations of the original 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe. It’s easy to understand why. How puddinglike the center is depends on time and temperature, the proportion of sugar to flour and the protein content of that flour.

Pillsbury test kitchens created this version, which is widely available online, including on Nordic Ware’s Web site.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

For the cake:

3 1/2 sticks (14 ounces) butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups (8 ounces) chopped walnuts

For the glaze:

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12-cup Bundt pan. Dust with flour and shake out any excess.

For the cake: In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, beating until combined. Using a spoon, stir in the flour, cocoa and nuts, and mix until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.

Bake for 56 to 58 minutes. (Because this cake has a soft center, an ordinary doneness test cannot be used. Accurate oven temperature and baking time are critical. The surface will have a thin crust but will not appear to be done.) Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour. Invert onto a serving plate and set aside to cool completely.

For the glaze: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and 1 1/2 tablespoons milk. Mix until well blended, adding some of the remaining milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, if necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency.

Spoon the glaze over the top of the cooled cake, allowing some to run down the sides.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

Nutrition per serving (based on 14): 604 calories, 35 grams fat (16 grams saturated, 52 percent fat calories), 10 grams protein, 64 grams carbohydrate, 153 milligrams cholesterol, 1 gram dietary fiber, 40 milligrams sodium.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This classic coffee cake comes from “Cake Bible” author Rose Levy Beranbaum.

For the streusel filling:

3 tablespoons light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2/3 cup walnut halves or pieces

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the batter:

4 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups sifted cake flour, plus more for the pan

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12-cup Bundt pan. Dust with flour and shake out any excess.

For the streusel filling: In a food processor fit with the metal blade or in a blender, pulse the brown and granulated sugars, nuts and cinnamon until the nuts are coarsely chopped. Set aside.

For the batter: In a medium bowl, combine the yolks, about half of the sour cream and the vanilla.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda and the salt. Using an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment, beat on low speed until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and the remaining sour cream and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute. The batter should be stiff. Scrape down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 2 batches, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients. Scrape down the sides again.

Reserve about 1/3 of the batter. Scrape the remaining batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface. Sprinkle with the streusel filling. Drop the reserved batter in large blobs and spread it evenly.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the lightly browned cake springs back when pressed in the center.

Remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the cake by jiggling it up and down until it moves slightly. Invert it onto a wire rack. Cool completely before wrapping it airtight or glazing.

Note: Cakes made with cake flour have a delicate, soft crumb. You may substitute a combination of all-purpose flour and cornstarch, but it will result in a slightly denser cake. Beranbaum recommends using cake flour, but suggests the following equation for substitutions: for every 1 cup of cake flour, substitute 3/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Nutrition per serving (based on 10): 405 calories, 25 grams fat (12 grams saturated, 55.5 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 44 grams carbohydrate, 130 milligrams cholesterol, trace dietary fiber, 190 milligrams sodium.