Why our food director Claire Tansey loves bundt cake

The Chatelaine Kitchen baked a lot of cakes for our 85^th anniversary. A lot. In fact, I probably ate a year’s worth of frosting, but since May is a birthday month in my family, I had to get the cake pans out again. This time, instead of ombre icing and pink rosettes, I got inspired by Nordic Ware’s awesome bundt pans and made two of the prettiest cakes—without a piping bag or dollop of buttercream in sight!

I love these pans, not just because they're heavy-duty and easy to clean, but because a cake baked in them comes out so gorgeous that it needs just a simple glaze, no fancy frosting. I made a citrus-poppyseed pound cake in the heritage bundt pan (oohs and ahhs over its cascading waves). SO pretty! All I did was mix orange juice into icing sugar and drizzled it over the still-warm cake so it dried to a shiny finish.

My dad requested chocolate cake “with not too much icing” for his birthday. Perfect! I made our chocolate mocha cake (sans icing) in a classic bundt, and simply poured 1/2 cup of chocolate ganache overtop the cooled cake. A few sprinkles made it festive.

You can try almost any recipe for a two-layer cake in a bundt pan — just make sure to fill the pan no more than three-quarters of the way, lower the oven temperature to 325F and keep a close eye on it.

Final tip: Don’t forget to grease the pan using a baking spray with flour in it (like Baker’s Joy or Pam for Baking). This helps the cake come out perfectly.