Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Persimmon Spice Tea Cake



I've been a wee-bit obsessed with bundts lately. (okay, okay, let's get your snickers and 'I like big bundt' jokes out of the way right now, please.) Bundts and quick tea cakes, to be exact. It's because they're so fast and easy and delicious, as simple as mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ones and throwing it all into the oven. And yet, there's something special and "ooooo"-inspiring about a bundt cake. It's as if baking the batter in a bundt pan magically transforms an ordinary cake into an extraordinary! cake.

For this reason, bundt (and loaf) cakes have become some of my favorite things to make during this time of year, when there is so much baking to be done for special celebrations amidst all of the scramble for end-of-the-year deadlines. Like this week. There are waaaaay too many deadlines and things to do--my "to do" list isn't really as much a list as it is a tome.


And so, enter the bundt cake to save my butt (excuse me, I couldn't resist :-P) when it came to baking for the holiday parties of the past few days. I've had these persimmons sitting on my counter, which were ripening themselves into a pulp for a while now, and I thought that a persimmon spice cake, versus the more typical pumpkin spice cake fare, would be a good excuse to use them up. So into the food processor they went, then a quick stir into a cake batter, and a little while later, out of the oven emerged this wonderfully spicy and super, super moist tea cake. I think because the persimmons are a bit more juicy than pumpkin usually is, these cakes came out even more luscious than normal.

[click on photo for a larger image]

For the second holiday party, I made an almond, meyer lemon, and poppyseed bundt, but I'll save that recipe for some other time. :) Now, if you excuse me--I hope you don't mind this ultra-short post, but my to-do list beckons! Til soon!



Read on for recipe....




Persimmon spice tea cake
loosely adapted from Tartine
makes one 9x5-inch loaf or one six-cup bundt

2 cups (280 gr) AP flour
3/4 tspn salt
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
2 tspn freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tspn ground cloves
255 gr persimmon puree (see note)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups (270 gr) sugar
3 eggs
powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour cake pans and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk to combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the persimmon puree, vegetable oil, and sugar until well-combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Gradually add in the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Do not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.
5. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan, and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Note: to make persimmon puree, remove the skin and seeds from 3 - 4 very ripe and soft persimmons, of either the hachiya or fuyu varieties, and puree in a food processor.


Enjoy!

20 comments:

  1. I make a sweet persimmon bread (pane dolce ai kaki con noci e nocciole), with nuts So I'm quite curious to try your version, too... Ciao!

    Sabrine d'Aubergine

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  2. Oh, so delicious! I'd love to eat such breakfast. :)

    noresay.blogspot.com

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  3. Looks delicious. You might enjoy this article from a past issue of yoga magazine. A woman bakes bundt cakes as a heartfelt offering once a week for a year! http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2960

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  4. So beautiful.  Those little bundt cakes are so perfect!

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  5. Beautiful images, as usual! Bundts do have that quality of always looking so special--yours are no exception. 

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  6. how do you pick out a ripe persimmon?  I've never eaten them before and don't know anything about how to pick a good one.

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  7. Gorgeous!  My mum loves persimmon so I might have to make this for her this holidays :)

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  8. For this recipe, you'll want super, super ripe persimmons, so these are ones that are soft and squishy to the touch and might have black spots on them. You can also eat fuyus when they're hard, like apples, but if you leave them out for a few days, they will soften up.

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  9. I love persimmons and I bet they would taste amazing in a cake! I just discovered your blog through Pinterest - you have beautiful mouth-watering photos, I simply could not pass them by :-). Love your site, I am subscribing and will be back soon! Cu :-)

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  10. I don't own a bundt tin but am thinking it might have to go on the Christmas list after reading all your gorgeous posts. I've never baked with persimmon either so thank you for inspiring me on two counts!

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  11. What great timing! I've only recently finally bought my first ever bundt tin. Can't wait to start using it :)

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  12. Love your photography. And your tea cakes sound interesting and so perfect for this season!

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  13. Beautiful cakes, Shih.  Like you, I try to bake more often than not just so I have something to bring along with me through the holidays. Loving your recent bundt cakes, by the way. Don't stop.

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  14. I absolutely love the wooden cake stand you have used here - can you tell me where you got it from please?

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  15. The cake stand is from Pot + Pantry: 
    http://potandpantry.bigcartel.com/product/teak-cake-stand-mini

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  16. This is a great cake! I made it last fall with persimmons I bought at a roadside stand near Santa Cruz, CA. It's summer now and we're going to make it using some other fruit (haven't decided yet). I have no doubt it will be lovely. Thanks for the straight forward directions and recipe!

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I love hearing from you and reading your comments! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog. Happy feasting!