So the second Sunday of advent passed by in a flash.. the whole month of December goes by so quickly. And suddenly it’s a new year. I feel like I’m not as efficient as I used to be. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’m trying to be at bit more mindful of where I spend my energy. I know I mention this every year but it’s just so DARK. You kind of forget!
In December, baking Lussekatter (saffron buns) is an absolute must for me (and for maaany other Swedes of course). But this year I wanted to try something a bit different. Namely a soft saffron cake. So I baked this cake twice. One with “regular” milk and one with coconut milk and both turned out incredible. The one with regular milk is possibly a bit fluffier. Just ever so slightly. Both delicious. And then I made a white chocolate ganache with coconut milk instead of cream. Oh my! So good! I will definitely be trying that again with dark chocolate as well. Maybe for another blogpost!
SAFFRON BUNDT CAKE WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE COCONUT GANACHE
Yields one bundt cake, serves 8-10
I highly recommend making this cake with coconut milk (full fat), but if you’re not a fan of coconut, you can use regular milk in the cake in place of coconut milk and heavy cream in the ganache. I’ve tried it and it works beautifully! I usually soak my saffron for about a week before baking with it to extract as much flavor as possible, but doing it an hour or so before is better than not doing it at all. If you don’t have dark rum, you can use any hard liquor. If you don’t want to use any type of alcohol, you can let it soak in 1 tbsp. warm water for an hour before using. Cake recipe adapted from here.
INGREDIENTS
BUNDT CAKE
- 0,5 g (approximately 1/4 tsp) saffron
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. dark rum
- 200 g (1 3/4 sticks) butter
- 150 mL (2/3 cup) coconut milk
- 240 g (1 2/3 cups) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 large eggs
- 270 g (1 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
GANACHE
- 50 g (1.8 oz) white chocolate, finely chopped
- 60 mL (1/4 cup) coconut milk
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla powder
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
INSTRUCTIONS
BUNDT CAKE
- Grind the saffron with 1 tsp. sugar and put in a small jar. Add dark rum and cover with a lid or plastic wrap and leave it in room temperature for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 4 1/2 – 5 cup bundt pan (recipe makes approximately 4 cups of batter).
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the coconut milk and saffron mixture and set aside.
- Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the butter mixture and stir until combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir until batter is smooth.
- Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in its pan for 15 minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
GANACHE
- Put the finely chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the coconut milk in a saucepan until hot, but not boiling. Pour the hot coconut milk over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds.
- Stir with a small spoon until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Add the salt and vanilla. Leave to cool until slightly thickened (it won’t thicken a lot though). Dust cake with powdered sugar and drizzle with ganache.
Thank you! That looks delicious. I can’t wait to bake it and give it a try. I live with a Persian so am always looking for new uses for all the lovely saffron we get sent.
Thank you for your sweet comment, Heidi! Oh gosh, what a luxury!! I’m sure that saffron must be incredible!
What an amazing bundt, Linda!!! Definitely trying it these days! The photos are gorgeous as always, making us dream of sharing a piece with you…..Thanks for sharing with so much love.
Send you hugs from Sitges 😉
Love
Pat
Thank you dear Pat!! Hope to see you soon again!
xo
.5 grams to teaspoon conversion? Don’t have a scale. Thanks!
Ah, the saffron comes prepackaged in little envelopes in Sweden, with 0,5 g in each. I had another envelope and measured, approximately 1/4 tsp 🙂 Added that to the instructions. Thanks!
What a lovely bright cake!
Kari
http://sweetteasweetie.com/10-minute-pretzel-chocolate-chip-cookies/
The colour of this cake is unbelievable – reminds me of turmeric. Beautiful photography as always Linda
Wow Linda! This is so stunning – the color of the interior is just jaw dropping!
Beautiful recipe Linda. When I went to Stockholm for a weekend trip a few weeks ago, I ate a saffron bun every day. They are just the best. But your cake looks super delicious too, that color is amazing. x Kati
Oh my that cake looks beautiful! I love the way you have styled the food and the photos are just perfect!
Rachael xx.
theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk
This is just so so gorgeous! I have made your saffron buns a couple of times and love them, so I know I will love this cake and it is so cheery and the colour of sunshine! Thank you Linda 🙂
Yay!! So glad you enjoy them Sneh. Thank you for your kind words!! x
I love trying new things, this looks amazing. could I omit the rum or replace it? Would vanilla work?
Absolutely! 🙂
Hi,
can I use gluten free flour?
thank you!
melanie
Hi Melanie!
I’m not familiar with gluten free flour, unfortunately! Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!
Dear Linda,
First of all I want to thank you for your blog – it a real inspiration for me! Home pastry is of the thing and connect people and make them happy) And your cakes and cookies are master-pieces!
If you ever have some time could you give me a piece of advice? I faced the following problems while baking the cake:
1) The cake sank while standing in the oven though I didn’t open the door. Don’t you know what can cause such a reaction?
2) The cake was nice but had a strange flavour – iodine-like or something like this. Can the shafron be the reason?
Sorry for such a long letter and my English 🙂
Dear Tatyana,
Thank you so much for your kind words!!
I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m trying to figure out what could have happened. I’ve made it a few times and that never happened. It sounds like it might be the saffron that gives the odd flavor, like you say. I can’t imagine it would be anything else. What kind of coconut milk did you use? And did you use baking powder, not baking soda? Sorry for the questions, just curious to know what could have happened!!
Should I use sweetened or unsweetened coconut milk ? 🙂
Unsweetened 🙂
One of the best and prettiest cakes i have ever made! It is so tender and the flavour unique. The coconutmilk works beautifully with the saffron.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Dina! I’m SO glad you liked the recipe so much! x