Italian Anise Bundt Cake #BundtaMonth

It’s #BundtaMonth time people! We are a little delayed this month. We wanted to give friends dealing with #Sandy time to take care of affairs as necessary. This month’s theme was SPICE. The group came up with some extrordinary flavors using single and unique combinations!
I am glad the time is here so I can share my latest bundtastic success…
Italian Anise Bundt Cake.

After the catastrophe that was my last attempt at this cake, my bundt loving friend, Paula, from Vintage Kitchen, sent me this recipe for a basic vanilla bundt. The recipe was from a cute recipe book called Kiss My Bundt and after how this cake turned out, I am definitely buying my own copy!

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup unsalted butter
1 ¾ cup sugar
3 eggs, room tº
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups whole milk
3/4 oz Anise extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
3. Beat butter until creamy. Slowly add sugar and beat 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, then beat for 2 minutes.
5. Add vanilla. Beginning and ending with dry ingredients, add in three parts alternating with milk in two parts.
6. Spray bundt pan (or butter it) and flour or sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.
7. Pour batter, spreading evenly.
8. Bake about 40-50 minutes until knife comes out clean.

It’s funny, that as much as I prepare to start baking something specific, I always end up forgetting an ingredient. This time I realized I didn’t have any whole milk. We only drink skim. Luckily, my parents just left and I still had a container of half and half in the fridge, plus I had some Coffee Mate Natural Bliss vanilla flavored creamer too…time to improvise. I used 1 cup of the regular half and half, and 1/4 cup of the natural creamer (which is also essentially half and half).

I don’t know for sure if it was my milk substitution that added the extra moisture to this cake or not, but it was Ah-MAZING! The warm cake tasted like delicious pizzelle cookies fresh from the little waffle iron. I definitely liked the enhanced vanilla notes from the flavored creamer, and the anise extract added so much depth to the cake without being in your face, black licorice flavor. I’ll be honest, it makes me want to experiment with a little sambuca in this recipe to create a fun holiday cake!

This bundt looked so golden and pretty out of the pan, but also looked kind of plain, so I decided to add some glaze. I mixed some softened butter, powdered sugar, anise extract and a little milk together until it was a nice consistency. I didn’t really want to make a ton, so I was winging it. As I drizzled the glaze over the cake, it melted and slid right down the sides. Guess I should have waited until it was a little cooler, but after it did finish cooling the amount of glaze left on the cake was perfect. I moved it to another plate and it was good to go. Needless to say, after the first few slices were out the cake, and the pictures were done, the remaining cake started to disappear rather quickly.

So now it’s time to share all the other fabulous bakers showcasing their own #BundtaMonth creations! I can guarantee that with this group, all of the cakes are not only beautiful, but delicious as well!