Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bundt Cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bundt Cake

It is hard to believe that I am 1/4 of the way through the year and 52 cakes.  As I am planning out which cakes to make it is getting trickier. It seems that cakes are just variations on a few basics. I guess it is time to get creative.

 So what makes a cake a cake? How is a cake different from bars or quick bread? One time I stacked Pumpkin Bars into an adorable cake by adding some simple decorations and the Cinnamon Bundt Cake can be made in bread pans as a quick bread. So this week instead of looking in my recipe box under cakes, I looked under quick breads. The answer … Strawberry Bread!

Of course to get elevated from a quick bread to a cake it has to get dressed up and be pretty.  After all, cake is the princess of desserts. It has the wow power that other desserts just don’t have.  This is why there are so many fancy cake plates. Made in a bundt pan, placed on a fancy cake plate, topped with chocolate ganache and strawberry bread became Cinderella.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bundt Cake		Skill Level: Easy and Quick
Cake Ingredients:
3 c.	Flour
1 tsp.	Baking Soda
1 tsp.	Salt
1 tsp.	Vanilla
20 oz.	Frozen Sweetened Strawberries (thawed and chopped))
1 c	Oil
1 tsp.	Red Food Coloring (optional but makes it prettier)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a bundt pan (Brush with shortening then put ¼ cup flour in the pan and swirl it around. Tap pan on counter to remove loose flour)  Measure dry ingredients into bowl. Crack eggs into a large measuring bowl and beat with a whisk. Add oil, food coloring and strawberries and blend then add to flour mixture. Stir well by hand then pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and put on cooling rack. Wait 8 minutes then turn cake over on rack and out of pan to cool completely. Don’t lose track of time or the cake will become to cool and will not release from the pan. If times get away from you, put the cake back in the semi-warm oven for a couple minutes then turn it out on a cooling rack. As the cake is cooling, prepare ganache and let it cool to desired consistency.
Chocolate Ganache (Glaze)
1 c.	Heavy Whipping Cream
8 oz.	Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (1 1/3 c.)
Put cream in a small saucepan and heat over medium temperature until bubbles form along the edge of pan. Be careful not to overheat. If you have a thermometer it will be about 160 degrees. Add the chocolate chips or any chopped chocolate of your choice and swirl the pan to cover chocolate with hot cream. Cover pan with lid and wait 8 minutes before you stir so the chocolate has a chance to melt. Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth then let the mixture sit until about 20 minutes until it is a glaze consistency. It should flow from a spoon but hold its shape. Spoon over cake, allowing ganache to flow down the sides into the crevices of the bundt shape. If it becomes too thick, warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave. Store cake in the refrigerator and if possible make it a couple days ahead and since the flavor gets richer each day. For even more decadence, arrange chocolate dipped strawberries around cake the day it will be served *If you have leftover chocolate ganache, it can be used as a strawberry dip, stirred into milk for hot chocolate, or eaten with a spoon.

Source: My recipe box