But first, check this out!
We move to the city, and now we seem to have a duck! This is the second rainy day that we’ve sighted her in our driveway. We also have a whole herd of squirrels and one very fat rabbit. But the duck makes me smile. If we had moved to the country I wanted to get chickens and some ducks. And some turkeys. Well, we can’t have those here in the city, but I love the visiting duck. If we see her again, I’m going to give her a name.
I suspect the duck is hanging around here because she’s heard that I tend to bake a bit. That was the case this past Mother’s Day. We had no plans at all for the day, other than church, but as I was sitting in church, having a lovely morning, I decided that I needed to have cake. So on our way home, we stopped at the store and I picked up buttermilk, pecans, and butter, so that I could go home and make a Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake that I had read about only the day before.
The recipe came from Southern Living, a magazine that I think about picking up every once in a while- they just always have wonderful recipes. As it turns out, I don’t really need to pick up the magazine, because our new big-city library has YEARS of Southern Living cookbooks on the shelves. (Along with just about every other cookbook that you could think of. ) As I read the recipe over, it struck me that this cake must somehow taste like a chocolate chip cookie, only in cake form. How could that even think about being bad?
I had to make two changes to the recipe because I didn’t realize I had the wrong ingredients. I used light brown sugar instead of dark, for one, and for the other, I missed the part where the chocolate chips indicated that they should be mini chips. I used the large ones, and as a result, they did kind of sink a little into the cake. But I have to say, while the minis may have made a prettier cake, the big pops of chocolate spread throughout were simply what the doctor ordered.
I also added a chocolate glaze drizzle, just because I could, but I have to tell you about the absolute best part of the cake- and that was the top where the pecans/butter/and sugar baked together into the cake. Buttery, nutty, and caramel flavored, it was like a spectacular pecan toffee baked itself into the cake. This cake was delicious, and I will definitely be making it again. As an added bonus, it was incredibly easy, and I wholeheartedly recommend it as a company-worthy cake.
Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
2/3 cup chopped pecans 1/4 cup butter, softened 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs 1 cup buttermilk 1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate mini-morsels Garnishes: whipped cream, cherriesPreparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a small
bowl, using a fork. Sprinkle in a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla at medium speed
with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 3 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add
eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Add flour mixture
alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat
at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape
bowl as needed. Beat in chocolate mini-morsels. (Mixture will be thick.)
Spoon batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted
in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove
from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour). Garnish, if
desired.