Mocha and Chocolate Date Bundt

Here’s a short list of inspirations for my November 2022 recipe column. This month it’s a mocha and chocolate date bundt cake or, as someone said, a cake that resembles a giant doughnut. Here’s that damn Captain Sensible song I mentioned. Have a listen while you read. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. (Imagine this said in a sardonic tone.)

This month’s column is an excuse to complain about the decline of paper catalogues, particularly the Christmas editions. I called it a paean to Lost Catalogues of Yore, but it’s more of a whine to be fair. I won’t bore you here with nostalgic streams of consciousness about my favourite catalogues other than to say the King Arthur Flour one was wonderful. They used to ship their catalogue to the UK, and now they do not. Here’s the digital version.

Here’s a link for the King Arthur Flour recipe for the mocha bundt cake mentioned in the column.

I adore Drew Magary’s Haters Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Christmas catalogue. It’s become a seasonal tradition. NPR have a recorded interview with him too.

I’ve just bought a copy of this gorgeous book, written in collaboration with Nordic Ware. There’ll be a review in part two of my cookbook guide, coming at the end of this month.

I think of Nik Sharma as one of our kings of bundt and pound cakes. His flavours are out of this world both in conception and execution. I mean, LOOK. I have post-it-noted all of his cakes so I can turn to them swiftly in moments of crisis. (Sometimes I look, sometimes I bake.) He’s just transferred his newsletter to Substack. It’s wonderful and will make you a better baker and cook.

Nigella gives great bundt. I love the dark drama of her cider and five-spice version from Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food. She uses a Nordic Ware bundt tin. They aren’t inexpensive, but I have sourced three on eBay UK at pretty good prices (one was £12) so far. They last, and I am always lending mine out. BUT there are more keenly-priced bundt tins sold all over the place; they work just fine.

So what is a Bundt pan? Here’s a Food & Wine piece from 2017 that goes some way to explaining. The bundt cake takes its inspiration from a traditional European cake named the Gugelhupf, although there are methodological differences. The Gugelhupf is a yeasted cake, whereas many modern bundt cakes are not.

How did a Gugelhupf become a bundt?

The dates I used are Palestinian Medjools. They are squidgy and rich and have the most wonderful melting texture. After I posted about my cake on Insta, Zaytoun contacted me to tell me about their dates. I’m looking forward to trying them. Holland & Barrett sell milk chocolate-enrobed dates. They aren’t a patch on the ones my grandmother bought from Thorntons (the dates in the H&B chocolates are left whole, while Thorntons enrobed their chopped dates in darker chocolate), but they will do in a pinch.

What catalogues did you love the most? Would love to read your comments.