Rose, Pistachio & Pandan Two Toned Bundt Cake

Two Toned Bundt Cake

This two toned bundt cake is visually striking and pretty as well as delicious to eat! The pink cake is delicately rose flavoured while the green is pandan flavoured. It is draped in pink rose icing, slivered pistachios and rose petals! This cake is also perfect for Mother's Day coming up. I called her Aya.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Making a two toned bundt is easier than you would think and there's just one extra small step to achieving this two toned look from a regular bundt cake.

How To Achieve The Two Toned Bundt Cake Look: First pick two colours that are different from each other eg black and white (vanilla and chocolate). You will end up with two piping bags of each cake batter. After greasing your bundt tin you will alternate piping the two batters into the tin instead of scooping just one batter.

How To Grease Your Bundt Tin 101: There's no greater joy with bundt baking than the first time you use a new tin because you that baby will slide right out. However, over time all bundt tins will gradually lose their non stick properties.

I like to use butter and not non stick oil spray on my bundt tin as I find that butter gives me a better level of coverage. I also find that traditional pastry brushes are better as the bristles are finer. I brush the bundt tin and then refrigerate it so that the butter sets. Sometimes I even re-brush it again just to make sure that all areas are covered (this isn't necessary on a brand new bundt tin). I know I sound crazy but if you've ever had a bundt cake stick, you'll know the pain!

Take your time greasing your bundt tin. It can often take up to 5 minutes to make sure that every crevice is greased especially on intricate bundt tins.

Two Toned Bundt Cake
Butter and flour mixture to lift your bundt cakes out of the tin perfectly every time!

Bundt Tin Grease Recipe: If your bundt tin is starting to lose its non stick properties or you have an intricate bundt tin, mix 30g/1oz of melted butter or shortening with 16g/0.5oz of flour and brush it on the inside of the bundt tin making sure to get all the crevices. Try not to do this too thickly or the floury mixture may show up on the baked cake. This bundt tin grease can keep for weeks in your fridge, just take it out a couple of hours before you need to use it and mix it up again to soften. TIP: if you are making a chocolate cake use cocoa powder instead of flour as this will match the colour better.

How To Keep Your Bundt Tin Non Stick Condition: Good bundt tins are expensive so look after them well. Avoid stacking your bundt tins directly on top of each other in your cupboards. I know this is hard if you have limited cupboard space (as we do). If you need to stack them, place paper or soft cardboard between your bundt tins so that they don't scratch each other and wear away the non stick surface.

Serving size: This is a large and very tall cake that feeds many and we are filling up the tin entirely so don't be alarmed by the quantities of eggs. I sliced this up in thin, very tall slices and it can feed around 10-12 people.

Rose Water vs Rose Extract: Rose extract or rose flavouring is much stronger than rose water. Use only a few drops of rose extract as a little goes a long way.

Pandan Essence: did you know that your local Asian grocer sells cake baking flavours by a brand called Koepoe Koepoe? There's usually a small range from chocolate, vanilla, strawberry but my favourite is the Pandan and Ube flavours and these are reasonably priced at less than $2. The flavourings also add a strong hit of colour too.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

I was inspired to make this cake by my favourite colour combination of pink and green. I think I like it because it reminds me of flowers with the stem of the rose and the head of the flower. I was also inspired by a big bouquet of flowers Mr NQN bought me this year on Valentines Day.

It has been years since he has thought to buy flowers. Usually I buy my own flowers and tell him, "Look what you bought me!". But he decided that week that he was going to buy me some flowers. It was a huge bouquet, three bunches of roses worth and had pale pink and apricot coloured roses. I love them so much that I wanted to use them in the picture (that's them poking out from the background).

Two Toned Bundt Cake

A friend and I were talking and I said that I thought that I was easy to buy for but she said that I was difficult. The conversation spiralled into describing ourselves, but in the same way that people describe their dogs or how rescue organisations describe dogs up for adoption. I thought about it for a bit before coming up with my own description of myself as a dog. It goes a bit like this:

Two Toned Bundt Cake

"Hi, my name is Lorraine and I’m small for my size and require lots of pats but I'm affectionate. I can be a bit noisy and attention seeking at times. Will do anything for food. Can be cross when not fed. Doesn’t like being left alone so would suit a full time worker. Loves pink and green and roses."

So tell me Dear Reader, how would you describe yourself as a dog? Do you bake a lot of bundt cakes? What is your favourite colour combo?

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Rose, Pistachio & Pandan Two Toned Bundt Cake

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An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 35 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

  • 3 cups/360g/12.8ozs. plain all purpose flour
  • 2.5 cups/527g/18.6ozs. sugar
  • 1/2 cup/125g/4ozs. custard powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 455g/16ozs. butter, softened, cubes
  • 7 eggs, room temperature whisked
  • 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs. buttermilk
  • Rose essence (not rosewater)
  • Pink colouring
  • Pandan essence*

Rose Syrup

  • 1/2 cup/100g/3.5ozs caster or superfine sugar
  • 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs. water
  • A few drops of rose water to taste

Icing

  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons rose water
  • 1/2 teaspoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon slivered pistachios
  • Edible dried rose petals

Pandan essence can be found at Asian grocery stores

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and butter your bundt tin well (see instructions above). This is a 10 cup Kugelhopf bundt tin. Whisk the flour, sugar, custard powder, salt and baking powder in the bowl of an electric mixer. Then start adding the cubes of butter into the flour mixture. It will start to look like damp breadcrumbs.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Step 3 - Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together and then add to the mixture making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture evenly into two bowls (weigh the cake batters if you want them to be exactly the same weight). Add pink colouring and rose essence to one and pandan essence to the other. Place in large piping bags.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Step 4 - Snip off the ends of the piping bags and pipe alternate blocks of colour in the tin until you fill the tin 3/4 of the way up. Tap the tin gently on the benchtop to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the top springs back when pressed gently.

Step 5 - While the cake is baking, make the rose syrup. Simmer the sugar, water and rose water together until reduced and slightly syrupy.

Step 6 - Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes. Then trim the top (which is the base of the cake) and brush the bottom with syrup. Place a serving plate underneath the cake and upturn it and let it slide out. Brush the cake with the rest of the syrup.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

Step 7 - Add the icing sugar to a food processor and blitz until powdery and all lumps are removed. Add rosewater and honey and colouring and make sure that it becomes a thick, dollopable consistency-you don't want it too thin or you'll get long, thin and opaque drips. Add more sifted icing sugar if you need to or a few drops of water if it is too thick. Using a teaspoon drip 1/2 teaspoon at the top of the cake. Add pistachios and rose petals before the icing dries.

Two Toned Bundt Cake

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