Lime Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake Bundt

It's National Bundt Day! And it's the end of Mary's I Like Big Bundts, a 30-day run of daily bundt-baking that ends on National Bundt Day. Check out her amazing blog and all of those awesome bundts! She also posted a bundt baked in a Heritage bundt pan, which I saw, squealed like a little kid, and ran out to buy it. Never mind that I don't usually bake bundt cakes... it's a pretty cake pan, dammit!

I thought I'd join in the fun with a bundt of my own, which is a pound cake made with lime olive oil and sherry from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert. I love this cookbook because the recipes are technically straightforward, but it's the ingredients that set them outside of the norm. For the pound cake, I used lime olive oil from Pasolivo and lime zest, which gave it great lime flavor without overpowering. If anything, the sherry's a bit strong, but I think that's the thing about Medrich's recipes... they're full of complex flavors. One bite of the pound cake starts with the rich and dark bite of the sherry, the light tangy lime, then the warm eggy flavor of a traditional pound cake. The lady knows her flavors.

When I bought the Heritage bundt, the salesperson was especially worried that I wouldn't properly grease the pan. I'd never met anyone so concerned about my baking. She advised a spray-on flour-based grease, but mentioned that it could also be done by brushing the pan thoroughly with melted butter, then flouring. I also suggest gently (very gently!) swabbing the sharp creases of the pan with a dry brush or folded paper towel after flouring, as clumps of butter/flour can stick in the creases and affect the sharpness of the cake's edges. Avoid wiping off the butter/flour, but dislodge the clumps.

Lime Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake Bundt

(From Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert, with a few changes)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup lime olive oil
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
5 large cold eggs
1 cup medium (amontillado) sherry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour one 10-12 cup bundt pan.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar, oil, and zest on high speed until well blended (should be light yellow). Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the last egg, continue to beat until the mixture is thick and pale (approximately 3-5 minutes). Stop the mixer and add 1/3 of the flour mixture and stir on low speed until just blended. Add half the sherry and mix until blended. Continue with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the sherry, and the rest of the flour, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, approximately 50-60 minutes. Cool cake for 15 minutes before unmolding.

To unmold from a bundt pan, tap the sides of the pan gently against the edge of the counter. Place a cooling rack upside-down on top of the bundt pan. Hold it all together, carefully invert the pan and rack and let the cake drop gently on to the rack. Shake very lightly if it needs a little help.

Cool cake completely and wrap it airtight. If desired, cake can be frozen.