July 4, 2026

Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes

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Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes

July 4: American Independence Day

Happy 250th birthday, USA! This definitely calls for a celebration with festive foods decked out in red, white and blue! Instead of a birthday cake, Islander made mini chocolate Bundt cakes and decorated them in the national flag’s colors to share with family, friends and neighbors for a patriotic birthday party. Enjoy these basic chocolate Bundts in tiny treat sizes on USA’s Independence Day. God bless America!

Recipe

(Adapted from The Pampered Chef)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour, all purpose
  • ½ teaspoon baking power
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter
  • ¾ – 1 cup sugar, granulated white
  • ½ cup strong coffee (we used leftover Kona coffee)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup plain yogurt

Directions

Mist the wells of the mini Bundt cake pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the cocoa powder, butter and coffee. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave until the butter is melter (around 2-3 minutes). Remove from the microwave and stir well.

Add the sugar and salt and stir until well combined. Beat in the egg. Stir in the vanilla.

Add yogurt and the flour mixture and mix well. Place batter into the Bundt pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from the oven. Let cakes sit for 5 minutes in the pan before removing carefully. Cool cakes on a wire rack. Decorate as desired.

Decoration Ideas

  • Ganache glaze
  • Confetti sprinkles and non-pareils
  • Fondant flowers

Ingredients for Ganache

  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 bar (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate (we used Baker’s brand), coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup (optional to make the glaze shiny)

Directions

In a medium size microwave-safe bowl, place the whipping cream with the chocolate pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave at medium heat at 30-second intervals, mixing each time, until melted. Remove from the microwave and stir in corn syrup.

Let cool for 10-15 minutes to thicken slightly—check the consistency that it is still pourable over the mini Bundt cakes but not yet thickened (if the latter is the case, microwave for a few seconds until pourable and wait to thicken slightly). Spoon over the tops of the cakes and let drip down the sides. While still tacky, add confetti sprinkles and non-pareils.

For the Fondant Flowers

  • Fondant (white)
  • Food coloring (red and blue)
  • Clear or white tube piping gel
  • Edible pearls (for the fondant flower centers)

Directions

Use gloves to knead fondant with food coloring (if not using premade colors). On a clean surface dusted with powdered sugar, roll out fondant into a flat strip about 1/16-inch thick. Use small flower cutters to cut shapes.

Place each on a sponge and use the small ball fondant tool to press down the middle. Dry on a platter until ready to use. Use a little melted chocolate to stick the dried fondant flower on the glazed mini chocolate Bundt cakes. Arrange the other flowers as desired. Dot a little piping gel in the center of the flowers. Place edible pearls in the center to finish decorating.

Notes

  • Fondant premade in different colors may be purchased at local grocers. We started with white fondant, pinching off a golf-ball size piece, and coloring in red and blue.
  • Change up the colors of the fondant flowers and sprinkles to customize for different party theme. Islander made orange flowers and sprinkles for her high school reunion (orange and black/dark chocolate colors).
  • Search our blog for other patriotic red, white and blue decorated recipes for July 4 Independence Day.

 

June 14, 2019

Cucumber-Cilantro Raita

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Cucumber-Cilantro Raita

June 14:National Cucumber Day

Our Indian friends, Govind and Vathsala S., cook hot and spicy vegetarian foods. While tasty and delicious, Islander cannot take the heat so they serve her raita to cool off her burning mouth (Highlander says she is a wimp)!

Raita is a creamy condiment that includes a mixture of yogurt or curd with fresh chopped vegetables (savory raita) and/or fruits (sweeter raita). We are more used to the savory version with cooling cucumbers to offset the fiery curries and dishes that our friends cook (even though they tone it down somewhat for Islander, she still thinks the food is too spicy for her).

As the weather heats up and the summer season approaches, keep cool as a cucumber with a raita recipe on National Cucumber Day.

Recipe

(Inspired by Govind and Vathsala S.)

Ingredients

  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2-3 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions

Wash, dry, peel and chop the cucumbers. Chop the tomatoes and onion. Place all in a large bowl.

Stir in the yogurt. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix in the cilantro. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Serve as a side dish garnished with a sprig of fresh cilantro leaves.

Notes

  • There are different variations of raita. Some recipes call for scallions instead of round onions, mint instead of cilantro and cumin or coriander instead of garlic powder. A few raitaare sprinkled with red chili pepper, which Islander thinks would defeat the dish’s cooling properties.
  • Eastern Europeans have a similar recipe to raita. One Polish recipe, mizeria, uses cucumbers mixed in sour cream instead of yogurt.
  • Search our blog for other cucumber recipes.
 

June 14, 2018

Cucumber-Lemon Cake

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Cucumber-Lemon Cake

with Cucumber Vodka Icing

June 14: National Cucumber Day

With the summer season a few days away, we have been feeling the heat already in the Gulf Coast of Texas. To stay “Cool as a Cucumber,” this month’s theme of Islander’s local culinary book club, members were asked to share recipes using the vegetable as an ingredient. Some brought in cucumber tea sandwiches, many salads and even cucumber-infused drinks. Islander brought in a dessert—a cucumber-lemon cake with cucumber vodka icing (the original recipe used gin but she wanted to maximize the cucumber theme). The cake concept was a refreshing idea—a subtle taste of summer’s quintessential vegetable with a hint of sunny citrus iced with a sweet buttercream made with cucumber vodka to balance all the flavors. Cucumber-lemon cake with cucumber vodka icing is a delicate dessert that is perfect for National Cucumber Day.

Recipe

(Adapted from Veggie Desserts)

For the cucumber-lemon cake

  • Half a cucumber (about ¾ cups), pureed (see Notes)
  • Half a lemon, juiced and zested
  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar, granulated white
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ¾ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

Wash and dry the cucumber, leaving the clean skin on. Slice into thin cubes and puree in a blender.

Zest half a lemon and set aside the zest for the batter. Squeeze half the lemon juice into the pureed cucumber. In a mixing bowl, combine the zest with the butter and sugar.

Add the vanilla and the eggs. Beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with baking powder. Gradually add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with half of the pureed cucumbers, and blend all ingredients until the batter is smooth.

Place in a lightly greased 8-inch round pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until done. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Prepare the cucumber vodka icing.

For the cucumber vodka icing and decorations

  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cucumber vodka
  • 1 lemon
  • cucumber slices

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Thin to a spreadable consistency with cucumber vodka. Smear a little frosting on a cake board or plate to “glue” the cake on it.

Use a spatula to frost the top and sides of the cake. Use a star tip to add a shell border around the cake. Use a large round tip to pipe a dollop of icing in the middle of the cake.

Use a sharp paring knife to peel the rind of a lemon—start from one end of the fruit and, in a continuous but careful motion, pare in one direction until reaching the end of the fruit. Immediately roll up tightly the peel, fanning out the edges a little to form a rosette. Place the lemon rose on the center of the dollop of icing.

With the reserved cucumber from the cake recipe above, cut a portion of the vegetable in half lengthwise. Slice the first cut thinly but do not go all the way through the cucumber. The second slice should detach from the vegetable. Fan it out like a fishtail. Slice 8 of these cucumber decorations, dry with a paper towel and arrange on the cake, attaching the non-cut tip to the dollop of icing. Refrigerate the cake but bring it to room temperature before serving.

Notes

  • We used a seedless English cucumber for this recipe. If using regular cucumbers, cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.
  • For non-alcoholic icing, use cucumber water or lemon juice to thin out the buttercream frosting to a spreadable consistency.
  • Search our blog for other cucumber recipes.
 

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