It is cherry season in New Zealand, which means Christmas is around the corner. Have you baked your Christmas cake yet? I love a rich fruit cake with marzipan for Christmas. This buttermilk bundt cake recipe is topped with white chocolate glaze and cherries and is much lighter than my favourite Christmas cake. I love bundt cakes, not so much cleaning the tin afterwards, but the ‘pretty’ is all worth the cleaning effort.

Buttermilk Bundt cakelets [makes 4 little bundts / 9 cups cavity]

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter, 2 cups caster sugar, 5 large eggs, 3 cups all purpose flour [sifted], 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

glaze: 170g white chocolate, 5 Tablespoons condensed milk, little milk to mix.

Oven 180 deg C, place your oven rack in the centre. Prepare your bundt cake tin by brushing it with melted butter and dusting it with flour, shake off excess flour. Mix the butter and 2 cups sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy. Beat in your eggs, one at a time. In a large bowl add your flour, baking powder and soda and salt. Add your vanilla extract to your buttermilk in a glass jug. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternatively to the batter. Divide between 4 small bundt moulds. Tap the pan several times on a solid surface to release the air bubbles. Bake 25 min. Test with a skewer from 20 minutes. Cool 5 min in pan, then invert. For the white chocolate glaze I melted 170g white chocolate and added 5 tablespoons condensed milk and a little milk to get the right consistency. Allow your cakes to cool, then add the chocolate glaze.

I love the idea of 4 small cakes , I gave one away – it makes the perfect little gift. I popped the others in the fridge and we had cake for days. The rest of the condensed milk disappeared from the fridge too…. although its much nicer with the chocolate, on the cake, with a cherry.