We’re celebrating a birthday today! Our cookbook, Bountiful, is finally released and we can give a big exhale to the last year and a half of writing, photographing, recipe developing and eating-till-we-drop.
In the cookbook, we actually don’t have any cake recipes, however for this occasion, we made cake. A lemon bundt cake for Bountiful, our 3.7 pounds and 10.6 x 8.5 x 1.3 inch baby. 
We learned so much over this process of cookbook-making. First off: don’t try to eat everything you make because you’ll quickly feel how tight your pants will get. Find some neighbors to pass the goodies to. Make friends with your mail man. What ever you do, find good-eaters. They are as important as your recipe testers. Secondly, regardless of what topic you’re writing about, try to incorporate a cocktail recipe in there, some how. Trust us, after hours editing the manuscript, recipe details, conversations and photo editing, you’ll NEED that evening inebriation.
So do we have cocktail recipes in Bountiful too? Of course we do. Seven, to be exact.
Now the next stage starts: meeting all of you who we kinda-know-but-really-don’t. How odd it is to tell our parents that we’ll be traveling the country to meet our friends that we’ve never met before. This is the internet life, no doubt. It’ll be fun to finally meet up with all of you who have supported us through the years on the blog.
If you’re free, stop by one of our signings and give us a hug. We want to see your purty faces.
Every single one of you have a special place in our lives. This blog wouldn’t be as rewarding without you. And the book? Bountiful? We’ll we wouldn’t have had the inspiration to make it without your support and encouragement.
Thank you a million times for making our lives so incredibly inspired and fulfilling.
You all mean so much to us. And in the meantime, here’s a slice of a wonderful and tender bundt cake for you all.
Happy Day!
Todd, Diane, Sierra and Lexi
Here’s the latest date and cities we’ll be visiting. Come hug and eat together.
Where to buy the book online? Here’s also a list of some great independent bookstores in your area. Please support them! And you can visit our Book Signing/Tour Page Here.
Amazon
Indiebound
Book Larder, Seattle
Book Soup and Vromans, Los Angeles
Kings English, Salt Lake City, Utah
Powells Books, Portland, Oregon
Barnes and Nobles
This is not a recipe from our cookbook, we didn't have any in Bountiful. However the occasion needed a cake and this is an insanely moist and tender bundt cake. Easily the best we've ever eaten, let alone made. Because of its moistness, the batter probably won't work in a regular pan, the center will fall in, however in a bundt form it is perfect. It also works great to divide between a couple smaller forms instead of the larger 12-cup bundt form. The recipe is adapted from Shirley Corriher's Bakewise, "Take-Your-Breath-Away Lemon Pound Cake". Like Shirley mentions in her book, the key to the incredible texture comes from whipping the cream before adding it to the batter. She also recommends baking the bundt forms on a pre-heated baking stone in the oven. We have the Emile Henry stones at home and the studio and love them.
2 3/4 cups (345g) flour1 teaspoon baking powder1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt1 1/4 cups unsalted butter3 cups sugar1/3 cup canola oilzest from 4 large lemons1/4 cup fresh lemon juice1 tablespoon vanilla extract6 eggs1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice1/2 cup (100g) sugar1 cup confectioners sugar1 teaspoon vanilla extract2 tablespoons heavy creamPreheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan or 24 fluted brioche tins.In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt for at least 20 seconds. Set aside.In a mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes (if the bowl does not feel cool while creaming, place it in the freezer for 5 minutes, then continue creaming).Beat in the oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. On the lowest speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just incorporated.Mix in the flour mixture in three stages, until just combined.Whip the cream just past the soft peak stage. Stir in about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the batter, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan (or brioche tins). Drop the pan from about 4" above the counter to knock out any bubbles.Bake on the middle oven rack for 50-60 minutes (about 20 minutes for small tins), or until a toothpick comes out clean near the center. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then loosen the cake by knocking it against the counter. Invert the cake onto a serving platter.Stir together lemon glaze ingredients (if needed, heat them briefly to help dissolve the sugar). Brush on the hot cake until all of the glaze is absorbed. After it has cooled, if serving within a day or two continue to final step, or if serving later in the week, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve (keeps 4-5 days wrapped in the fridge).On the day you are ready to serve (or the night before), take the bundt out of the fridge to come up to room temperature. In a bowl, whisk together the icing ingredients, adjusting the cream or confectioners sugar amount to make the icing fairly thick but pourable, not too runny. If the icing is close to the thickness you want, but still a touch too thick to pour, warm it slightly and it will become more fluid until it cools off (perfect for icing the bundt cake). Drizzle the icing over the top of the bundt cake and serve.
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