Mini bundt cakes flavored with ginger, orange, and honey are perfect for afternoon tea or dessert. A light glaze gives them just enough sweetness without being overwhelming.
Ginger. Oh, how I love ginger. Most people are most familiar with ginger in gingerbread cookies or gingersnaps during the holiday season. Personally, I have ginger in some form almost every day.
The most common way for me to get some ginger every day is in my tea. I love the spicy warmth of it and the fact that it goes with so many other flavors! Lemon and ginger is a classic combination. It’s soothing and warm but also spicy and vibrant, all at the same time!
Ginger was the reason that I was so ready to give these mini bundt cakes a try today. This past weekend I was flipping through a notebook with recipe ideas. Page after page I had scribbled notes, jotted down flavor combinations and doodled presentation and decoration ideas. Several ideas caught my eye but I kept going back to ginger-orange-honey.
I also realized that I had a mini bundt pan that has been sitting on a shelf for over a year and never been used. It was time to put it to use!
Ginger – Orange – Honey
That is the order that I want the flavors to come through. To make that happen, I used ginger in a couple of different ways. First, ground ginger – the easiest to grab and one that most people already have in their cabinets. Next, I grabbed one of my all-time favorite ingredients – a jar of stem ginger.
Stem ginger is just ginger root that has been peeled and cooked in syrup. It is sweet but still spicy and adds a little chewy texture if you get a piece of it in the cake (I recommend that you dice it very small!). The balls of ginger are preserved in the most delicious syrup that takes on a little heat from the ginger.
These little cakes get a dose of both the preserved ginger root as well as the syrup. Even if you don’t make this recipe, make sure that you use up the syrup in your jar of stem ginger! I beg you!! Please don’t throw away the jar when the ginger root is gone! That syrup is delicious in coffee, tea, poured over ice cream or anywhere else you need a touch of drizzled sweetness!
Developing the flavors
The first attempt at these cakes gave me a delicious, soft and luscious crumb. When I first turned them out of the pans, they were so soft that I thought maybe the amount of honey was a mistake. Maybe I used too much? I like to create recipes that are versatile and this cake was so soft at first that I didn’t think that I would able to stack or layer it if I chose to.
As the mini bundt cakes cooled (and the mini loaves that I made as well), they firmed up a bit. Making bundts, whether large or small, means that you have an increase in surface area aka ‘crust’. There is a fine line between too much crust on a bundt and just the right amount of firm outer layer. One of my goals was to keep this crust to a minimum so that the whole cake was soft. In addition to adding flavor, the honey helped me to achieve this.
That part of the experiment was a complete success!
Unfortunately, this was an orange cake with the flavor of honey coming on at the end. I didn’t get any ginger at all. It was still good but not what I wanted. Obviously that meant that I had to make them again. After all, this is a GINGER, Orange & Honey cake.
Orange zest can provide intense flavor thanks to the oils present. I originally used the zest and juice of an entire orange but modified the recipe to cut out the juice completely and now use one teaspoon of the zest.
An increase in the ground ginger along with the more stem ginger seemed to provide the perfect balance. I get the ginger now!
One more way to increase the ginger…
I have adorned these Ginger, Orange and Honey mini bundts with homemade candied orange peel. This an easy item to keep on hand and simply delightful as a decoration or a little snack! You can find the recipe and steps to make the candied orange peel HERE.
But if you, like me, want MORE ginger, then go for a third way of using ginger! Crystallized ginger, to be exact!
I used to have a hard time finding crystallized ginger in the US but it has become so popular that most grocery stores carry it. If you can’t find it there, Amazon is sure to have several brands for you to choose from.
Just slice the crystallized ginger into thin strips or diced bits and place on top of the cakes while the glaze is still wet.
Tips for success with this recipe
- Make sure that mixing is kept to a minimum. There is no creaming method in this recipe. Just start with a quick mix to incorporate the wet ingredients and a quick whisk to mix up the dry ingredients. Once you add the dry to the wet, only mix until all of the flour is incorporated plus about 20 seconds. This will ensure a smooth mixture without allowing the gluten to develop, which would make the cakes tough.
- When zesting the orange, ensure that you only get the orange part. Leave the white pith on the orange to keep the bitter taste out of your cake!
- Grease and flour your pans well but don’t overdo it. Too much flour in the tins can adhere to the outside of the cakes and leave a ‘goo’ that looks messy and tastes like paste.
- Tap the pan several times on the counter or table after filling with the batter. This will ensure that the batter sinks into all of the nooks and crannies of the pan. Skipping this step means there can be visible holes on the surface of your cakes.
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Ginger, Honey & Orange Mini Bundt Cakes
12
servings30
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- For the Mini-Bundts
210 grams unsalted butter (15 Tablespoons) for browning, diced
385 grams all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
400 grams honey
2 Tablespoons Stem Ginger Syrup
2 balls of stem ginger, finely diced
200 mL unsweetened almond milk, at room temperature
75 grams granulated sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon orange zest
- For the Orange Ginger Glaze
200 to 225 grams powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon stem ginger syrup
1 Tablespoons Orange Juice
2 to 4 teaspoons water, or as much as you need to get your desired consistency
Candied Orange Peel and/or Crystallized Ginger
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325℉.
- Grease and flour pan/s. (Mini bundt pans or small loaf pans work best.)
- In a medium saucepan, brown the diced butter until a medium amber color is acheived. Pour the browned butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and salt.
- Add the honey, ginger syrup, diced stem ginger, milk, sugar, beaten eggs and zest. Mix with the paddle attachment just to combine, about 20 seconds.
- Add about 1/3 of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Add another third and mix well then add that last of the dry mixture and mix for 30 seconds.
- Bake 30 to 36 minutes, depending on the size of the pan that you are using.
- Remove from oven when cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a cooling rack for 3 or 4 minutes and turn out of the pan. Allow to cool.
- Make the glaze: Sift the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add the stem ginger syrup and orange juice and whisk briefly. Add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, whisking after each addition. Continue to add water until the glaze is the consistency that you want for your cakes. A thinner glaze with run off of the cakes so make it thick enough to stick.
- You can either spoon the glaze over the top of your cakes or dip the cakes into the glaze upside down and set them back on the cooling rack to drain. (Place parchment paper under the cooling rack to catch the drips – makes clean up easier!)
- Arrange slices of candied orange peel or sliced crystallized ginger or you can dice them and sprinkle them over the top immediately after icing. They will not stick if you wait too long and the icing dries! Enjoy!
OMG Tanya!!!! how many mini Bundt pans you have? I am in love with them all… (I have only one, and now I crave the square type)
these are gorgeous cakes, elegant, petite, so so cute!
and perfect choice of flavor and icing…
Sally, how did I miss several of your comments? So sorry for not replying earlier! These were actually all made in one mini bundt pan that has 3 different shapes. I LOVE that pan!