In 2020, as we have learned (and relearned) to live our lives in a global health pandemic, and as we acknowledge that some have lost their lives to Covid-19, I'm constantly reminded of the gift of life and the need to find tiny moments of joy where we can.
Every year, the day before National Bundt Cake Day, is my Mom's Birthday. For those who have ever taken a baking class with me or have purchased the Kiss My Bundt Cookbook, you'll know that my mom losing her battle with lung cancer helped me understand the concept that life is short and no moment is guaranteed. It was her passing that led me to prioritize joy and my dreams and open a retail bakery in honor of my family's Southern Baking traditions 2 years later.
On her birthday, I dusted off her vintage copper Bundt Pan, and decided to create a recipe that I thought could bring a little joy and whimsy for National Bundt Cake Day on Sunday, November 15, 2020.
It started when I was looking at cereals at the grocery store last week. When I look closely at a Froot Loop, it reminds me of a lifesaver. Not just the hard candy, but the flotation device. As a scuba diver, you often see the round circle always ready to be thrown out to a person in the ocean to keep them afloat. In these times, one thing that keeps me afloat is creating recipes and sharing stories. And, while these are heavy sentiments for a blog post about Froot Loops Cereal Bundt Cake, I think it's indicative of this moment where we can all feel fleeting and varied emotions at the same time.
Now I know one of the first critiques that I'm going to get about this cake is that it's going to be too sweet. Let me tell you how I balanced that out: I made the batter a little acidic by adding cream cheese, greek yogurt, fresh citrus juices, and the zests, and by cutting the sugar from a traditional batter of this volume. The cake is also glazed with a tart and tangy glaze to serve as a counter-balance to any sweetness coming from the cereal and the cake.
The cake has three elements;
The cake itself: a citrusy cake that is soft and dense, lighter than a pound cake.
The Froot Loop Crumble: the cake has two layers of Froot Loop "crumble", which is kind of like the streusel you'll find in my banana bread recipe or cinnamon pecan coffee cake if you have my cookbook.
The tart and tangy citrus glaze.
The recipe below is broken up into these 3 elements.
INGREDIENTS:
Element 1: Cake Ingredients
3 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 large eggs
2 2/3 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (or use 1 teaspoon table salt)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons Greek Yogurt (*I used 0%, use what you like)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 teaspoons lime zest
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Element 2: Froot Loop Crumble Ingredients
2 cups of Froot Loops cereal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3 tbsp. sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 teaspoons lime zest
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Element 3: Tangy Citrus Glaze Ingredients
2 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Directions:
Step 1: Make the Froot Loops Crumble
Cut butter into small pieces and put into the freezer until ready.
Add 2 cups of Froot Loops into a sealable plastic bag.
Using a rolling pin, crush the cereal until they are the size of corn kernels. (Imagine if each Fruit Loop was broken into 4 pieces. This is the size you want.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt orange zest, lime zest and lemon zest.
Using a pastry blender, 2 forks, or working quickly with your fingers, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture like you’re making biscuits. When the butter is small pieces (again, like the size of corn kernels), stir in crushed cereal. Don’t add the fine cereal dust that’s at the bottom of your zip-top bag. We’ll use that for cake decorating at the end of our process.
Step 2: Make the Cake:
Add butter and sugar into the mixing bowl. Beat until combined. Slowly add the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, adding a new only after the previous egg is well incorporated. Mix 1 minute until fluffy.
Into a small bowl, mix together the Greek yogurt, lemon juice and zest, lime juice and zest, orange juice and zest, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
Measure the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Slowly add ½ of the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
Add all of the Greek yogurt mixture into the mixing bowl.
Add the remaining flour mixture. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl. Beat until everything is combined and then stop mixing.
Into a Bundt pan that has been buttered and floured OR sprayed with a Baking Spray with Flour, pour in about 2 cups of cake batter. In the center of the batter, add the Froot Loop Crumble. Top with another layer of cake batter, and fill that with more Froot Loop Crumble. Cover with the remaining cake batter. Depending on fluffy your cake batter was, and the volume of your Bundt Pan (10-cup or 12-cup) you may have batter leftover.
Bake the cake 60-70 minutes at 325 degrees, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake at 50 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a wire cooling rack for 10-15 minutes, and then flip onto a cooling rack to cool before glazing.
Step 3: Making the Citrus Glaze:
In a bowl, combine 2 ¼ cups of sifted powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon each of lemon, lime and orange juice. Add in ½ tsp vanilla extract. Whisk until thoroughly combined. You can thicken this up by adding more powdered sugar. And, you can thin it out by adding more juice.
Let the glaze sit for a couple of minutes, and then you're ready to glaze the cake.
Step 4: Putting the Cake together:
Spoon the glaze over the cake. I like to place the Froot Loops on the cake one-by-one to make sure they stick to the cake where I want them to.
Finally, take the reserved Froot Loop dust and sprinkled on top of the cake.