Kefir, Coconut and Lemon Curd Bundt Cake

The "zoo" in my kitchen has grown bigger. The little "beasties" in my sourdough starter have had company since last summer, since a friend passed me a jar with Kefir grains. I had been looking for them and thinking about adopting that little pet for some time, and I almost jumped with joy when my friend told me she could donate me some. So travelling home from summer vacation, I carried a glass jar with milk and kefir grains inside for some seven hundred kilometers. It arrived happily and it's still living happily in my cupboard.
The problem is that with increasing frenzy and running since school and swimming started again, I got a little forgetful. To the point that I kept producing kefir forgetting to drink it for days. And the consequence were several jars of kefir sitting patiently in the fridge. I had to do something about it since I coudn't drink it all at once. So a large scale baking production started: Soft bread sticks, Sweet chocolate chip buns, Chocolate filled brioche and in the end this bund cake (made twice to be honest). I managed to reduce the quantity of kefir in the fridge but probably increased my body weight (scared to check  ^_^).

I love all sorts of bundt cakes (just as much as I like loaf cakes/breads). They are simple to prepare. They are delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. And you can leave them sitting on the kitchen counter for three or four days without problem.
The only condition I insist upon, is that they don't taste heavy, due to a large quantity of butter, or dry. And that they are nicely and delicately flavoured.
This cake has it all. It's light and dense at the same time. It's moist and delicately flavoured with orange, honey, vanilla, coconut. And the little spots of lemon curd throughout the cake (if distributed well you should find one or two in each slice) are so lusciously creamy, tangy and refreshing at the same time.



Kefir, Coconut and Lemon Curd Bundt Cake

* 3 eggs
* 1 egg yolk
* 200 g sugar
* 2 teaspoons Candied orange, honey and vanilla cream
* 120 ml vegetable oil
* 230 g flour
* 20 g corn starch
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 150 g kefir (in alternative, buttermilk or yogurt)
 + a few TBspoons of shredded coconut
* 3 TBspoons lemon curd

Put the eggs, the egg yolk, the sugar and the Candied orange, honey and vanilla cream in mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
Lower the speed and add the vegetable oil, pouring it in a tiny streak.
Mix and sift together the flour, the corn starch and the baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the batter mixing on lowest speed.
In the end mix in the kefir.
Prepare a bundt or gugelhupf cake pan - grease and flour it well.
Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the surface with shredded coconut (I'm not telling you how much, from a light to a more generous sprinkle, depending on how much you like coconut flavour).
Distribute half of the lemon curd with a teaspoon making little spots, 2 or 3 cm distanced from each other.
Cover with another third of the batter and sprinkle with coconut, plus lemon curd.
Pour in the remaining batter and sprikle with coconut only.
Bake the cake in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 40-45 minutes (check with a wooden skewer if the cake is done - it should come out clean).
Take the cake out of the oven and put immediately in the freezer, still in the pan.
Leave the cake in the freezer for 45-60 minutes.
Then take it out, let it sit in the pan for 1/2 an hour and then remove from the pan and serve, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

notes:
*Candied orange cream can be substituted with 1 teaspoon finely grated orange (or lemon) zest + 1 teaspoon honey + 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
* I make lemon curd following this recipe, only increasing sugar when using lemons only (to 175g).

Ciambella al kefir, coco e lemon curd

* 3 uova
* 1 tuorlo d'uovo
* 200 g di zucchero semolato
* 2 cucchiaini di crema al arancia candita con miele e vaniglia
* 120 ml di olio
* 230 g di farina
* 20 g di amido di mais
* 2 cucchiaini di lievito per dolci
* 150 g di kefir (in alternativa, latticello o yogurt)
 + qualche cucchiaio di farina di cocco (cocco grattugiato)
* 3 cucchiai di lemon curd

Unite in una ciotola le uova intere, il tuorlo, lo zucchero e la crema di arance candite con miele e vaniglia. Montate la massa con uno sbattitore elettrico finché diventi chiara e spumosa.
Continuando a sbattere, a velocità più bassa,  versate l'olio a filo. Unite anche la farina mescolata e setacciata insieme al amido e il lievito.
Infine unite il kefir.
Preparate uno stampo da ciambella o gugelhupf, imburratelo e infarinatelo bene.
Versate 1/3 del composto nello stampo. Cospargete la superficie con la farina di cocco, e poi distribuite metà del lemon curd con un cucchiaino, creando dei puntini distanziati 2 o 3 cm uno dall'altro.
Versate di nuovo 1/3 del composto e mettete un altro strato di farina di cocco e lemon curd.
Versate il composto rimanente e cospargete con la farina di cocco.
Infornate la ciambella a 180°C per circa 40-45 minuti (controllate infilzando uno stecchino di legno, deve uscire asciutto).
Togliete la ciambella dal forno e trasferitela direttamente nel freezer (insieme allo stampo).
Toglietela dal freezer dopo 45-60 minuti. Lasciatela nello stampo, a temperatura ambiente ancora per 1/2 ora e poi sformatela.
Prima di servirla potete cospargerla con lo zucchero a velo.

note:
* la crema di arance candite può essere sostituita con: 1 cucchiaino di scorza di arancia (o limone) finemente grattugiata + 1 cucchiaino di miele + 1 cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia
* la crema di limone (lemon curd) preparo con questa ricetta, aumentando la quantità di zucchero se la faccio con solo limoni (175 g)

Kuglof s kefirom, kokosom i lemon curdom

* 3 jaja
* 1 žumanjak
* 200 g šećera
* 2 žličice kreme od kandiranih naranči s medom i vanilijom
* 120 ml ulja
* 230 g brašna
* 20 g škrobnog brašna (gustina)
* 2 žličice praška za pecivo
* 150 g kefira (ili mlaćenice / jogurta)
 + kokos
* 3 žlice lemon curda

Umutite pjenasto jaja i žumanjak, sa šećerom i kremom od kandirane naranče, meda i vanilije.
I dalje muteći (smanjite samo brzinu) dodajte polako, u tankom mlazu ulje.
Nakon ulja dodajte brašno prosijano s praškom za pecivo i opet umutite na najnižoj brzini.
Na kraju dodajte i kefir i opet kratko umutite da se sve izjednači.
Kalup za kuglof namažite maslacem i pospite brašnom.
Ulijte 1/3 smjese, pospite kokosom po površini (dodajte količinu po osobnom ukusu) i stavite mjestimično po 1/2 žličice lemon curda, kao točkice, razmaknute 2-3 cm jednu od druge.
Ulijte pažljivo preko drugu trećinu tijesta i ponovite kokos+lemon curd.
Na kraju istresite preostalo tijesto i samo pospite kokosom.
Pecite kuglof u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C oko 40-45 minuta (provjerite drvenim štapićem je li pečen).
Kad ste kuglof izvadili iz pećnice, odmah, sve skupa s kalup, stavite ga u zamrzivač na 45 minuta do 1 sat.
Izvadite ga iz zamrzivača,ostavite da stoji na sobnoj temperaturi barem pola sata, a zatim ga izvadite iz kalupa i poslužite.

bilješke:
* kao zamjenu za kremu od kandirane naranče, možete staviti žličicu naribane korice naranče ili limuna, žličicu meda i žličicu ekstrakta vanilije,
* lemon curd pripremam po ovom receptu, samo što povećam količinu šećera kad radim samo s limunom (na 175 g)