You Don't Need A Bundt Pan When You Can DIY One In Seconds
Bundt cakes are delightful, sweet treats with a unique shape and name that comes from the pan that's used to bake them. The sides of a Bundt pan are curved, and the center is elevated to hollow out the middle of the cake when it's removed. Bundt cakes are divine in the dessert world, but you may find yourself bummed out when you want to make one and realize you lack a Bundt pan. Unless you DIY it, that is.
Jocelyn Delk Adams — aka the queen of pound cakes — has introduced a trick that will allow everyone to enjoy a Bundt cake or two. Take a round cake pan, add an empty can to the middle (but make sure there's no label on the can), fill the can with rice, and spray non-stick cooking spray all around the pan. Pour your batter in the pan around the rice-filled can, and you're on your way to Bundt heaven. The removable center may even make it easier to release a stubborn Bundt cake from the pan.
This DIY cake won't have the same fluted walls as a regular Bundt cake, and its straight sides resemble a tube pan more than a Bundt pan. However, you don't want to bake tube cake recipes in a Bundt cake pan, because recipes that call for a tube cake pan often have a more delicate, whipped batter that will stick to the walls of a Bundt pan — it's a common prep mistake that causes your cake to stick all over. However, with Adams' trick, it can function as both pan types.
The difference between a Bundt pan and a tube pan
Bundt cake pans are great for moist, dense cakes like coffee cake and pound cake. Tube pans work best with light, airy cakes with whipped egg in the recipe, like angel food cake. If you bake angel food cake in a typical Bundt pan, it will create a big, gooey mess that will stick the walls of a Bundt pan. A Bundt cake, however, can be baked in a tube pan with no issue. So you could use Adams' DIY Bundt pan every time you bake a Bundt cake, but if you're making them on a regular basis, you may want to invest in a pan that fits your recipe.
If you decide to purchase your own Bundt pan, it will ideally be made from aluminum, ceramic, or cast iron. You shouldn't buy silicone Bundt pans, which don't conduct heat evenly, and you'll end up with a cake that will be partially underdone. And if you're not familiar with tube pans, they have a centerpiece that creates a hollow middle in a cake, but the center part of the pan is usually removable from the bottom portion of the pan. This removable center makes it much easier to remove the delicate cakes once they are done baking and cooling.