Bundt cake for grown ups and Christmas is always here...

We are in Sweden and days here seem to be much shorter... well it is winter and completely normal, if you would ask the people around here. We needed a couple of days to get used to it... I am not complaining don´t get me wrong, we simple needed to rethink and adjust our daily "outside routine" to the current location. As already said the days are short, by that I mean the brightness outside. It starts to get dark at 4:00 p.m. already, which means most of the outside task shall be done by that time of the day. However, what you will get in exchange for short days, are the long evenings in front of the chimney with a hot cup of tea (of which I personally can never get enough), some pre-christmas programs on TV (also something I do enjoy a lot) or a nice book to read.

For some people darkness can be too much in one point of time, but I somehow still do enjoy it. I mean the cosy fire in the chimney, candles burning all over the house and the lightsofn the Christmas tree sparkling all over the Christmas decoration. While outside it is dark and cold, you do enjoy a cup of hot tea, hot chocolate or cup of coffee inside... can it get more Christmasy and relaxing?

Today a special grown up bundt cake recipe and some pictures taken in the dark. I tried to catch the magic of the dark and the warmth of the chimney fire... let me know, if I was successful?

Baileys and vanilla Bundt cake

• 3 large eggs
• 180 g sugar
• 180 g butter (melted)
• 150 ml Baileys Irish cream (I used Vanilla Cinnamon Christmas edition)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 200 g flour
• 1,5 teaspoons baking powder
• 4-5 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Baileys Irish cream

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour your bundt cake form. In a bowl whisk together eggs, vanilla sugar and sugar, till foam starts to build. Melt the butter and let it cool off a bit, add to the eggs-sugar mixture, give it another whisk. Sift the flour and baking powder, add one part of it to the batter and mix till all dry ingredients are getting wet. Add half of the Baileys Irish cream to the mixture, mix till all well combined. Add another bunch of flour, mix, then add the remaining Baileys Irish cream, finish it with the remaining flour. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt cake form and bake it for 40-45 minutes (make the stick test). Let the cake cool down on a cooling rack in the form for at least 15 minutes. Then take it out from the form.

In a small bowl mix together the powdered sugar and baileys (spoon wise) till you get a think runny sugar frosting. Pour the frosting over the cake and sprinkle with some powdered sugar. Enjoy this velvety like cake with hot cup of coffee with a small splash of Baileys.

Despite the cold and darkness, I somehow do not really want to quit on our walks outside. Well sure we need to adjust a bit, meaning putting bit more clothes on us and taking flashlights with. You see, country side does not spoil us much with streetlights, hence the flashlights. Too much, you would say? Well for Pablo it seemed like a funny walk adventure... going through the dark, trying to catch some forest monsters with our lights and playing with our shadows... However I need to admit, the walk did not last long, in one point my boys started to complain about the cold and we quickly headed back home to the warmth of the fire. 

Enjoy!