For the love of god, BUTTER AND FLOUR your bundt pan. To death. I have a nonstick pan that nothing has *ever* stuck to, and I lost the top half of my cake to sticking. Another way to help keep that from happening is to keep the crumble away from the sides of the pan on the middle layer as well, not just the top layer. And unless you can truly cover the top layer of swirl ingredients with batter, don’t do it halfway – those little bits of cake batter bake way faster and then they just fell right off when I flipped the cake out. Poor little overbaked cake pieces…
I’m sorry that your cake was (sort of) ruined, but I cannot stop laughing. Skip the Baker’s Joy or Everbake?
I used Crisco and flour!! I think that the baking gods weren’t with me that morning…
I can not wait to make this.
The cake is absolutely delicious! My advice: make sure that your batter covers your swirl. Mine didn’t and when I righted the cake all of the swirl filling fell out the bottom.
Same here, and I also ditto Caitlin’s woes. I weighed my batter so I wouldn’t misjudge how much to use for each swirl. I couldn’t cover the second swirl (darned sugar is very hard to smooth things over). The swirls really didn’t melt into the cake. Although we liked the texture of the cake, the swirl gave me fits and I’d probably swap it out for another one next time. Not my finest hour.
I felt like I made a complete mess of the second swirl. If I were to make it again (I haven’t tried it yet), I would reserve some extra batter to cover the bottom. This was also the first time I had a cake stick to my Bundt pan, despite layers of butter, cooking spray, and flour.
Same here! The recipe says not to worry if the swirl isn’t covered, but yes, you should worry :)
Did anyone else find that their cake baked faster than the recipe indicated? Mine was done (maybe a bit overdone) 10 minutes early.
Actually, my current oven normally bakes things fast, but mine was done right at 60 minutes.
I baked mine in a springform pan – much easier and no flipping!
I am so excited for this one!!!!! Thank you for the tips!
Not so much a fan of raisins. What about diced apricots and almonds? Pecans?
I skipped raisins and just did pecans and chocolate. Perfect filling in my humble opinion!
I did a mini bundt (approx. half size) and was unable to cover the second layer of swirl with the batter at all – and so got the swirl dump referenced above. I should have just put a reduced amount of swirl in the middle and called it a day. But it was very tasty (although yes, Caitlin, mine stuck too – and I liberally applied the Pam for Baking, which never fails me).
I read all the comments, buttered and floured and still had sticking. Oh well. tastes delish even if it doesn’t look pretty!
No sticking for me, but it was over baked. The outside of the cake was a toasty brown so I had to cover it in chocolate ganache. No one seemed to mind.
Woo hoo! Totally clean unmold! Thank you for all of the advice. I was crazy careful about barely putting batter on the first layer and saving more for the other two. And I buttered and floured and sprayed a little Baker’s Joy for good measure. Whew!
Mmm, mmm good! I only used the sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate in the swirl and left out the orange zest and it was fabulous… especially warm out of the oven.
I sprayed a generous layer of Bakery’s Joy in the pan and it came out fine.
I am getting ready to make this and can not find my bundt pan anywhere.
What kind of pan could I use instead???
Hmmm…I bet you could make cupcakes out of this…or a tube pan? I think One person said earlier that they used a springform pan……
Sorry, I meant to say you could use a tube pan.
So I was going to skip out this week, but now I’m thinking I’ll make this.
Wish me luck with the unmolding!
I didn’t butter my pan more than usual and had no problems w/the unmolding my bundt… barely had to jiggle it and the cake came out (I guess sometimes it comes out w/o a jiggle)
Used 1/2 cup mini choc chips since I omitted the nuts and it turned out great! forgot to set my timer so I have no idea how long it took to bake! I did have some trouble getting my swirl covered completely and would recommend saving some batter to put on top…. I made my “moat” very shallow based on Dorie’s description but i think you really have to make it deep to have enough batter to fold over the top of your swirl at the end….
Tuesdays with Dorie 
I like Big Bundts and I can not lie:)
For the love of god, BUTTER AND FLOUR your bundt pan. To death. I have a nonstick pan that nothing has *ever* stuck to, and I lost the top half of my cake to sticking. Another way to help keep that from happening is to keep the crumble away from the sides of the pan on the middle layer as well, not just the top layer. And unless you can truly cover the top layer of swirl ingredients with batter, don’t do it halfway – those little bits of cake batter bake way faster and then they just fell right off when I flipped the cake out. Poor little overbaked cake pieces…
I’m sorry that your cake was (sort of) ruined, but I cannot stop laughing. Skip the Baker’s Joy or Everbake?
I used Crisco and flour!! I think that the baking gods weren’t with me that morning…
I can not wait to make this.
The cake is absolutely delicious! My advice: make sure that your batter covers your swirl. Mine didn’t and when I righted the cake all of the swirl filling fell out the bottom.
Same here, and I also ditto Caitlin’s woes. I weighed my batter so I wouldn’t misjudge how much to use for each swirl. I couldn’t cover the second swirl (darned sugar is very hard to smooth things over). The swirls really didn’t melt into the cake. Although we liked the texture of the cake, the swirl gave me fits and I’d probably swap it out for another one next time. Not my finest hour.
I felt like I made a complete mess of the second swirl. If I were to make it again (I haven’t tried it yet), I would reserve some extra batter to cover the bottom. This was also the first time I had a cake stick to my Bundt pan, despite layers of butter, cooking spray, and flour.
Same here! The recipe says not to worry if the swirl isn’t covered, but yes, you should worry :)
Did anyone else find that their cake baked faster than the recipe indicated? Mine was done (maybe a bit overdone) 10 minutes early.
Actually, my current oven normally bakes things fast, but mine was done right at 60 minutes.
I baked mine in a springform pan – much easier and no flipping!
I am so excited for this one!!!!! Thank you for the tips!
Not so much a fan of raisins. What about diced apricots and almonds? Pecans?
I skipped raisins and just did pecans and chocolate. Perfect filling in my humble opinion!
I did a mini bundt (approx. half size) and was unable to cover the second layer of swirl with the batter at all – and so got the swirl dump referenced above. I should have just put a reduced amount of swirl in the middle and called it a day. But it was very tasty (although yes, Caitlin, mine stuck too – and I liberally applied the Pam for Baking, which never fails me).
I read all the comments, buttered and floured and still had sticking. Oh well. tastes delish even if it doesn’t look pretty!
No sticking for me, but it was over baked. The outside of the cake was a toasty brown so I had to cover it in chocolate ganache. No one seemed to mind.
Woo hoo! Totally clean unmold! Thank you for all of the advice. I was crazy careful about barely putting batter on the first layer and saving more for the other two. And I buttered and floured and sprayed a little Baker’s Joy for good measure. Whew!
Mmm, mmm good! I only used the sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate in the swirl and left out the orange zest and it was fabulous… especially warm out of the oven.
I sprayed a generous layer of Bakery’s Joy in the pan and it came out fine.
I am getting ready to make this and can not find my bundt pan anywhere.
What kind of pan could I use instead???
Hmmm…I bet you could make cupcakes out of this…or a tube pan? I think One person said earlier that they used a springform pan……
Sorry, I meant to say you could use a tube pan.
So I was going to skip out this week, but now I’m thinking I’ll make this.
Wish me luck with the unmolding!
I didn’t butter my pan more than usual and had no problems w/the unmolding my bundt… barely had to jiggle it and the cake came out (I guess sometimes it comes out w/o a jiggle)
Used 1/2 cup mini choc chips since I omitted the nuts and it turned out great! forgot to set my timer so I have no idea how long it took to bake! I did have some trouble getting my swirl covered completely and would recommend saving some batter to put on top…. I made my “moat” very shallow based on Dorie’s description but i think you really have to make it deep to have enough batter to fold over the top of your swirl at the end….
Just had two warm slices and it is SO good!