Bundt Pan for a Citris Olive Oil Cake?

Question

I'm making this next week (for guests, so I don't want to screw it up) Orange Olive Oil Cake. Of course it wasn't until I became married to the recipe that I saw it calls for a 10" round cake pan. That's about the one thing I don't have in this ridiculously well-equipped kitchen. The safe option is of course using a 9" pan and making cupcakes with the remaining batter, which is what I'll do unless I get some assurance that what I would rather do will work fine.

My understanding is that a standard 10" round pan has a capacity of 11 cups (not having one, I've never measured, but that's what I read from a couple of online resources). My Bundt pan has a (confirmed) capacity of 12 cups, so if this were the type of cake that I'm used to, I wouldn't think twice about it, I'd just use the Bundt. I've got a couple of concerns though about this particular cake.

Number one, the recipe calls for lining the pan with parchment. Obviously, that can't be done in a Bundt pan. The recipe starts with boiling down oranges in what could potentially be a very sticky syrup. If I were to use the Bundt, I'd probably spray with Pam. Just how sticky should I expect this cake to be? Is there anything more I should do to control sticking if I use the Bundt?

Secondly, the cake in a Bundt pan will obviously be taller but with a hole in the middle. Would you recommend dropping the temperature a bit? I'm thinking 15-20 degrees F, but I'm open to suggestions.

Just as an aside if you're interested, what do you think of this Orange Creme Fraiche as a garnish?

Answer 1

Volume of a 10" cake pan will vary with the wall height (which varies by manufacturer). The 11 cup measure is for a 2" tall pan; if it calls for a taller pan, you might have issues.

As for how to deal with preparing the pan as you can't use parchment would be to butter and flour it; it generally works better than most cooking sprays. If you use a cooking spray, look for a baking specific one -- they have flour in them, so it behaves more like a floured pan when releasing.

You can also make 'cake release', which is a blend of shortening, oil and flour (equal parts by volume) that you can paint onto the nooks and crannies of pans with a pastry brush.

As for the cooking temperature, I would shorten the time before I started checking for it to be done, but I don't know that I would drop the temperature; when you do, you end up with less doming but a denser cake.