Baby's Got Bundt!

New Year's Day my wife declared 2010 the Year of the Bundt, and she vowed to bake a bundt a month. Illogical exuberance for the trivial is my domain, so this declaration confused me.

I'm still confused.

For the record, I don't understand the appeal of the bundt cake. At potluck dinners I gravitate towards pie, and I leave the bundt cake to the bridge-playing, Lawrence-Welk-watching crowd.

I thought my wife's passion for the bundt would die, but my daughter has now joined in the chorus singing the praises of this cake. The gospel is spreading, and the bundt spirit has overwhelmed my wife's coworkers. Yesterday I even found a bundt recipe in my daughter's cubbie. There's no escaping the presence of the bundt in my life.

I'm very worried about how big this will grow.

The following is this month's bundt:

Milky Way Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 6 regular-size Milky Way bars
• 4 eggs
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks butter (or margarine)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla
• 2½ cups flour
• 1 cup buttermilk

For the glaze-

• 1 bar German sweet chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¼ cup water
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
  

1. Over low heat, melt Milky Way bars and 1 stick butter. Set aside.
   
2. Cream other stick of butter with sugar and eggs; mix well.
   
3. Add flour, baking soda, buttermilk and vanilla; stir well.
   
4. Add Milky Way mixture and beat with mixer until batter is all one color.
   
5. Pour into greased and floured Bundt-style pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
   

For the glaze:

1. In small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter with water. Combine sugar and salt and gradually stir in chocolate mixture. Add vanilla and spread on cake.