I love holiday baking using bundt pans, so I used my Holiday Wreath pan to inspire me to create a fragrant Pomegranate Rosemary Butter Cake decorated with a red ribbon, green holly, and pinecones. I picked up Land O’ Lakes butter at Walmart to make the best-tasting butter cake I’ve ever made. It’s also the best-looking butter cake I’ve ever made. My kids were so impressed with my cake decorating that they thought I had purchased the cake already decorated. They’re used to my quick decorating method – a few shakes of powdered sugar. It works when you are short on time, but I’m glad I invested the time in decorating this cake because the results are something to celebrate. Next time I make this cake, I’ll refer to my photo to help the decorating process go a little faster! Pin my recipe for inspiration for your next bundt cake!
My mom taught me that choosing the brand and type of butter you use for baking is important because it has a big impact on the final taste. I usually use Land O’ Lakes Butter in my baking because I know I’ll achieve the best taste with it. I love that they use a “Flavor Protect Wrapper” that protects the butter from anything else in your fridge (i.e. you don’t want your butter absorbing onion or garlic flavors).
When baking a bundt cake it’s important to bake it long enough so that the cake batter is completely cooked in the middle of the cake. There’s nothing worse then a gooey cake middle! I baked my butter cake on the middle rack at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. You want the top of the cake to be golden brown and you can test if it’s done by sticking a toothpick into the thickest looking area of the cake. Let your cake cool before placing a serving platter on top of the cake – carefully flip both the serving platter and the bundt pan over and the cake should easily release from the bundt pan onto the serving platter.
Pomegranate Rosemary Butter Cake – Pin It or Print It
When decorating a bundt cake made from a decorative pan, it helps to look at the pan while you’re decorating. Sometimes details you may want to highlight will “disappear” on the cake after baking due to air pockets or an uneven release from the pan. You can easily bring them out using frosting – but you have to be able to see them first! I used fresh cranberries as the red holly berries and in the middle of the cake because they’re so pretty. The pinecones became the yummiest part of the decorations. That’s because I used chocolate fudge frosting as the base. Combine the chocolate flavor with a thin slivered almond crunch on top of a fragrant dense rosemary-infused cake and my tastebuds were doing a happy dance! I hope you love this cake as much as I do!
- 1¼ cups Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter (softened to room temperature)
- 1½ cups sugar
- 4½ cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups milk
- ½ cup pomegranate juice
- ½ cup pomegranate arils
- 2 tsp crushed rosemary
- pinch of salt
- frosting for decorating (red for ribbon, green for holly, chocolate for pinecones)
- slivered almonds (for pinecones)
- fresh cranberries (for holly berries and center)
- fresh rosemary (as a garnish)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees with a rack positioned in the middle of the oven.
- Prepare a 9-cup bundt cake pan by throughly coating inside with non-stick baking spray with flour.
- In a large bowl, combine sugar and softened butter with an electric mixer until creamy.
- In a separate small bowl, combine eggs and vanilla. Add to large bowl of sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.
- In a separate large bowl, combine sifted flour, baking powder, crushed rosemary, and a pinch of salt.
- In a measuring cup with a pour spout, combine the milk and pomegranate juice to make a milk mixture.
- Alternate adding a small amount of flour mixture them a small amount of milk mixture into the large bowl of sugar mixture and keep mixing with the electric mixer.
- Lastly gently fold in the pomegranate arils with a large spoon.
- Pour cake batter into bundt pan and level the batter out so every part of the pan is filled evenly.
- Bake for 50 minutes, Test with a toothpick for doneness and adjust baking time as needed for your oven.
- Cool cake in the bundt pan for at least 30 minutes (drape a tea towel over it), then place a serving platter on the top and flip the bundt pan over to carefully release the cake onto the serving platter.
- Let cool thoroughly before decorating with icing. Alternatively you can decorate by sprinkling with powdered sugar.
- Tip for creating Pinecones with Slivered Almonds: use chocolate frosting in dots for slivered almonds to stick to. Start at the bottom of the pinecone (closest to the serving platter) and work your way up to the top of the cake. The slivered almonds look best pointing downward. Even if the pinecone is shown facing upward in the bundt pan mold - reorient all pinecones so they face down (see photo).
If you’re baking for your family, or giving the gift of homemade goodies – visit the Land O’ Lakes Holiday Recipes for inspiration. You’re going to bake up something beautiful with Land O’ Lakes Butter!
This post is sponsored by Collective Bias® and I received compensation for it. My opinions are my own and they are not edited by Collective Bias®. Please visit my Disclosure Policy.
Recipe originally published on Nov 24, 2013
This is absolutely beautiful!
Thanks so much Jessica!
That looks AWESOME! It looks like it came straight out of a magazine. Perfect for the holidays! #client
Thanks Kristy – I guess all of the time I’ve spent looking at recipes in magazines has helped me take better photos of recipes. I’m still learning, of course I have some fabulous bloggers to learn from too!
STUNNING!!! Heather, this is truly beautiful. Looks very professional and oh-so-delicious! Great job.
Thank you so much – I’m so glad I have “proof” that I made this (with my photos). I’m going to have trouble believing I actually pulled-off this cake next Christmas – but I must make it again!
Wow this looks gorgeous! I love it, the presentation and the pictures are amazing and the combination of pomegranate and rosemary sounds delish!
Thanks so much Paula!