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By Root 214 0

pan when you do. In most stores, they cost anywhere from $25 to $50, depending on size and design. Our host Michele Norris has a sister named Cindy who lives in Minnesota, and Cindy sometimes supplies me with a surprise pan, which of course means All Things Considered gets a Bundt cake the next Monday. I cruise the cookware section of discount stores for my other pans, most of which I’ve bought for less than $16. I’ve now got seven total, including the Cathedral, which makes us feel like we’re eating a mini-Notre Dame. But you can also get a pan shaped like a star, fleur-de-lis, or a ring of Christmas trees, if you so desire.

Because of the intricacies of some Bundt molds, you’ve got to really work it with your floured baking spray. I do not recommend baking a stratified coffee cake in a Bundt, and I’d be careful baking any recipes that include fruit, due to the headache generated when trying to unmold those cakes from anything more intricate than the traditional, fluted Bundt pan. Don’t forget when you use a Bundt pan, the top of the cake bakes in the bottom of the pan. If the cake “domes” during baking and is quite high, you’ll need to use a serrated bread knife to even it up before you flip it onto a cooling rack or a serving plate. You don’t need frosting; leave that for sheet cakes and layer cakes. Visually, Bundt cakes are meant to stand on their own, though you can highlight their design and taste with a dusting of sugar or drizzle of glaze.

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

OK, here is the recipe that won Ella Rita Helfrich $5,000 in 1966. (FYI—that’s about $30,000 today!) Mrs. Helfrich’s ingenuity involved a Pillsbury powdered icing that, when added to the batter, produced a gooey pudding center.

Scientifically, it’s a mess, according to Shirley O. Corriher, author of BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking. With a background in biochemistry, Shirley’s the go-to gal for chefs and bakers with messed-up recipes. According to her, Tunnel of Fudge Cake deliberately has too much sugar. Excess sugar, you see, binds to flour proteins and prevents them from building structure, hence the inside goo. But what about that crisp, crunchy edge? Well, almost any batter will develop a crust if it reaches a high enough temperature. Hard on the outside, liquid chocolate on the inside: that’s the magic of the Tunnel of Fudge.

Oh, but for some reason known only to them, Pillsbury took the powdered icing off the market not long after Tunnel of Fudge Cake made its debut. Fortunately, the cake had some vocal supporters. They complained so much that Pillsbury’s test kitchen deconstructed the mix. Turns out, it was nothing but confectioners’ sugar and cocoa—simple enough!

Now, I’ve come across several recipes warning, under pain of death, NOT to scrimp on the nuts, that the recipe will simply NOT work and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will show up at your doorstep if you nix the nuts. This is not true. I’ve made it without the nuts and it comes out just fine. Shirley O. Corriher, our biochemistry baker, did use nuts, but she roasted them to bring out more flavor. She says this improves on the original recipe. You do whatever you darn well please.

Tunnel of Fudge lends itself to big slices, so plan on about 16 servings.

* * *

YOU’LL NEED

A 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan

FOR THE CAKE

3½ sticks (1¾ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1¾ cups sugar

6 large eggs

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa (IMPORTANT: NOT DUTCH PROCESS!)

2 cups chopped walnuts

FOR THE GLAZE

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa

4 to 6 teaspoons milk

TO MAKE THE CAKE

1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the pan. (See page 21 if you’ve forgotten how!)

2. Cream the butter on medium speed and gradually add the 1¾ cups of regular sugar (NOT the confectioners’), beating until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, beating to blend well.

5. Grab a wooden spoon