Today may well have been the longest day in written record. My pelvis fell off. It was kind of drizzly, so I couldn’t let the maggot run feral. And the number of rude people was surging on my trip to the shops. Why would you not acknowledge someone who stands back to let you pass? Because you’re a cow. That’s why. So I decided I deserved cake. Not super fancy cake, I still don’t want to birth a small rhino. But a little bit of plain, old fashioned cake.

This is a bundt cake. I’m fairly sure it’s called a bundt cake purely because of the tin you use. It has pretty, embossed patterns on the outside and has a central bit that turns a boring old round cake into a brilliant ring o’ cake. Wonderful.

I must admit it actually is delicious. Just so comforting. Buttery but light. I chose this recipe because it has the hallowed butter glaze – the kind of glaze you get on doughnuts and the like. I stuck to the quantities of the original recipe because I’ve never really made a bundt cake before, so good work BBC food once more.

On a side note. People who leave comments on the BBC food recipes can be bizarrely angry. Why be so outraged that the cake doesn’t serve 16 people? Portion size is fierce subjective. Maybe you should be having smaller slices? Maybe you shouldn’t be making the cake last minute when you have 16 guests on their way? In any case. It’s just cake. Get a hold of yourself. (Although I must admit 16 would be a stretch)

To the cake.

Oven temperature 180 Celsius

Butter                   150g

Caster sugar        180g

Vanilla extract    a generous teaspoon

Eggs                      2

Plain flour            180g

Baking powder    1 teaspoon

Salt                         a pinch o’

Sour cream           150g

Butter glaze;

Butter                     50g

Caster sugar          100g

Vanilla extract      1 teaspoon

Preheat the oven. Find a bundt tin. If you fail to possess such a thing then just pick a nice 20cm round tin. Whichever vessel you’re using you’ll need to grease and flour it. Then put it to one side.

To the cake. Put the butter, preferably at room temperature, into a big mixing bowl and add in the sugar and vanilla extract. Now beat them all together till smooth and soft.

Beat in one egg completely. Then the second.

Weigh out the flour and mix the baking powder and salt into it.

Tip half of the flour mix into the smooth butteriness and beat till combined.

Add in the sour cream and beat some more.

Then in with the rest of the flour mix.

That’s the cake made. So pour the batter into the prepared tin and pop it into the oven. It’ll take about 40mins in total but ’tis best to turn it half way through to make sure it bakes evenly.

While that’s doing its thing you can get on with the glaze. It’s even simpler than I could have hoped for.

Put the butter, sugar, vanilla and 4 tablespoons of water into a saucepan and bring to a boil over a high heat. Once it starts boiling turn the heat down to medium and let it simmer for 3mins.

That’s that. It needs to cool down before you use it so let it do so but don’t put it into the fridge.

The cake should be a satisfying golden brown, perhaps with the odd crack on the surface and should be just firm to the touch when it’s baked so when it meets these criteria take it out of the oven and let it stand in its tin for 5mins. After those 5mins are up, tip it out onto a cooling wrack. It should slide out with minimal persuasion if you’ve greased the tin properly.

Let it cool almost completely before pouring the buttery glaze all over it, letting it ooze down the sides. It is best eaten straight away with a cup of tea.