Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake with Raspberry Soaking Syrup: The things you keep in your bed

I think the sort of things that you keep in your bed and next to your bed are interesting ways to learn about a person.  For example, when I wake up in the morning, there are at least two or three cookbooks or cooking magazines in my bed and a few novels strewn on the floor next to my bed.  My night stand has a few of my obsessions on it - an alarm clock (with a snooze button), hand cream that I apply religious every night and foot cream, which is also applied nightly.  Truthfully my hands and feet are NOT soft, and I'm trying to somehow actually achieve that.

Daughters sleep in bunks and what they take into bed with them is also pretty telling.  Daughter #2 has every single stuffed animal in her room on the bed.  She insists on putting them under the covers with her and giving them each a bit of blanket.  In addition, at the foot of her bed there will be a number of books that she has read before going to sleep and another bunch of books on the floor.  Daughter #1 sleeps on the top bunk and in her bed I'll find scraps of paper on which she has written notes to herself and her friends, a few bookmarks and several books she reads at the same time.  The nightstand has scatterings of bits of treasures and things that both girls have found and nonsensical things that I try to throw away, only to hear the screams of NO MOMMY.

When Husband wakes up in the morning, there will be a laptop in the bed, as well as a blackberry, an iphone and a regular phone.  He falls asleep with all of them in our bed and around his bed will be scatterings of books, papers, and his Kindle.  If he was able, he'd also have a bag of cheetos on the bedside table but I have forbidden food in the bed (a habit I HATE) and so he's forced to go downstairs and eat them.

Son sleeps with at least one or two toys in the bed.  You'd think he'd choose something soft or small but he always chooses the LARGEST truck or car and sticks it on the pillow next to him.  Tonight he sleeps next to a 2-foot-long fire engine which he inherited from our neighbor.  This toy is pretty darn annoying as it has realistic fire engine sounds whenever you push different buttons.  The sounds are so realistic that I keep running to the window to see if there is a fire next door.  If it isn't this fire engine, then it's 25 of his cars, or the bag FILLED with his cars.  He never seems to mind the hard objects (and I guess he gets that from Husband as me as we can sleep in a bed with laptops and cookbooks.)

But if food were allowed in my bedroom, and there were things that I loved to have next to me around, and I didn't worry about my waistline and my general over all health, and I wasn't scared of an ant problem - this cake would be right next to me or possibly in my bed.  The combination of chocolate and raspberries and that bright red syrup on top is just a combination that can't be beat.  I LOVE IT.  The bright pop of red would also be a great accent for the bedroom which is mostly muted tones and restrained colors.

Alas, this one will stay in the kitchen (and more likely in the kitchens of others since I love it too much.)  It's beautiful red color lends itself well for special occasions but is easy enough to make for everyday.

Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Soaked in Raspberry Syrup
Makes 10-inch bundt cake, serving 12 to 14

Ingredients
Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
6 oz fresh raspberries, picked over
½ cup dark chocolate pieces (I got mine at Whole Foods which was 73% cacao, and Ghiradelli’s makes a chip that is 60% cacao) A bar of dark chocolate can also be cut into small pieces and used.

Raspberry Syrup
⅔ cup of sugar
6 oz of raspberries, washed and picked over, pureed and strained (makes about ½ cup)
2 tablespoons orange juice

Method
Place rack in center of oven, and preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour inside of 10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using either a stand mixer (paddle attachment) or a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 30 to 40 seconds after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract. At low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream. (Add a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour, a bit of sour cream, a bit of flour.) Remove bowl from mixer. Using a spatula, carefully fold in both raspberries and chocolate pieces. It is okay if the raspberries get a bit crushed and crumbled.

Scoop batter into pan and spread evenly with spatula.

Bake cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then invert it onto another rack which is placed on top of a cookie sheet. (You’ll be able to soak the cake in syrup with the syrup being stuck all over your kitchen counter.)

While cake is baking, make syrup. Combine sugar, strained raspberry puree and orange juice in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Using a pastry brush, dab syrup generously all over surface of the warm cake, allowing it to soak into the cake before reapplying. Let the cake cool completely.

Printable recipe

Okay - so maybe the ENTIRE cake next to my bed isn't feasible.

But a single slice might be?  (If only I could get over my aversion to food in the bedroom.)