Once you know how to bake a cake, every time you have to feed a crowd, you’ll make a homemade cake (and likely this Velvet Bundt cake recipe). A Bundt cake, especially this Bundt cake with its thick glaze capable of handling a handful of jimmies, is the perfect addition to a table of treats or a perfect standalone.
My oldest son invited a large mix of high school friends and college friends over for a day of board games during a brief break. I used it as an excuse to play around in the kitchen. With a dozen kids on the way over, it seemed like a very good reason for cake. I wanted to find a great homemade cake recipe with plenty of servings. And I did.
Table of Contents
- White Velvet Bundt Cake Recipe
- “Something from the Oven” by Eileen Goudge
- The Eileen Goudge Cookbook
- Looking Inside “Something Warm from the Oven”
- The List of Eileen Goudge Books in Order
- Related Cake Baking Resources
White Velvet Bundt Cake Recipe
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Velvet Bundt Cake and “Something from the Oven” Cookbook Review
Description
This gorgeous Bundt cake recipe is from “Something Warm from the Oven” by best-selling author Eileen Goudge. Although this is her only cookbook, you’d never know it. From the clear organization to the practical advice, it’s a keeper of a book.
Ingredients
For the Bundt Cake:
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening (or Lard)
3 Cups Granulated Sugar
5 Large Eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 teaspoon Lemon Extract
1 1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Milk
For the Glaze
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Lemon Extract
1 teaspoon Almond Extract
Instructions
325* oven. Grease a 10-cup to 12-cup Bundt pan with Baker’s Joy or Pam for Baking with Flour, and then set aside.
For the Cake Recipe
Cream together the softened butter and the shortening (or lard) in the large bowl of your electric mixer at medium speed.
Add the sugar 1/4 cup or so at a time, and beat until pale and fluffy.
Add the large eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition
Stir the lemon, vanilla, and the almond extract into the measured milk in the measuring cup, and set aside.
Combine the all-purpose flour with the baking powder and the salt. Use a whisk to break up any clumps.
As to the fluffy, softened butter, granulated sugar, and egg mixture, you’ll add the flour mixture alternating with the milk and extract mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture. After each addition, blend the ingredients until they are just incorporated. Do not overbeat.
Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester poked into the center of the homemade cake comes out clean. If you notice the cake darkening a lot, lightly cover with foil for the last 10 to 20 minutes of baking.
As the Scratch-Made Cake Bakes Make the Lemon, Almond, and Vanilla Glaze
Mix 1/2 cup water, the granulated sugar, and the lemon, almond, and vanilla extracts in a small saucepot.
Bring to a boil over low heat and stir constantly. You don’t want the bottom to scorch.
Simmer for 3-4 minutes until it has slightly thickened. Remove from the heat.
While the Bundt cake is just cooling in the pan, pour half the glaze over it. Cool the upside-down Bundt cake for 15 minutes, and then invert onto a wire rack with a cookie sheet underneath it. Pour the rest of the glaze over the top.
“Something from the Oven” by Eileen Goudge
“Something from the Oven” Fast Facts
- 320 pages
- 7.38 x 1.05 x 9.25 inches
- Published by William Morrow Cookbooks
- Published: October 4, 2005
- 150 Recipes
- No images
This baking cookbook offers a mix of practical advice and a story before each recipe. Some include a handy tip, such as how you can freeze rhubarb when it is in season, so you can make her Blackberry-Rhubarb Cobbler anytime (or my different and unique Blueberry-Rhubarb Pie). Ingredients are in bold-faced font while the introduction to each recipe is italicized. I like the layout.
“Something Warm from the Oven” Table of Contents:
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Tips for Better Baking
- Coffee Cakes and Cupcakes
- Special Occasion Cakes and Cheesecakes
- Cookies and Bars
- Pies and Tarts
- Crisps, Cobblers, and Puddings
- Quick Breads and Muffins
- Biscuits and Scones
- Yeast Breads and Rolls
- Sources
- Index
I want to make a slew of recipes from this cookbook. I can’t decide between the Chocolate Sandwich Cookies or the Chocolate Truffle Tart (my partner’s daughter will love either). But then there are Goudge’s Mochaccino Cupcakes with Hazelnut-Coffee Frosting. I am slightly obsessed with hazelnuts.
My partner? Well, there’s an Oatmeal Cake that seems about right for him, or perhaps her Carrot Cake recipe, or Lime Pistachio Cookies for a change of pace. I like the idea of the Peaches and Cream Cake (it bakes in a Bundt pan, too) or the Raspberry-Amaretto Tart if I’m feeling fancy. I’d say raspberry and amaretto are two of my favorite flavors, but if I’m being honest, I have a lot of favorites.
My sons will eat any and all of it, so they won’t help narrow down my choices there. It looks like I have a lot of baking ahead of me …
The Eileen Goudge Cookbook
My favorite recipes to serve on board game night, if you were wondering (and since you are here, you likely were), include:
- Fudgy Brownies
- Chocolate Mint Cookies
- Chocolate Malted Milk Cookies Recipe
- Amish Sugar Cookie Recipe (with Sprinkles)
- Soft Peanut Butter Cookie Bars Recipe
I’d already been flipping through “Something from the Oven” by Eileen Goudge before the board game night conversation occurred. It took about two seconds to decide that her Velvet Bundt Cake was the cake recipe for me. This party needed cake. Her description sounded just like what I was looking for: an easy-to-bake cake that always hits the mark. Plus, the idea of using three different extracts intrigued me.
When I looked to see what other cookbooks Eileen Goudge had written, I was surprised to see that cookbooks aren’t her focus. In fact (and unfortunately), she’s only written the one cookbook (“Something from the Oven”), but is a New York Times bestseller as a romance novelist (jump down to the bottom of this article to see all the titles). My book choices tend to lean toward classics, nonfiction, history, or Sci-Fi, so I had no idea.
Or did I? Wait a minute. Goudge wrote a series I enjoyed when I was young: “Sweet Valley High.” Do you remember those books with the identical twin sisters? The stories didn’t wrap up neatly at the end. You had to read the next book to find out what happened. It was fun, but also tricky.
I lived in a small town, so if the library didn’t have it (or my friend who lived across the fairway and introduced me to the series), then I was out of luck. Francine Pascale wrote the first 12 books in the “Sweet Valley High” series and kept watch over the team of ghostwriters to follow. Eileen Goudge got her start with that series before branching out to write her own book — and wow, did she (and does she) write.
Looking Inside “Something Warm from the Oven”
Baking isn’t about loads of equipment and reams of recipe books; it’s about the desire to create something from scratch. There’s something deeply satisfying to me about kneading dough or frosting a cake, or watching slimy egg whites transform magically into snowy peaks.
Introduction, Page 3.
Eileen Goudge has a long line of titles behind her name. Goudge’s cookbook, however, is where it’s at. She doesn’t use a lot of ingredients I prefer to keep out, such as raisins — to my partner’s infinite sadness, as a lover of raisins in any and every baked good (where they definitely don’t belong). Seriously, if I turn my back for a second, he’s poking raisins into cookie dough or muffin batter.
But this lady knows her stuff. Take, for example, her tip on juicing lemons or limes. Goudge recommends that you give the lemons a slight warming in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds, and they will juice extremely well. Then store any leftover juice in an ice cube tray. Brilliant, right? You won’t get to try those tips for this cake recipe, however, because this Bundt cake recipe uses lemon extract and not lemon juice.
As good as Goudges’ Velvet Cake recipe is, “Something Warm from the Oven” offers far more than a handful of recipes you’ll want to bake. You know how it goes. You dig into a cookbook, excitedly marking recipes with Post-It Notes, and realize halfway in that the number of things you want to make is rather limited. It’s a bummer.
But not this book of recipes. Nope. This cookbook is a keeper (much like my raisin-loving partner).
Goudge admits to a preference for maple and coconut, which is just fine by me. While I’m not a big maple fan, coconut is a taste I am happy to have long since acquired. Adding more coconutty recipes to my rotation would be a wonderful thing.
Eileen Goudge List of Books in Order
“For up and coming authors, it sounds like the most basic advice in the world but just write,” she said. “Write something every single day, even if it’s two paragraphs, even if it’s a blog post. Just keep going. Write every single day.”
Charr Davenport, Say ‘hello’: New York Times Best Selling author Eileen Goudge moves to Sacramento, ABC10, October 2, 2024, Accessed 12/27/2025.
These are Goudge’s standalone novels. Keep scrolling for her series. I left out her teen-themed books, which include “Who Killed Peggy Sue?” and her “Seniors” series. I’m sure I missed something for adults. Goudge is a prolific author. Which of the books below have you read?
Eileen Goudge Garden of Lies Series
Welcome to Carson Springs Series
Cypress Bay Mysteries Series
Gold Creek Series
“All They Need to Know” was the cause for Goudge’s move to the Golden State. She explained to ABC10’s Mark S. Allen that she had stayed in Sacramento while doing research on the Gold Country area for her book. While in California, she connected with her character and her childhood.
“My character, the character in the book, comes to the Gold Country and that’s where my family used to vacation when I was growing up,” she said. “My dad told stories around the campfire at night and that’s where my whole storytelling has came from, my dad telling these made up stories to his six children.”
Charr Davenport, Say ‘hello’: New York Times Best Selling author Eileen Goudge moves to Sacramento, ABC10, October 2, 2024, Accessed 12/27/2025.
Related Cake Baking Resources
There’s always room for another cookbook. Am I right or am I right? Sometimes, you just have to get creative with it (cookbooks don’t have to live in the kitchen alone). Turn to these other resources when you need a little baking inspo or a kitchen clean-up:
- How To Organize Cookbooks: Cookbook Organization Ideas With Images
- Brownstone Front Cake Recipe and History from Food Editors’ Hometown Favorites Cookbook
- Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting from “The Best of Relish” Cookbook
- Irish Cream and Marbled Chocolate Bundt Cake from “Beautiful Bundts” Cookbook
- 1800s Gingerbread Cake Recipe from “An Army Wife’s Cookbook”
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