National Bundt Day honors a cake that's all about the shape. Its ring and fluted sides look impressive with hardly any effort: just bake, flip, and drizzle.
The story of the Bundt pan
The shape draws on the German Gugelhupf, a yeast cake baked in fluted molds. In the late 1940s, members of the Hadassah Society in Minneapolis asked H. David Dalquist, co-founder of cookware company Nordic Ware, for a modern version. He produced a cast aluminum pan in 1950 and later trademarked the name "Bundt."
The pan sold slowly until 1966, when Ella Helfrich's "Tunnel of Fudge" cake took second place at the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Soon the company had more than 200,000 requests for pans.
How to celebrate National Bundt Day
- Bake a lemon, chocolate or cinnamon Bundt cake
- Grease your pan well, so the cake comes out whole
- Try the famous Tunnel of Fudge recipe
- Share a slice with the neighbors