The Bundt Cake

Serve when

Serve it Maria's way — with a flower pot of geraniums standing in the mysterious hole: 'And now, the bun-dt cake!'

In the movie

Theatrical

01:07:26 Harriet Miller hands Maria a bundt cake at the family party. Maria turns it over, baffled — 'there's a hole in this cake' — pronounces it 'boont... bun-dt... BUNDT' and later presents it triumphantly with a flower pot planted in the middle.

The bundt scene is the culture clash at its gentlest: the Millers' beige offering meets a family that has never seen a cake engineered around an absence. Maria's solution — flowers in the hole, full ceremony — is the movie's whole point: don't fix the difference, celebrate it louder.

Ingredients

3 cups flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, soft
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
Powdered sugar to dust — and a small pot of flowers for the hole

Method

Butter and flour a bundt pan thoroughly — the hole is load-bearing.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
Bake at 350°F for 50–60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before turning out.
Dust with powdered sugar and — per Maria Portokalos — resolve the hole problem with a flower pot. Announce it to the room.

Beyond the recipe

Go deeper

Moshi Motif: the bundt cake scene ('it's a cake!')

Watch & shop

Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt pan

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