When we were thinking about which case we should do for first post, Ted Bundy immediately came to mind.

Don’t know if it was the recent movie featuring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy [swoon] or the shiver inducing Netflix documentary, Conversations with a Killer:The Ted Bundy Tape; but we knew it would be the perfect opening case. Ted Bundy has been synopsis with True Crime as long as we can remember.

Theodore Robert Cowell was born in Burlington, Vermont on November 24th 1946 to Louise Cowell. His father has never been identified but rumors say it either “Jack Worthington” a war veteran or suspected by his own family members, Louise’s own father. I don’t know about you but the later seems like a recipe for some dark future. In his early childhood, Ted lived with his grandparents in Philly [yes his own rumored father]. Since she was very young at the time, they raised him as his mom’s sister to keep the norm. He developed a close relationship with his “grandfather”, Samuel, becoming influenced by the way he thought and acted. Samuel was extremely racist targeting all demographics that did not fit into the box that was white males. Samuel was after abusive towards his wife, Ted’s grandmother.

After the little stint of staying with the grandparents, Louise then moved Ted to Tacoma, WA and Ted eventually found out Louise was in fact his mother and not sister. Eventually she this is where she met Johnny Bundy. Johnny and Louise had four children as their own and Johnny formally adopted Ted giving Ted his famous name. As parents, tried to include Ted in all aspects of their family including camping trips but Ted remained distant and expressed disinterested in a relationship with Johnny. It was during these teenage years Ted started to show his dark side. Ted grew up still remaining distant but insanely smart. He enrolled in UW and fell in love with a woman. This woman would become to muse for all his victims; a student, beautiful, and long dark hair.

Starting in 1975, Ted Bundy went on to murder 36 confirmed victims although it is rumored to be in around 100 and giving birth to the term “serial killer.” He would lure his victims by coming off injured or in need of help. He preyed on the kindness of these women which proved to be fatal. [word to the wise - do not be kind. just kidding! Help people with caution or just offer to call for help if they are unable to and seriously never get in their car…EVER.]

Bundy was eventually semi-caught in 1975 when he was attending law school in Utah. Police searched his car and found a crowbar, a face mask, rope and handcuffs [you know the serial-killer starter kit]. Police assumed he was capable of much more evil crimes and was eventually caught for a murder of a young woman and convicted to ONLY 15-years. He decided he couldn’t wait that long to continue his sinister acts and escaped for the first time. He went on to murder some innocent women and then was eventually caught in Colorado. Then he escaped AGAIN in Tallahassee, FLA.

This was the last time Ted would be a “free man”. He went on one last murderous rampage at the Chi Omega Sorority in Tallahassee, FLA. What did him in was bite marks on a survivor [sick: in a bad way]. He would not be able to escape prison this time as he was sentenced to death. Theodore Bundy died via electric chair at the Florida State Prison. RIP but hold the peace, he doesn’t deserve it.

So. You are probably wondering how you turn the infamous Ted Bundy into a delicious baked good. Well, you make incredible pun and pull flavors from his hometown and his execution location. When we think of Vermont, we think delicious rich maple hence our maple pound cake base and maple glaze. And Florida for us screamed something tropical hence the coconut topping. And since we just could not get enough maple in this little cake, we candied the coconut in it too. All our recipes are inspired by other bakers unless otherwise stated and we will just be adjusting to fit our case and liking. All credits will be at top under title but wording will be our own.

So we give you The Ted Bundt Cake A Maple Cake with A Coconut Crumble. Hope you enjoy!

How to make the cake:

Cake inspired by Bunson Burner Bakery

Ingredients

Cake:

• 3/4th cup unsalted butter

  • we usually just set in the on the preheating oven at the beginning of starting to make the recipe cuz we always forget to take it out beforehand

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, that means get it real tight into the cup [kinda like how we put on skinny jeans in the morning]

  • we prefer dark brown because of the molasses content but whatever you got will do!

• 2 eggs room temp [follow suit for the unsalted butter but leave on counter]

• 1/2 cup real maple syrup [not that Aunt Jemima stuff, this makes all the difference]

• 3/4 cup milk [feel free to sub any non-dairy you prefer]

• 1 tablespoon vanilla.

• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:

• 2 cups powder sugar

• 1/4 cup real maple syrup [see above if you’re still trying to use Aunt Jemima]

• a dash of vanilla

Candied Coconut Topping:

• 12 oz bag of flaked coconut

• 1/4 cup real maple syrup [you know the drill by now]

• a sprinkle of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your to 350ºF and set out that butter you forgot to warm up to room temp.

2. In a regular mixing bowl you will want to prepare your dry ingredient. Throw in the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk until mixed. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of the mixer throw in the butter and brown sugar. You are going to mix that until its creamy.

4. Add in eggs one at a time, we know it probably sounds extra but just do it, its get all mixed in and fluffy. After that you will throw in the maple syrup, milk and vanilla.

5. Grab your bowl of dry ingredient and slowly spoon into mixer until all in. Mix together no more flour streaks are visible.

6. Grab your bundt pan and now grease. We know that most recipes say to grease pans in the beginning but we like to grease right before. And then you want to pour your cake batter evenly into the pan. Take a wooden spoon [any tool really] and press your batter up a little on the walls of the pan. This is going to help your cake cling to the sides as it rises in the oven and help get a level bake.

7. Bake your cake for about 30-40 min. We like to start checking with a toothpick around the 30 minute since every oven is different, take our your cake when it comes out clean. We would say it came out at 36 minutes [Hi Ted Bundy] but we ended up taking it our around the 30 min mark.

8. Flip your cake onto a cooling rack after about 8 minutes resting in its tin. Now time to make your candied coconut!

• Chef’s note: if you are not vibing with the thought of the coconut on your already delish maple cake, skip to step 10 to start making the frosting!

9. Get out a frying pan, and turn on the flame to med-low. pour the coconut and maple in there. You will sauté until you start to see the maple bubble a little bit and all the coconut is coated. Pour out coconut on parchment paper to cool and spread out in a thin layer. Sprinkle the tiniest bit of salt over the mixture and let cool. We would say try to snack on some at this point but it makes quite a lot so go ahead and indulge. No time to make the frosting!

10. Add all your ingredients for the frosting, powdered sugar, maple and vanilla, into a bowl and whisk together. If you want runnier or thicker frosting, it all depends on your ratios. We like to have good control while piping our frosting so we add powder sugar a little at a time until we get it. We look for when you pull up your whisk out of the mixture and let it drip, you see the lines a little on top of the frosting.

11. Pipe [or spoon} your frosting on the cake in the design you want and then sprinkle the coconut crumble on top. This last part is all up to you guys. We were pretty light on the coconut but feel free to add as much as you want!

12. Enjoy!