This post is in partnership with MightyNest, the online retailer with a positive mission: providing the natural, organic, and non-toxic products that families seek for their homes while also giving back to schools. MightyNest is sponsoring the giveaway and provided a set of the materials to me for review.

Teflon in cookware is a bad idea: we don’t really need to debate this, right? When heated (which cookware occasionally is, cough), Teflon coatings on nonstick cookware can release a toxic gas capable of killing pet birds and producing flu-like symptoms in humans. PFOA, a suspected carcinogen, is used in the process of manufacturing Teflon. Teflon and PFOA, collectively known as perfluorinated chemicals or PFCs, accumulate in our environment: in soil, in groundwater, in our own bodies. Human exposure to PFCs is associated with smaller birth weight and size in newborn babies, elevated cholesterol, abnormal thyroid hormone levels, liver inflammation and weakened immune defense against disease. So: bad.

[As an aside, do you know why non-stick, Teflon-coated pans became the norm? Because of the low-fat, no-fat craze of the 80’s and 90’s. Non-stick pans were designed to use without the added fat normally required to say, fry an egg (without leaving most of the egg stuck to the pan) or bake a bundt cake. So…. let’s pollute our environment and bodies with a toxic chemical in order to save ourselves from an extra pat of butter. That sounds like a great idea. That low-fat craze has a lot to answer for, my friends.]

Do you know what isn’t bad in cookware? Glass. Well, also steel, and ceramic, and cast iron, but today, we’re talking about glass. Specifically, a lovely Simax glass bundt pan, crafted in Europe of borosilicate glass and able to withstand temperatures of up to 932 degrees F (BTW, if your oven goes that high, I’m coming over for pizza night). And the Chemex coffee maker: also lovely, also borosilicate glass. But wait, there’s more! You can’t brew up a fabulous cup of Chemex coffee without the fabulous Chemex filters. And how to properly enjoy your new Chemex addiction? Simax glass coffee mugs, natch. Lastly, when it’s time to clean everything up, reach for this organic cotton tea towel. You’ll have the eco-friendliest kitchen on your block.

I’ve already talked about my newfound love of the Chemex. I’m sorry ancient-but-trusty green Krups coffeemaker: you’ve been replaced. And everyone knows that I love a good tea towel. But I have to say, this glass bundt pan was pretty sweet: it’s lighter than I thought it would be, but in a good way; the cake was evenly baked, even in my uber-crappy rental kitchen oven;  and I never get a cake out of a bundt pan looking so good. Lastly, it was really fun to watch a marble cake cooking through the glass! #winning

GIVEAWAY!

On to the good part: you, too, can be the proud owner of lots of lovely glassware for your own kitchen. MightyNest has kindly offered to send one lucky Local Kitchen reader the following:

• a 14-cup Simax glass bundt pan
• an 8-cup Chemex coffeemaker
• 1 box unbleached Chemex coffee filters
• 4, 12-oz Simax glass coffee mugs, and
• an organic tea towel

In addition to all of that bounty, as part of their mission to raise $1 million for US schools this year, MightyNest will donate $100 to a school of the winner’s choosing! Sound great? You bet it does. To enter the giveaway, click this link to sign up, enter your zip code, choose a local school for the $100 donation if you win, and enter through Facebook or email. Giveaway closes on November 10th. Good luck!

As for that bundt cake: nicely spiced, not too sweet, nicely moist yet with an open, airy crumb, and a fun marbling. That magical swirl seems to happen all by itself, a function of alternating the batters when you fill the pan. It’s my first time attempting a marbled bundt cake, and I hereby declare it a success. Best of all, with whole wheat flour, homemade organic pumpkin purée, and farmer’s market buttermilk instead of cream, I can totally justify it for breakfast. Pumpkin-chocolate breakfast.

Adapted from Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake by Martha.

Pumpkin Chocolate Marbled Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 9 oz (2 cups) whole wheat pastry flour, plus extra for the pan
• 9 oz (2 cups) whole wheat white flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp fine-grained sea salt
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• 8 oz (1 cup, 2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 15 oz (2 ½ cups lightly packed) light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 12 oz (1 ½ cups) pumpkin purée, homemade or canned
• ½ cup cocoa (preferably Dutch process)
• ¼ cup boiling water
• confectionery sugar, for serving

METHODS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spritz a 14-cup bundt pan with pan spray, then dust with flour. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder & soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Whisk thoroughly to mix. Set aside.
3. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together in a separate bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 – 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl in between additions. Be diligent about this step when using whole grain flours, as they require more structure and aeration than AP or cake flour. On low speed, add flour in three additions, alternating with buttermilk, and beating well to develop structure. Beat in pumpkin.
4. In a medium bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water. Whisk vigorously until all cocoa is wet. Add a touch more water if necessary to produce a thick but homogeneous cocoa mixture. Transfer approximately ⅓ of the pumpkin cake batter to the cocoa bowl. Beat together until uniform.
5. Using a ¼-cup measure or ice cream scoop, drop 2 scoops of pumpkin batter, then 1 of cocoa batter, into the prepared bundt pan. Repeat, alternating between pumpkin and cocoa batters, until both batters are gone. Tap the pan gently to settle batter firmly into the pan, then bake in the preheated oven until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 65 – 75 minutes. Cool on a rack for about 45 minutes, then carefully turn cake out of the pan and cool completely on a rack. Dust with confectionery sugar before serving.

Serves 12.

OPTIONS

1. The original recipe calls for cake flour, or you could substitute AP flour.
2. If you are short on time (or marbling patience) you can simply skip the cocoa: add the batter to the pan at the end of Step 3 for a simple pumpkin spice cake.

STORE

Covered lightly with a tea towel, at room temperature, for 2 days. Freeze, double-wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 6 months.

SEASON

Fall.

Disclosure: This post is in partnership with MightyNest. No compensation was provided other than the review materials: glass bundt pan, coffee mugs, Chemex, filters, and tea towel. MightyNest will provide one LK reader the giveaway prizes and give $100 to the school of their choice.