Cake

“Orange, Olive Oil and Black Pepper Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

Maureen Stapleton, , 1 Comment

Julia Child once said, “A party without a cake is just a meeting.” I’ve often wondered if the opposite would be true, too. Is a meeting with cake a party?

In any case, Tim has been asking me to make this cake since the beginning of the month. His favourite cake of all time is an orange cassata cake. It’s an Italian cake with light orange layers with cannoli filling in between the layers and a light sugar glaze on the top. It is a winner.

This cake is similar, except for the fact that it’s a very small loaf cake and has no cannoli filling. I was completely on board for the orange cake and the orange glaze. But despite my unwavering faith in Ruby’s recipes for cakes and similar, I wasn’t sure about the inclusion of extra-virgin olive oil, which can be very peppery, and black pepper. I wasn’t sure how it would taste or if it would make sense at all, but I went ahead and made it anyway.

Spoiler alert: It was great. Despite my reservations about the extra-virgin olive oil and the black pepper, neither flavour overwhelmed the cake. Instead, after baking, the two pepper flavours mellow out and only give an occasional kick. The orange-sugar glaze made for a beautifully sweet crunchy-sticky top.

It was the perfect pick me up for a grey afternoon in late January when a friend stopped by for a catch up and a cup of tea. So the question remains: since we had cake, were we having a party?

“Orange, Olive Oil and Black Pepper Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

“Marbled Chocolate and Almond Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

Maureen Stapleton, , , 1 Comment

It’s a virtual guarantee that Ruby Tandoh, a finalist in the Great British Bake Off in 2013, will provide excellent baking recipes in her cookbook. She did not disappoint.

This cake is exactly what it says on the tin: marbled chocolate and almond cake. She writes in the introduction about the frequent need for “something sweet” at the end of a meal. This fulfils that brief. I knocked it the batter pretty quickly while our lasagna baked in the oven, and then the cake took the lasagna’s place in the oven when it was done. It was the perfect finish to our meal and indeed was something sweet.

If you’re a nervous baker, Ruby’s instructions are clear and concise, and as this is a straightforward cake recipe without any icing needed or any other additional steps, this is a pretty easy cake to impress your table with. (I’m already thinking about how I’ll do the marbling different next time.)

The cake didn’t hang around long, even with only three of us in the house. Highly recommended.

“Marbled Chocolate and Almond Cake” from “Cook As You Are”

“Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake” from “Cook, Eat, Repeat”

Maureen Stapleton, , , Leave a comment

Cake. Glorious cake. Who doesn’t love a good slab of cake? I mean, probably plenty of people, but no one I would want to spend a significant amount of time with. Especially this year. We might not be able to invite anyone inside, let alone visit anywhere fun (miss you already shops, cinemas, restaurants and pubs), so cake can go a long way in making those rough patches a little more bearable.

Especially this cake. To be sure, this family is solidly in the “We Love Chocolate and Peanut Butter Together” camp. If you don’t like that combination, then this recipe would definitely not be your jam. But for us, this was perfection on a plate. There was a great deal of icing, to be sure, but we didn’t struggle with that. In 2020, we take our fun where we can find it.

Nigella advises to use four shallow cake pans to make four layers. While I do have four pans, though not specifically shallow ones that she mentions, I thought the batter didn’t quite stretch to four cakes, so I made three instead. She also advises that if you are going to do four layers, you should double the amount of icing that you make. I did that, even though we only had three layers, and we had some left over. This did not trouble me. I can confirm that it is delicious off a spoon. Again, it’s 2020. I take my fun where I can find it.

Would I recommend this? Absolutely. This was the first recipe I made from the new cookbook and it did not disappoint. In fact, the boys asked me to make again the following weekend. As much as I was tempted by the request, I resisted the entreaties. But now I can’t think of a single good reason why I did.

Make it. Eat it. Enjoy life. All good things.

If you would like to make this yourself, the Guardian published a story about Nigella’s new book featuring this very recipe. You will find it by clicking through here.

“Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake” from “Cook, Eat, Repeat”

“Rainbow Sprinkle Cake” from NYT Cooking App

Maureen Stapleton, , Leave a comment

How’s your global pandemic going? Last Friday and Saturday was eventful for us: we had a Quarantine Birthday (happy 17th birthday Nicholas), an American university commencement via Zoom (congratulations Gianna) and a Facebook Live wedding from California (congratulations Taylor and John). Given that all those happy occasions happened within a span of 48 hours, all I can say is: Whew.

As per tradition, the birthday boy (or should I say young man) was allowed to pick whatever cake his heart desired. For the second year in a row, he picked this cake, from the New York Times Cooking App. Having made it for him last year, I made a few adjustments: I doubled the recipe (because it made too small a cake for our liking the last time) and I used my own cream cheese icing recipe, simply because it has never failed me and after several disastrous outings with other recipes, I just return to that one like a trusted friend.

Another thing to know is I did NOT use European Union-approved sugar sprinkles for this. Oh, no. The vibrant colours you see in the sprinkles above can only be attained by using good American sprinkles, where they continue to use all the chemicals so you can get the fun colours. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, as the EU-Approved sprinkles only use natural colourings, so they end up being a bit insipid, especially after you bake them.

(Sadly, after stocking up enthusiastically on American sprinkles in 2018, it looks as though our stash is now dangerously low. Not sure what I’ll be able to do about it given the current travel situation. I might have to see if I can secure an intermediary. This is important, because honestly, those sprinkles look and taste about a thousand times better than the ones we can get here.)

The cake was a smashing success. The picture above doesn’t really do it justice, but it was great. Our philosophy to get through this with good food and good times continues.

If you’d like to see the recipe, click through here to find it on the New York Times site. I’m sure it’s good even with European sprinkles, but remember to double the recipe to get three 9-inch layers.

“Rainbow Sprinkle Cake” from NYT Cooking App

“Everyone’s Favorite Celebration Cake” from “Dining In”

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Writer’s note: Hilariously, this American paused after spelling “favorite” the American way in the headline above, as it appears in the book. I’ve been here too long. It looks wrong without the U.

Much like Kirstin will always test the roast chicken recipes in a cookbook we are reviewing, often I will test the cake recipes. It’s called playing to your strengths.

Luckily for me, it was a good friend’s birthday, so I had the perfect excuse to make it. Though, I should say for the record that I never need an excuse to make cake, and you don’t either. Any day is a good day for cake.

So what of this cake? It was delicious, but oh my goodness is it HUGE– and as American saying that [see above], that’s really a statement. The birthday party we attended had more than a dozen people there, and we still only managed to get through half of the cake. So that’s good if you like cake leftovers– no bad thing– but bad if you don’t live with a few always-hungry teenagers who will finish it off a few days later.

It’s a well-written recipe, too. She clearly explains how to do things and why do them, which is especially helpful when making cake, as it makes some people nervous. I learned years ago that if you’ve got the time, a crumb coat on a cake is always worth doing, and she repeats that advice here.

However, I’m not sure it would be this family’s favourite. It’s good, to be sure, but our favourite? Probably not. It was still excellent cake, though.

Want to try to make this cake? Alison wrote it up for BuzzFeed (though she made one substitution in the icing, though I don’t think you’ll notice). Click through here to see it.

“Everyone’s Favorite Celebration Cake” from “Dining In”

“The Party Cake Builder” from “Smitten Kitchen Every Day”

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Given that my dad’s life philosophy is, “Any excuse for a party,” I’ve got to say that I was initially attracted to the name of this recipe. Who wouldn’t want to know how to build a party cake? Count. Me. In.

The basic premise behind this recipe is that Deb gives you a foundation recipe that’s pretty simple and requires no unusual ingredients or multiple bowls. You then scale it up following the directions in the book depending on how big a cake and/or party you’re having. Absolute genius.

So we weren’t having a party on the day I made this cake, but following my dad’s life philosophy, I made it anyway. It went down a storm. Sure, it wasn’t the most exciting cake I’ve ever made, but it was really good and really easy. I’m fairly adept at making cakes, but I can imagine this would be the perfect recipe for someone who was a bit nervous about making a whole cake. (I feel your pain. The first cake I made [when I was 12, but still] was an utter disaster.) This would be a good place to start. It’s also a perfect recipe for when you need a lot of cake, like cupcakes for a school bake sale or a large sheet cake for a pot-luck dinner.

Everyone in this family loved it. It was really moist and the chocolate icing I made to go with it was lovely. I even pushed the boat out and used my American sprinkles (twice in one month! I KNOW), which made it look even prettier.

Party builder cake? Let’s do this.

“The Party Cake Builder” from “Smitten Kitchen Every Day”

“Honey Bundt Cake” from “Flavour”

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Regular readers of this blog will know that I frequently test out the cake/tart/sweet treat recipes on my book club. They are willing guinea pigs and *usually* we end up with something delicious. (Aside from the one time I had to throw out an entire cake once it emerged from the oven because I could tell by looking at it that it was going to be disgusting. But we don’t talk about that.)

I wasn’t so sure about this once I had made the batter. Ruby tells you in the introduction that the quantity makes “a smaller, more manageable cake” but it looked like very little batter to me. But I persevered, and also used the bundt pan where it wouldn’t have mattered how much batter filled the pan– unlike this one.

I’m glad I did so. While it did make a much smaller bundt cake than the one I’m used to producing, it made a very reasonable sized cake and small slices too. This meant that nearly everyone went for a second slice, which we ate while we drank our coffee or tea. It’s the perfect cake for hot drinks.

This was a triumph. So much so that two of the book club members, who have endured tested many a cake for me said it was by far their most favourite book club cake ever.

High praise indeed.

If you’d like to impress your own book club, or indeed your own family, Google Books has indexed Flavour and you can find the recipe by clicking through this link.

“Honey Bundt Cake” from “Flavour”

“Easy Chocolate Birthday Cake” from “Flavour”

Maureen Stapleton, , , , 1 Comment

It seems appropriate to start a month of cooking with a Great British Bake Off runner up with a cake. Also, I have found in life there is always a good reason to have some chocolate cake. Those truly are words to live by.

Using the word “Easy”, however, gave me pause. Baking a cake isn’t easy for everyone. I distinctly remember the first time I tried to make a chocolate cake. It was almost exactly 15 years ago and I wanted to make a cake for Tim’s birthday. I dutifully went off to John Lewis to buy the cake pans and other bits I needed to make it. The cake part went fine, but when it was time to make the icing, it was an UTTER DISASTER. The icing just poured down the sides of the cake and pooled around the cake on the cake dish. It was laughably bad.

It’s a wonder that I ever tried to make a cake again. But I persevered, and in fact, it was only two years later that I made a wedding cake– or actually should be CAKES– to feed 250 people.

While I did find this easy, I also know that I’m much better at making cakes than I used to be. So I honestly don’t know if it would be easy for everyone. It definitely was easier than the cake I made last month, the Devil’s Food Cake with Buttercream Meringue. The directions for this cake are clear and straightforward, so if you want to try your first cake, this might be a good place to start.

Most importantly, it is delicious. It is an unfussy, moist and delectable specimen of a cake. It is the type of cake that sits happily on a counter and you just take small slivers off of it every time you’re a bit peckish until suddenly there’s nothing left. I wouldn’t just limit making this cake for birthdays, either. We had no birthdays to celebrate here and yet we managed to force it down. Again to reiterate: There’s always a good reason to have chocolate cake.

Highly recommended. (Though I still don’t know if it’s easy or not.)

Try this recipe! Ruby helpfully also wrote it up for her column in the Guardian, which you can find if you click through this link. 

 

“Easy Chocolate Birthday Cake” from “Flavour”

“Soft Spiced Apple Cake” from “Flavour”

Kirstin, , 1 Comment

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Kirstin: Soft spiced apple cake. What could be more perfect on a winter’s evening with friends? Or come to that, on a Monday morning while doing chores? Or on a Sunday afternoon while tackling a puzzle in front of a fire? It turns out that THIS is the perfect cake for ALL of those activities. And more. If lasts that long in your house, that is! Do not be put off by the long list of spices; they are there for a reason. This is beautifully perfumed and heavenly. Super easy to make, THIS is the recipe I will come back to again and again. Epic. And for a non-baker, I have to admit I am VERY curious about her previous book now.

“Soft Spiced Apple Cake” from “Flavour”

“Devil’s Food Cake with Coffee Meringue Buttercream” from “Cooking for Jeffrey”

Maureen Stapleton, , , 7 Comments

Ordinarily I wouldn’t include the title of the icing of this cake, but given the time and the effort involved to make what was probably the best cake icing I’ve ever made*, it would be remiss of me to leave it out.

*Not a typo. Truly. THE BEST CAKE ICING I’VE EVER MADE.

But the distinction of having been the best icing I’ve ever made– and I’ve made A LOT, believe me– comes with this caveat: it also took the longest amount of time and the most equipment.

For this is no ordinary buttercream, but MERINGUE buttercream. This involved me using my candy thermometer to create sugar syrup, beating said syrup into the egg white meringues for ONE HOUR (again, not a typo) and then beating in the butter and the flavourings. For the “Great British Bake Off” fans among you, this is the Italian meringue buttercream that some bakers have made in the past. If I ever try out for the show again**, I will make this.

**A story for another time.

So sure, it was a total pain to make. But honestly I can’t overstate how good and delicious this was. It also was super-easy to pipe with, because it was so light.

Barefoot Contessa advises you in the introduction of the icing that it’s a bit complicated to make and you may want to do a test run first before doing it for real. I didn’t follow this advice. Life is too short. If my skills were lacking in making this for the first time and it proved to be a disaster, I would have just made one of my tried-and-true buttercreams instead. To be fair, this does require some skill (not to mention a candy thermometer), but if you follow the directions, you should be fine.

This cake, which is the big stonking slice of cake that the Barefoot Contessa holds on the cover of the cookbook, is also good. It’s a good basic Devil’s Food Cake. The recipe was straightforward and it’s delicious.

Would I make this again? I would. I doubt very much that I would make Italian meringue buttercream for every cake I make in the future, as I’m pretty sure I’m going to reserve it for special occasion cakes only. But honestly, it was worth the time and the effort.

To reiterate: It was the best icing I’ve ever made in my life. Yum. Yum. Yum.

If you’d like to make this yourself, click through this paragraph to find the recipe on Food52.

“Devil’s Food Cake with Coffee Meringue Buttercream” from “Cooking for Jeffrey”