Pink Cakes and Freeze-Dried Strawberries

My ingredient obsession of the moment: freeze-dried strawberries. Have you tried them yet? You may have had them in your breakfast cereal. They're light as a feather and seem to dissolve instantly on your tongue, and they taste like…well, imagine if you crammed an entire pint of super-ripe strawberries into your mouth along with a couple of strawberry Jolly Ranchers—that's how they taste.

Perhaps it's because strawberry season is three long months away or perhaps it's because freeze-dried strawberries really are that good, but I've been grinding them up and putting them in everything. I love how they turn buttercreams and cake batters technicolor pink. It's like when Dorothy found herself in Oz and suddenly the world was in brilliant color. But with flavor! Three quarters of an ounce of strawberry powder plus a little tinkering transformed my regular financier batter into these lovely treats.


I'm thinking of making pink angel food cake or pink yellow cake frosted with pink whipped cream next.

Strawberry-Almond Teacakes
Printable Recipe

¾ ounce freeze-dried strawberries
5 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the tins
2 ½ ounces almond meal
5 ounces egg whites, at room temperature
5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the tins

Grind the freeze-dried strawberries to a fine powder in a blender, spice mill, or clean coffee grinder. Whisk together the strawberry powder, sugar, flour, and almond meal in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined and then whisk in the butter until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners and divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the teacakes start to shrink away from the pan. Let the teacakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen teacakes. Both the unbaked batter and the finished teacakes have good keeping qualities.

Financiers

Financiers are said to resemble a bar of gold, and they are so good, they're certainly worth their weight in the precious metal…


These little French cakelettes are crisp around the edges and moist and tender within. They are as rich as their name implies, full of almonds and brown butter. Though they need no embellishment, financiers take well to whatever fruit is in season, be it berry, stone fruit, apple, pear, or citrus. Sometimes they masquerade as hazelnut or pistachio flavored. And on occasion, chocolate flavored. Both the unbaked batter and the finished cakes have good keeping qualities. Best of all, financiers are effortless and take mere minutes to whip up. My favorite cake of the moment.

Yesterday, I harvested all of the Italian prune plums from the little tree in our garden and promptly baked a batch.


Plum Financiers
Printable Recipe

5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the tins
5 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the tins
2 ½ ounces almond meal
5 ounces egg whites, at room temperature
3 Italian prune plums, halved, pitted, and thinly sliced

Heat a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until browned. Transfer the butter to a bowl and let cool.

Whisk together the sugar, flour, and almond meal in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined and then whisk in the butter until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter and flour 12 financier tins and divide the batter among them. Fan out the plum slices atop the batter in each financier tin. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the financiers start to shrink away from the tins. Let the financiers cool in the tins for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen financiers. If you do not have traditional rectangular financier tins, use a muffin pan and adjust the baking time accordingly. The brown butter should be cooled but still melted when you mix the financier batter.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Need I say more? Probably not, but what the heck…

It calls for ingredients you probably already have on hand. It's an excuse to get out that dusty angel food cake pan. It's a cinch to whip up. It's as light as a cloud. It's pretty guilt free as far as cake goes. Oh, and did I mention it's cake?

Bake it. You know you want to.

But before I get to the recipe, a few announcements…

Check out Cooking Mistake 4: Being Afraid of Heat (on page 62) of "10 Common Cooking Mistakes…And How to Avoid Them" in the April/May issue of Clean Eating magazine for a quote from yours truly.

And if you just can't get enough of me *ahem* watch me talk about healthy cooking and Seared to Perfection in this ALX Fitness video.

Finally, registration for spring Clark College cooking classes opened recently, and there's still time to sign up for my French Bistro Favorites, Seafood Primer: Baking & Sautéing, and Seafood Primer: Searing & Frying classes. Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Printable Recipe

1 1/3 cups cake flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
10 room temperature large eggs, separated
1 cup water
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, ½ cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, water, oil, and vanilla. Add the yolk mixture to the cocoa mixture and whisk until smooth.

In a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip the egg whites on medium until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and whip to soft peaks. With the motor running on high, gradually add the remaining ½ cup of sugar. Continue to whip on high to stiff peaks. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the cocoa mixture, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Transfer to an ungreased 10-inch loose-bottom tube pan and run a skewer through the batter to eliminate air pockets. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the center of the cake springs back when pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Invert the pan and let the cake cool in the pan to room temperature. Run a paring knife around the inside of the cake pan and remove the sides of the pan from the cake. Run the knife around the center tube and the base of the pan and remove the base from the cake. Transfer the cake to a cake plate and dust with plenty of powdered sugar. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 1 10-inch cake, serving 8 to 10. Tube pans are often referred to as angel food cake pans. If you happen to have one that's smaller than what's specified here, go ahead and use it but only fill it ¾ full. You can bake any excess batter in a muffin pan lined with paper liners. A hot-out-of-the-oven chiffon cake is extremely delicate and will collapse under its own weight, so it must be cooled upside down in its pan. Some tube pans feature feet on the rim to allow for easy inversion and room for air to circulate all around the cake as it cools. A tube pan without feet can be inverted over the top of a narrow-necked bottle. Cake keeps well and stays moist for several days tightly sealed at room temperature.

A Croquembouche for Nine Years

Today the husband and I celebrate another year of wedded bliss. I made a little surprise for him for our special day.


Happy anniversary, Hubby! Love you!

Cupcakes Versus Muffins

Do you know the difference between cupcakes and muffins? Well, it has to do with the mixing method. Cakes are made by the creaming method, and muffins are made by the unsurprisingly named muffin method. In the cake method, the butter and sugar are creamed together until light and fluffy, then the eggs are slowly mixed in, and finally the dry and wet ingredients are incorporated. In the simpler muffin method, the dry ingredients are combined, the wet ingredients are combined, and then the wet and dry ingredients are briefly mixed together. The cake method, while more time consuming, typically produces sweeter, lighter, and more tender results.

So technically, these cupcakes are actually muffins. But, since they’re so moist and tender, and since they’re frosted, I’m calling them cupcakes. So there.

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Printable Recipe

Nonstick pan spray, optional
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 very ripe bananas
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup sour cream, at room temperature
3 ounces (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus 4 ounces (1 stick), at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick pan spray or line with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Peel the bananas and, in a medium bowl, mash them using a fork. Stir in the eggs, sour cream, melted butter, and ½ teaspoon of the vanilla. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until the edges of the cupcakes start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and finish cooling completely.

Place the chocolate into a small bowl, place the bowl over a small pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Let cool slightly. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and room temperature butter on medium until light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and the remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla and beat until blended. Add the chocolate and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe onto the cupcakes in a decorative manner.

Makes 12 cupcakes. If you don’t have a pastry bag, simply spread the frosting on the cupcakes, swirling decoratively, with a spatula. Cupcakes keep for 2 to 3 days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes for Valentine's Day

They’re perfect for Valentine’s Day. Actually, they’re just plain perfect. Chocolaty, hot, and over-the-top indulgent, these Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes ooze (pun intended) sex appeal. The only trouble is, they’re so luscious you may not want to share, not even with your sweetheart.

At one time, chocolate cakes with a molten center were all the rage on restaurant menus. But they never go out of style—they’re like the little black dress of the dessert world. And now that I think about it, I’m noticing another trend: Valentine’s Day inevitably makes me think of warm, melty chocolate—just check out this Chocolate Fondue for Two with Strawberries.

So happy Valentine’s Day everybody! And even if you don’t do Valentine’s Day, you’ve gotta try these cakes!

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
Printable Recipe

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the ramekins
¾ ounce cornstarch
10 ounces sugar
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Generously butter 8 large ramekins. Combine the semisweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in a medium bowl, place the bowl over a small pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Whisk together the cornstarch and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk in the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, yolks, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Divide among the ramekins and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours, or until thoroughly chilled.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Bake the cakes for 24 to 26 minutes, or until the tops dome and just set. Let cool for about 5 minutes and serve as is, or to unmold, using pot holders, carefully invert each ramekin onto a dessert plate.

Makes 8 individual cakes. One of the most decadent chocolate desserts ever, and also one of the easiest to make. As the cakes bake, the edges will rise. As soon as the dimple in the center of each cake puffs up and sets, they’re ready. Leave the cakes in the oven any longer, and the centers will bake through and no longer be molten. Batter may be prepared and portioned into ramekins several days in advance and kept covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Bake just before serving. This means you can conveniently bake a couple of cakes at a time and save the rest for another day. Serve with vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Cake of One Sort or Another

My birthday was exactly one week ago. And since we’ll make the most of any excuse to celebrate, the festivities are ongoing. The hubby must've set out to spoil me because he’s been taking me out to eat a lot. We’ve indulged in fried chicken (my favorite guilty pleasure), ham and cheese croissants and chocolate bouchons at the Pearl Bakery, Chinese food, including an order of whole fried garlic fish (mmmm, garlic), gooey pizza, sushi, and Elephants Delicatessen’s Ding Dong Cakes. Yes, that’s cakes plural, because one cake is never enough. Oh, and he even managed to put a birthday candle into my birthday coffee. Don’t ask me how he did it, he’s the engineer…

Besides all that, we've also found room for some home cooking, mostly because I had to play with my birthday presents, all cookware of course (my family knows me well). So I made roast chicken rubbed with sweet Spanish paprika, garlic, and olive oil with the All-Clad Ultimate Chicken Roaster Hubby got me, and (although I’d already busted it out of its box and played with it once before) I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer Pasta Press Attachment, a gift from my generous parents, to make homemade extruded spaghetti with sausage and broccoli.

The only birthday activity I didn’t get to—and trust me, I’m not complaining—is baking a birthday cake. I do usually bake my own cake, but with so much devil’s food and whipped cream coming my way already, it would’ve been overkill…

Um, hold everything—did I really just imply that there’s such a thing as cake overkill?

Anyway, I prepared cake of another sort...Lucky for me, Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab season just happens to coincide with my birthday season.


Ultimate Dungeness Crab Cakes with Chipotle Mayonnaise
Printable Recipe

¾ cup mayonnaise
2 to 3 chipotles en adobo sauce, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 large egg
¾ pound lump Dungeness crabmeat, picked over
1 ¼ cups panko breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Blend together ½ cup of the mayonnaise, the chipotles, about a third of the garlic, and the lime juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt.

Mix together the green onions, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, egg, and the remaining garlic in a large bowl. Stir in the crabmeat, ¾ cup of the panko, and the remaining ¼ cup of mayonnaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide into 8 equal portions and gently form each portion into a ball. Gently pat each ball into the shape of a small patty, about 2 ½ inches across. Dip each crab cake into the remaining ½ cup of panko to coat, patting so that it adheres.

Add the oil and butter to a large, heavy nonstick frying pan and heat over medium heat until a pinch of the breadcrumbs sizzles immediately when added. Add the crab cakes and fry without disturbing for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Using a fish spatula, turn the crab cakes and fry another 1 to 2 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown. Remove the crab cakes to a paper towel-lined plate and drain for about a minute. Arrange the crab cakes on individual plates, divide the chipotle mayonnaise among them, and serve immediately.

Makes 8 generous crab cakes. Pasty crab cakes that taste more like filler than crab are an all-too-common disappointment, so this is a recipe for crab cakes that are crisp and buttery on the outside, tender and moist on the inside, and big on sweet crab flavor. If Dungeness crabmeat is unavailable, try another variety. Be careful not to shred the crabmeat when mixing it with the other ingredients, and use gentle pressure when forming the cakes so that they hold together. One last thing—you may want to make extra chipotle mayo because it’s great on burgers too.

My Husband

On our first restaurant date, he ordered dessert first. That was the moment I knew he was the one for me. We’ve been together ever since, and yesterday we celebrated our eighth anniversary. I made two cakes for the occasion, since just one wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his sweet tooth. Here’s to many more desserts and many more years together!

Strawberry Curd

How do 2 people eat an entire flat of strawberries in just 4 days? To the exclusion of nearly everything else. Except for maybe whipped cream. It takes lots of creativity and determination and dessert twice a day. But we did it.

We had plain strawberries, sugared strawberries, strawberries and cream, strawberry ice cream, strawberry verrines, and Strawberry Curd, which we ate by the spoonful, over pink strawberry cupcakes, and in strawberry tartelettes. Four days of strawberry bliss.


For the strawberry cupcakes, I used this cupcake recipe, omitting the vanilla bean, decreasing the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon, and substituting 12 ounces strawberries, pureed, for the milk.


I used this tart crust dough for the tartelettes.


Strawberry Curd
Printable Recipe

14 ounces strawberries
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Puree the strawberries in a food mill using a fine disc. Bring the puree to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Whisk together the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a large bowl. Continue whisking while adding the hot puree in a thin stream. Place the bowl with the egg mixture over a medium pan of simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until thick. Stir in the butter and lemon juice. Chill.

Makes about 2 cups. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Intrigued by Tonka Beans and a Giveaway

Have you ever heard of tonka beans? I read about them on Cannelle et Vanille, Tartelette, La Tartine Gourmand, and Dessert First, some of my favorite food blogs. They said that tonka beans smell and taste like a mix of almond, vanilla, and clove. Let’s just say that I was more than a little bit intrigued.

So, you know me, I decided I had to get my hands on some and try them for myself. I started poking around and immediately discovered that, while tonka beans are legal and even quite fashionable to use in desserts in France and other parts of Europe, they have been banned in the U.S. from use in food. Yeah, I’m sure we know something that the Europeans don’t. Anyway, I read up about the little tonka bean and figured that anything will kill you if you eat enough of it.

I boldly continued my search and found that tonka beans are readily available on the internet, just ask Google. I hit the jackpot at an obscure local herb shop. The owner said that he stocked the tonka beans to sell to a lady who uses them for voodoo. Not for food use, so I guess that makes it OK.

I can’t tell you how exciting it was to finally score some illicit tonka beans. The smell hit me even before I even opened the bag—it’s no wonder the scientific name is odorata. Their fragrance made me flash back to eating apricots and peaches as a little girl. I remembered being at my Baba and Deda’s house and eating the sweet, juicy flesh and then the bitter kernel from inside the pit.


It’s that same bitter almond quality…


Funny how a certain smell or food can make you feel someone’s presence again…

The memory of eating apricot kernels is what inspired me to pair tonka beans and fresh apricots together in these cakelettes.


It was a happy marriage, and even my husband, who hates almonds (crazy, I know), loved it.

I would love to do a giveaway to share my tonka beans with you, but I figure I shouldn’t stray that far to the wrong side of the law. Instead, I’ll be giving away a set of 6 mini brioche tins, just like the ones I used to make these cakelettes, to one lucky reader. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment between now and Sunday, July 5 telling me if you are willing to consume tonka beans or not. One winner will be chosen at random from the commenters (so don’t sign in anonymously!). Good luck! I will announce the winner on Monday, July 6, so be sure to stop by to see if you’ve won.


Apricot-Tonka Bean Cakelettes
Printable Recipe

5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
All-purpose flour, for dusting the pans
9 ounces cake flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon freshly grated tonka bean
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
10 ounces sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces crème fraîche, at room temperature
12 apricots, peeled, halved, and pitted

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour 2 standard 12-cup muffin pans or 24 3 ¼-inch brioche tins. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, tonka bean, and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on high for 3 to 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then ½ of the crème fraîche, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the remaining ½ of the crème fraîche, and then the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low for only a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Divide the batter among the muffin cups or brioche tins. Press 1 apricot half cut side down into the center of each one. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the edges of the cakelettes start to shrink away from the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cakelette comes out clean. Let the cakelettes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 24 cakelettes. You can substitute a few drops of almond extract and a pinch of ground cloves for the tonka bean. If you are using muffin pans, feel free to use paper liners instead of greasing and flouring them.

Swiss Buttercream

It’s so good, you could almost eat it by itself.

Swiss Buttercream
Printable Recipe

4 ounces egg whites
8 ounces sugar
1 ounce corn syrup
10 ounces (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl over a medium pan of simmering water, and heat, whisking constantly, until an instant-read thermometer registers 141˚F. In a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip the egg white mixture on high until cooled to room temperature. With the motor running on high, add the butter a tablespoon at a time, whipping for a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue to whip on high until light and fluffy.

Makes more than enough to frost a layer cake or 2 dozen cupcakes. You can flavor this buttercream however you like. For vanilla buttercream, beat in 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract. For chocolate buttercream, beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract plus 5 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate or 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly. Buttercream keeps for about a week tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature and rewhip until light and fluffy before using.

Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake

My favorite cake is this Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake. (Well, to be completely honest, my favorite cake is whatever cake I happen to be eating at the moment, but never mind that.) This particular Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake is perfection. It’s light as a feather and fluffy as a cloud. It’s incredibly moist and incredibly tender and not too sweet. And it really tastes like the name promises—the flavors of lemon and crème fraîche shine through. It fulfills all of my cake fantasies in every way.


This perfect Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake originally came from the Pearl Bakery in Portland. I first encountered it there years ago. I remember how, as I was checking out the beautiful array of goodies behind the counter, the plain-looking cake caught my eye. It was already missing a slice so I could see the crumb. I ordered it on the spot. With no hesitation. Now, I’m not usually a decisive person when it comes to ordering in a bakery. I take my time considering the selection of pastries, I debate croissant versus Danish, and I pay no attention to the line forming behind me. But on that one day I knew exactly what I wanted—this cake was calling, no, screaming my name.


I was so smitten with the Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake that I had to ask the bakery’s pastry chef at the time for the recipe. She graciously shared it, though the directions were a bit sketchy. I’m so thankful that she did because I haven’t seen my favorite cake at the bakery in a long time. Whether they’re all sold out by the time I get there or whether they’ve completely lost their minds and discontinued it, who knows? And with the recipe, who cares?

Lemon-Crème Fraîche Cake
Printable Recipe

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
10 ounces cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Grated zest of 1 lemon
5 large eggs, at room temperature
11 ounces sugar
¾ cup crème fraîche, at room temperature
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9×3-inch round cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir the lemon zest into the flour mixture.

In a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, mix the eggs and sugar on high for 4 to 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy and doubled in volume. Add the crème fraîche and mix on low until just combined. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the butter, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the lemon juice, and then the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low for only a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Transfer to the cake pan and spread evenly. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until the edges of the cake start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and finish cooling completely. Dust with plenty of powdered sugar, cut into portions, and serve.

Makes 1 9-inch cake, serving 8. This cake is best the day it’s made. Definitely try the recipe with Meyer lemons when they’re in season. And if you don’t have crème fraîche, you can substitute sour cream.

Always Cake

When I first started dating my husband, I made a huge error in judgement—I baked a chocolate cake for no occasion at all. Actually, I made the mistake of baking three chocolate cakes. It was sort of an accident, the recipe I used made so much batter that I had to divide it between one regular-size cake pan and two smaller ones. I baked the cakes and frosted each one with sweetened whipped cream. When he came over, I fed him cake. And then I sent him home with a cake of his very own…Oops. He jumped to the obvious conclusion: with me around, there would always be cake. He expects multiple cakes, cakes all the time, cakes just for him, to share with no one else. A feeling of cake entitlement. I think he married me just for the cake.

Though my husband wouldn’t understand it, meeting this sort of demand for cake isn’t always easy. So I’ve devised an indulgent and fantastically quick and easy chocolate cake recipe that tastes a lot like devil’s food cake. But my recipe requires no sifting of dry ingredients, no creaming of butter and sugar and eggs, the ingredients don’t even have to be at room temperature. The buttercream frosting’s a snap too.


Quickie Chocolate Cake
Printable Recipe

For the cake:
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
8 ounces all-purpose flour
5 ounces sugar
5 ounces light brown sugar
2 ounces cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or scant 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the buttercream frosting:
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter a 9-inch square cake pan. Whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Combine the butter and chocolate in a small bowl, place the bowl over a small pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Whisk into the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Transfer to the cake pan and spread evenly.


Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the edges of the cake start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and finish cooling completely.

Make the buttercream frosting:
Place the chocolate into a small bowl, place the bowl over a small pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Let cool slightly. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until blended. Add the chocolate and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Assemble the cake:
Transfer the cake to a cake plate. Spread the frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake, swirling decoratively. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 1 9-inch square cake, serving one husband, or if you manage to hide it from the husband, 9 to 12 other people. Keeps well and stays moist for several days tightly sealed at room temperature. The recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch rectangular cake pan—it’s a tight fit, but I’ve done it.