Cake

This cake is very versatile and can be made with apples, pears, peaches, plums, or any full-flavored, slightly acidic fruit. Arrange the sliced fruit as you would for a Tarte Tatin (page 366).

It’s a satisfying thing, knowing how to make a classic buttery, delicate cake from scratch. A 1-2-3-4 cake is a version of a traditional recipe the name of which refers to the quantities of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs—the cake’s principal ingredients. The cake has wonderful flavor, and the texture is moist and tender, the two qualities that make a cake great. Unadorned, it makes a simple tea cake perfectly suited for a garnish of fresh fruit; decorated, it can be anything from a birthday cake to a wedding cake to individual cupcakes. Baking requires more precision than most other types of cooking and it is enormously helpful to gather and measure your ingredients carefully at the outset. The first steps to baking a cake are preparing the pan, preheating the oven, and assembling the ingredients. To prepare the cake pan, first butter the inside, spreading softened butter thinly and evenly with a butter wrapper, a brush, or your fingers. To ensure that the cake does not stick to the bottom, line it with parchment paper: trace the bottom of the pan on a piece of parchment paper, cut it out, and put it into the pan. Butter the piece of parchment paper as well. The recipe may also say to flour the pan. To do so, put a couple of tablespoons of flour (or cocoa, for chocolate cakes) into the pan and carefully rotate it to distribute the flour evenly over the butter. Once all the butter has been coated with flour, invert the pan and tap out all the excess. Bake cakes in a preheated oven. The first few minutes of baking determine how a cake will rise. When the oven is not up to temperature, the rising is inhibited. Preheat the oven for at least 15 minutes and check the temperature with an oven thermometer before putting the cake in to bake. Having all your ingredients measured and at room temperature before you start makes the whole process smoother and easier, and you’ll be less likely to make mistakes. Room-temperature ingredients are essential. Adding cold ingredients will cause the batter to “seize,” or shrink and deflate, which will compromise the cake’s texture, making it dense instead of light. Butter needs to be soft; take it out of the refrigerator to soften for at least 30 minutes. It will soften faster if you cut it up into small pieces. Measuring out the milk and separating the eggs ahead of time will give them time to warm up. The flour is mixed with salt and a chemical leavener, either baking powder or baking soda. For a lighter, more delicate cake, use cake flour; it is made from soft wheat, which has a lower protein content, and is milled very fine. Pastry flour is the next-best thing. All-purpose flour can be used, too, but the texture of the cake will be heavy and coarse; cake flour makes a big difference. The most accurate measure of flour is by weight, but most recipes in the United States use measurements in volume. The amount of flour added to a cake makes a big difference in its final texture so, for consistency, try to measure the flour exactly the same way every time. For delicate cakes I suggest sifting more flour than the recipe calls for before you measure it. Sifting aerates the flour and makes it easier to mix, which helps to keep the cake light. Scoop or spoon the flour into the measuring cup (use a dry measuring cup, with a flat rim and no pour spout) and scrape a spatula or knife across the top of the cup to level it. Don’t compact the flour by tapping the cup or smashing the flour down. After sifting and measuring, stir the other dry ingredients into the flour. Many recipes instruct you to sift the dry ingredients together, but stirring does a better job of mixing the ingredients. The first step of assembling the batter is to cream the softened butter with sugar. Beat the butter and sugar until the mixture is soft and fluffy and very light in color. If you do this with an electric mixer the butter and sugar can be beaten together from the start, but w...

As we well know, chocolate has been around for a very long time, dating all the way back to pre-Columbian Mexico. Once considered a gift from the gods by the Mayans, and after being introduced to Europe, reserved for Spanish royalty, chocolate has become a worldwide favorite when preparing desserts. You’ll find it in cakes, tarts, dessert sauces, and soufflés, as you see here. Mexican chocolate, available in Latin markets and some supermarkets, is flavored with cinnamon, almonds, and vanilla. It makes for an unmistakable—and irresistible—soufflé.

Not only is this giant layer cake a stunner, it is absolutely delicious with its creamy guava filling and fluffy buttercream frosting. We had a guava tree in my mom’s garden, and when the fruit was in season, we ate our share of guava cakes, guava tarts, guava water, and pretty much guava anything. This is my homage to my mom’s guava tree.

The fact is, I could come up with a hundred different cajeta recipes. Cajeta, a caramel-like spread traditionally made with goat’s milk, is readily available all over Mexico and is known as dulce de leche in other parts of Latin America. Cajeta, which translates as “small box,” used to refer to the box in which the cajeta was sold. Now you can find it in a glass jar, a much more convenient presentation. It is found in many supermarkets and Latin markets and is available in different flavors, the most common being wine and strawberry. Any flavored cajeta would work well in this recipe. Whipped with cream and a little sugar, it is a perfectly sweetened filling for this tasty treat—which is just as delightful as it is messy to eat.

This is a decadent and classic Mexican cake that you have to make at least once in your life (and if you do, I guarantee you’ll make it again). A firm-textured cake, it holds up to being soaked in three kinds of milk/cream (hence the name tres leches). Traditionally it’s topped with sweetened beaten raw egg whites, which could be dangerous for small kids and pregnant women, two groups that really enjoy this cake. An Italian meringue, which is made of cooked egg whites, is the perfect solution.

Pound cakes may not be the flashiest cakes in the baker’s arsenal, but when you are craving something rich and satisfying, few things can beat them. Raspberries make this one special, with a tart tang and lovely flecks of fuchsia when you slice into the loaf. I dreamed this up for my husband, who is particularly fond of raspberries in his desserts, but now it’s become a year-round favorite with us both. Try the vin santo cream on poached fruit or even in a cup of strong coffee. It’s unusual but delicious.

Cornmeal, or polenta, is a staple ingredient in the Italian pantry and is used for both savory and sweet dishes. This not-too-sweet cake combines cranberries and orange, which remind me of the holidays—which is when I most often make this. It’s one of those versatile cakes you can serve for breakfast, with tea in the afternoon, or at the end of a big meal topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I like to make a few extra to give as hostess gifts.

There are probably as many apple cakes as there are varieties of apples. This one is easy, rich, and delicious, and it keeps fairly well, too. Use an apple that will soften during cooking, like Cortland, Rome, Golden Delicious, or McIntosh.

Linzertorte is really a big jam-topped cookie, and, for the amount of work—it’s pretty simple—is one of the most impressive desserts around. You can make individual cookies if you prefer. Red currant or raspberry jam is traditional, but you can use any jam you like as long as it is of high quality. If it is not already seedless, strain it to remove the seeds.

An ironic creation, in that it is usually said to originate in Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia, in northwestern Spain—where almonds do not grow. Nevertheless, it’s a wonderful, not-too-sweet dessert, most definitely for grown-ups. I like this in a spring-form pan, but it can be made in two layers if you prefer.

Something between pudding and cake, basbousa is popular throughout the Middle East. It’s always drenched in sugar syrup and often topped with fresh whipped cream. Rose water (sold in small bottles at Middle Eastern stores; it keeps indefinitely) is an odd ingredient, a lovely flavor that can quickly become overpowering. Use it judiciously.

This is what I think of as real coffee cake—not extraordinarily sweet and for some people not even a dessert. If you want it more cakelike, double the sugar in the dough and consider adding a couple more tablespoons of butter. But this is wonderful with a cup of coffee in the afternoon or toasted, with a little butter, in the morning. With the food processor, this dough becomes quite quick to make; just keep the processing to a minimum. You want to avoid building up the gluten in the flour so it doesn’t become tough. If you don’t feel like braiding the dough (it really is fun, though, and takes only a few extra minutes), by all means bake this in a loaf pan.

Rich, dark, and sweet, honey cake was originally a kind of pound cake made by people who could not afford refined sugar or flour (many old honey cake recipes use rye flour, not exactly what we think of as dessert). This is a light, more modern (at least twentieth-century) recipe, quite succulent. Some people stir raisins (about 1/2 cup) and/or chopped almonds or walnuts (also about 1/2 cup) into the batter just before baking. Others cut the loaves in half after baking and add a layer of jam, then reassemble. Personally, I like my honey cake plain.

The basic cake of the French pastry repertoire is génoise, used as the foundation for dozens of cakes and other desserts. While it is essentially sponge cake made with butter, it’s rarely eaten plain or on its own. Rather, it might be moistened with liqueur or sweet or fortified wine (Grand Marnier, Sauternes, or Oloroso sherry, for example) and served with a little whipped cream or used as a building block for other desserts like Trifle (page 651).

A delicious buttery northern European specialty whose name derives from its rough texture. For the best possible flavor, toast and grind fresh spices. If you have whole cardamom, remove the seeds from the pods by crushing the pods lightly with the side of a knife (discard the hulls). Then combine them with a bit of cinnamon stick and a small piece of nutmeg in a small dry skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently until the mixture is aromatic. Grind well, then combine with the ginger.