A "Sweet" Taste of Cake

If you want a perfectly made cake look no further than Yotam  Ottolenghi. This famed British chef and baker can create the ideal one, rich with flavor and moist with texture. Now fans and home bakers can whip up exact copies, thanks to his and Helen Goh's new recipe book, Sweet  based solely on treats from the oven.

Chef Ottolenghi and fellow baker, Australian , Helen Goh, give the world their best recipes. Chef Ottolenghi wrote about  two of them in yesterday's New York Times Food section. He and Ms. Goh have been together as fellow bakers and partners since 2006. She started in the savory side of Ottolenghi's vast food empire and later graduated to the sweet side.It was at this point that he recognized that saw his own restlessness and insatiable drive for perfection. They made the perfect team.  They share a passion for precise measuring and timing along with weighing the right amounts to create the perfect sweet. She also brings her Australian and Malaysian heritage to the table as well. The site sells the famed Aussie cookie yo-yos, a crunchy sandwich cookie filled with  passion fruit buttercream while the pastry shop offers  billowy powder puff cakes and her famed chocolate one that an Australian newspaper once called the "world' best" Her Malaysian influence is seen in Chef Ottolenghi's bakery , especially in her chiffon cakes and pandain infused pineapple tarts. She has also brought her cupcakes, scones madeleines and cheesecakes too, that also features cakes from his childhood..

Chef Ottolenghi and Ms. Goh gave two of their recipes from the new book. One is that famous chocolate cake, the other is a pistachio and rose water semolina one.The chocolate one is deep in flavor and rich,It is also a buttery one, using a cup plus one and a half tablespoons of the unsalted kind.To offset the cocoa's intensity,  a teaspoon and a half of instant coffee granules.As for the chocolate itself, both dark chocolate pieces and a half cup of Dutch processed cocoa. The flavor is magnified by the addition of a choice of icings. -a rich  chocolate ganache or an espresso cinnamon marscapone topping. If this is too intense there is pistachio and rose water semolina cake, This relies on pistachio and cardamon for a mellow blend of taste along with almond meal. There is a lot of butter needed too, namely a cup of it plus one tablespoon. That and four large eggs create the golden crumb.It can be served plain with just rose water syrup drizzled on top but it can be made lusher with a rose cream made with both creme fraiche and Greek yogurt. More rose water and confectioners sugar sweeten it. The cake is decorated with candied rose petals,easy to make just pesticide free rose petals, egg whites and granulated sugar.

Chef Ottolenghi and Ms Goh have created the ultimate baking  cookbook. The recipes are richly satisfying. Get it and bake!