It's the start of the holiday season and with it a time of sweet treats. Nothing can compare to a home baked cake, made from scratch and with love. The Sunday New York Times Magazine (spoiler alert!) has come up with three
, delicious recipes that are sure to be family favorites and a home baker's go to.
Tejal Rao, a Wednesday Food section contributor, and master chef herself gathered recipes from three pro bakers. The first cake is cranberry lemon stripe cake
,by Helen Goh.. She
co authored a cookbook
, Sweet, with famed baker and chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. The cake is a festive one with a vertical (!) stripe. The basic cake is a sponge, which is quite malleable. The filling is a cranberry puree made with just frozen cranberries and sugar. The other part of the stripe comes from the cranberry butter cream, however this is not the typical butter cream most home bakers use. This also has corn syrup and egg yolks. It's more labor intensive too, because the eggs and corn syrup have to be cooked and then added to a bowl.
and whisked. Butter cubes are added afterwards as does the puree.
Assembly though is easy
,It's creating a sponge roll, wrapping the three
buttercream and puree frosted layers around each other. A watered down version of the puree is then drizzled on top.
Another decadent treat is Stella Park's devil's food cake with toasted marshmallow icing. Ms Parks is
author of the cake cookbook,
Bravetart and has created some amazing desserts and treats. This cake is a classic, rich, dark cake,
zinged up with the addition of coffee. The marshmallow icing is a homemade one, consisting of egg whites
, sugar, cream of tartar and vanilla. There is also the addition of Kosher salt too to balance out the sweet. The fun comes in icing it and using a small blowtorch to get that toasted look. The third cake comes from Genevieve Koh, creator of the cookbook,
Better Baking, a full recipe book that has gluten free recipes. Hers is a sugarplum gingerbread cake, ripe with the flavors of the season
.Prunes are what
give it that
earthy fruity sweetness while the full array of spices such as ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves. The prunes do have to be rehydrated and this is done by simmering them in boiling water for a few minutes, and then
bathing them in molasses and baking powder
.The cake is baked in a Bundt pan and dusted liberally with cocoa powder.
Any of these cakes would make a holiday meal more festive. Make them for a holiday dinner or holiday party. They are the perfect treat to welcome in the season
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