Cakes are often reserved for special occasions, from dinner parties to birthdays to weddings. But what about Tuesday afternoon pick-me-ups and Sunday morning brunches? Enter: writer, photographer, and stylist Yossy Arefi's newest cookbook, Snacking Cakes, a collection of 50 everyday recipes, from Cocoa Yogurt Cake to Powdered Donut Cake (below!). If you're familiar with Yossy's first book, Sweeter Off the Vine, you won't be surprised to learn there are many fruit-dense wonders here as well, like Blueberry Ricotta Cake and Orange–Poppy Seed Cake With Fresh Raspberry Glaze. In this excerpt, Yossy explores what a snacking cake is anyway. We highly recommend reading it while snacking on cake.
So, what exactly makes a cake a snacking cake? I certainly didn't invent the concept, and it depends a little bit on who you ask, but to me a snacking cake is a single layer cake, probably square, covered with a simple icing—or nothing at all—and it must be truly easy to make. It’s a cake that makes an ideal breakfast to-go, wrapped in a paper napkin, and a perfect little sweet to have alongside coffee in the afternoon.
These cakes are the kind of baking I love—they are low stress and don’t require much besides a reasonably stocked pantry, a bowl, and a whisk. These aren’t the kind of all-day project bakes you’ll see on The Great British Baking Show; rather, they are humble everyday treats that can lift your spirit and satisfy your hunger for something sweet, at any time of day. These are the sort of cakes you can throw together after work on a weeknight with minimal effort, minimal time, and minimal mess.
Snacking cakes can be cut into tidy little squares and tucked into lunch boxes or wrapped up in a sheet of beeswax food wrap to gift to a friend who has just moved into a new
apartment, so they have something for dessert that night, and breakfast the next morning. They are the sort of cakes that help celebrate the large and small moments of life. Even if that moment is just making it through work on a Monday.
Reprinted with permission from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi, copyright © 2020. Photographs by Yossy Arefi. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.
Ingredients
Donut Cake
| 2 |
large eggs
|
| 3/4 |
cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
|
| 1 |
cup (220 grams) sour cream
|
| 1/2 |
cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
|
| 1 1/4 |
teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
|
| 1 |
teaspoon vanilla extract
|
| 3/4 |
teaspoon kosher salt
|
| 1 1/2 |
cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
|
| 1 1/2 |
teaspoons baking powder
|
| 1/4 |
teaspoon baking soda
|
| 2 |
large eggs
|
| 3/4 |
cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
|
| 1 |
cup (220 grams) sour cream
|
| 1/2 |
cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
|
| 1 1/4 |
teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
|
| 1 |
teaspoon vanilla extract
|
| 3/4 |
teaspoon kosher salt
|
| 1 1/2 |
cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
|
| 1 1/2 |
teaspoons baking powder
|
| 1/4 |
teaspoon baking soda
|
Topping
| 1 |
tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
|
| 3 |
tablespoons confectioners' sugar
|
| 1 |
tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
|
| 3 |
tablespoons confectioners' sugar
|
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