Everyday Cakes – FoodWatcher

perfect blueberry muffin loaf

It’s been about what how has it been almost 8 years since I overhauled an old blueberry muffin recipe in the archives to turn them into what I consider the highest calling of the category, perfect in taste (not too sweet, dreamy crumb, l…

It’s been about what how has it been almost 8 years since I overhauled an old blueberry muffin recipe in the archives to turn them into what I consider the highest calling of the category, perfect in taste (not too sweet, dreamy crumb, lemon scented, absolutely riddled with blueberries, and finished with the crunchiest bronzed lid, perfect for lifting off in a satisfying shell and swiping the underside with salted butter) and ease (one-bowl, hand-whisked, even measurements, fuss free ingredients). Because who cares if a muffin recipe is perfect if I can’t throw it together half-asleep like the zombie I am most mornings? I’m thrilled that so many of you agreed.

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new york crumb cake

Hasn’t it always been too long since your last slice of profoundly perfect crumb cake? You know, the kind that’s a hefty square with at least as much height from big brown sugar and cinnamon crumbs as from a golden, buttery, sour cream-enriched and vanilla-scented cake? Yes, me too. I didn’t expect to be back here so soon, though. I truly believed I’d finished my Crumb Cake Degree in 2021 with the still-perfect-in-every-way Big Apple Crumb Cake. But sometimes, perfection is a process.

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flaky chocolate cake

I know we’re in the midst of the nth heatwave of the summer and the idea of eating anything but a bowl of cold cherries or, worse, something that requires you turn your oven on sounds about as unappealing as that curiously empty subway car [that definitely has no a/c or worse] but trust me when I say that someone in your friend group, family, or life has a birthday coming up and they’re hoping that you make them this.

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This is the lightweight, semi-collapsed disc of cognac-kissed dark chocolate I nominate to be your backpocket, arsenal-worthy decadent cake for small but fancy times. It’s been in my rotation for well over a decade — I’ve shared riffs on it in these cupcakes and in the tiny but intense chocolate cake in this book — because while I could never get into those dense, nap-inducing bittersweet chocolate cakes of the early aughts, a few adjustments led me to this dream. Here’s what sets it apart:

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carrot cake with coconut and dates

I realize that sharing a new recipe for a carrot cake the day after Easter is about as useful as a new latke recipe the day after Hanukkah ends or a perfect buche de noel on December 26th. I’d intended to share this a week ago and — hubris alert! — I was patting myself on my back for my own cleverness, the first sign things are going to head south. What could be more perfect for a week that contained both Easter and Passover, while also saving so many people the work of having to adapt a gluten- or dairy-full cake to not include them? Nothing! But I was unraveled by dual forces: first, some confusion about whether or not baking powder, a leavener, is allowed on Passover, a holiday that prohibits leavened breads [turns out it is!] and also by our own Seder preparations [we had 16 people here on Wednesday night; I’m criminally bad at outsourcing so I cooked for 3.5 days straight]. And that brings us up to today. A lovely thing about having a 16 year-old for a cooking blog, however, is that even poorly-timed arrivals tend to find their rightful place in the archives. When you come looking for a flourless carrot cake, be it today, next week, or next April holiday season, this will be here, seemingly right on time.

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