Fans of Great British Bake Off, I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t remember this recipe on GBBO.”
Well you’d be right. It isn’t from the show and all pretense of law and order for Soggy Bottoms is out the window. 2020 has been a heck of a year and grocery shopping is odd enough as it is without needing very specific baking ingredients. However, I’ve still been baking and cooking, but on a more casual scale when it comes to recipes.
Recently, I picked up a book (it was a staff pick at Belmont Books) called Snacking Cakes. It’s been a topic of discussion over on our Twitch channel. I mean, sure, any cake could be a snacking cake depending on how you look at it, but from the book’s definition, it’s a single layer cake. Sometimes with a frosting or glaze, though not all the time.
So in the spirit of this terrible year, we’re pivoting. Soggy Bottoms is where I’ll bake whatever the fuck I want, and what I wanted to bake is a Buttered Walnut Cake with Maple Coffee Glaze.
This thing was so easy to put together, I didn’t even need to break out Priscilla, my stand mixer. I will say, though, be patient with everything. I was not, on account of my current mushy peach brain and had some snafus.
I didn’t wait for the cake to cool before turning it out and it ripped in places. I also didn’t sift my powdered sugar before making the icing, so there are little beads of powdered sugar in the glaze. My cap to my maple syrup also flew across the kitchen when trying to squeeze out 2 tablespoons, dumping the whole rest of the bottle into the bowl and forcing me to eyeball the rest of the ingredients to account for the excess. Also poured a good glob of icing by accident down the bundt hole (and yes, that would make an excellent insult).
But the thing tastes fucking delicious. The cake isn’t too rich, but soft and buttery. The icing is where the real sweetness comes in and even then, the mix of maple and coffee and pinch of salt keep it from feeling like cavities will form at any second.
This baking book is great for the baker who needs to adjust. Seriously, so thoughtful. The recipe I used had separate quick instructions if you only had a bundt pan or a loaf pan. Want a different kind of glaze or topping? They have suggestions! Want to use up the pecans you have instead of buying a new bag of walnuts? Totally cool. All of the recipes are customizable and I think I’ll be tackling their spice cake for Christmas, using the customizations of adding apples and a brown sugar whip instead of a vanilla bean glaze.
And if you want a reading recommendation that pairs well with this nutty cake, my comedy of errors in baking, and this no-fuss cookbook, obviously go with Nuts by Alice Clayton ( A | BN | K | G | AB ).
Are you curious about Snacking Cakes? Any no-fuss baking recipes you’d love to share?
Well good morning and that looks glorious!
Thank you for making my day <3
That sounds positively delicious, Amanda! There’s nothing like starting the day with a good drool.
Yay, my library has the ebook!
I love Snacking Cakes! It’s what I was hoping for when I bought Simple Cake, a book I also love, but that is sort of really not simple. If you need four bowls to make a cake, it might be delicious, but it is not simple. The jam swirl cake in Snacking Cakes is TOO GOOD FOR WORDS. I’m having a snow day on my couch and I really need to grade some papers, but I might get up in a minute or two and go make one, which is totally possible because these recipes genuinely are super fast. It sounds like the maple walnut cake was too! I have also made:
– the brown butter pecan cake with white chocolate chips – because it sounded amazing. You have to brown butter, so it took a little longer. Next time I will use milk chocolate chips instead of white chocolate.
– The honey cake with mixed spices. A hit with my kids, who love a honey cake.
– the chocolate yogurt cake. It is FAST. It is GOOD.
Urgh, I’ve been vowing not to buy another cookbook (especially my five zillionth baking book), but I’d been eyeing this one anyway…sold, dammit! Sorry, groaning shelves (and tables, and floor)…
Haha. I think we’ve all had similar baking mishaps…I’m just not sure I’ve had them all at the same time like you did! I’m glad you persevered.
I’ve had Snacking Cakes on my wish list for a bit. Am I going to had to break down and pay full price?!?
2020 has taken snacking cake form, brilliant! If your ultimately successful travails can’t serve as an appropriate metaphor for this year’s shitshow, nothing can. I’m greatly encouraged.
Whelp, that sounds delicious!
This cookbook sounds great! Are there pictures for every recipe?
I work in a library and I processed this cookbook and I basically was like, “oh nooooo, I don’t need to be introduced to the concept of snacking cakes.” And then i texted my sister a picture of the cover.
My easy but seems fancy baking trick is to add chai tea to cookies. You can start with a recipe for shortbread, butter cookies, thumbprint cookies, and probably a bunch of other types. Open up a couple of chai tea bags or Bengal spice tea bags and mix the tea in with the flour. (I’d say one to four tea bags depending on how many cookies the recipe makes and how strong you want the spice. Figure about one tea bag per two dozen cookies.) So yummy!
@Maureen: I’m unsure if there are pictures for every recipe, but there are a significant amount!
I LOVED the vanilla malt cake I made from it. I really want this book but I bought 4 this year… but let’s be real, it’s gonna happen.