Notes about Recipes in this book

• Blackberry-pecan snack cake

  • Zosia on May 29, 2019

    Moist and delicious cake. I was a little more generous with the blackberries because I had extra and, as the recipe promised, they baked into a luscious jammy layer beneath the streusel.

• Chocolate malted snacking cake

  • TBipp on October 22, 2022

    A rather unimpressive snack cake. I hoped the malted milk flavor would come through as recipe calls for 1/2 cup but could not detect its presence. I think the baking time is too long at 35 minutes for a small cake. I won’t be baking this again.

• Cinnamon pudding cake

  • Zosia on November 13, 2013

    Remarkably soft and fluffy cinnamon cake made without eggs and very little butter topped with caramel "pudding" glaze. Eaten together, it tasted like a cinnamon roll, albeit a very sweet one. Heated briefly in the microwave, leftovers were still good the next day.

• Stout and chocolate snacking cake with chocolate-stout glaze

  • Zosia on September 04, 2016

    Incredibly moist and delicious, this cake had deep chocolate flavour and stayed moist for days. The stout was more noticeable the day after the cake was baked. I made only half the glaze and there was more than enough to top the cake.

• World's quickest yeasted coffee cake

  • Astrid5555 on February 20, 2016

    The method works as promised, one hour only from start until the finished cake is out of the oven. Not so sure about the recipe itself. I have to admit however that I changed it quite a bit. It has you sprinkle the dough with granulated sugar and cinnamon and then top it with a corn syrup, butter, brown sugar and pecan mixture. I added the granulated sugar to the dough and just topped it with butter, way less sugar, cinnamon and chopped almonds. Looked and tasted like a sweet foccacia, will not repeat.

• Apple and cheddar cheese cake

  • Astrid5555 on January 05, 2014

    This was my first try at using cheddar in something else than savory baking. Exceptionally good cake with a little crunch from the cornmeal, tang from the cheese and little sweet spots from the apple. Will definitley make again!

• Everyday yogurt cake

  • niamhbcn on January 18, 2023

    Wasn't keen on this as texture was more dense/doughier than I'd like. That said, the flavour was good and it wasn't too dry. It was also incredibly easy to make.

• Peach-buttermilk upside-down cake

  • Zosia on September 01, 2017

    The recipe has a lot of potential since the buttermilk cake base is so good - moist and tender - but between the peach juice and the caramel, there was just too much liquid so the top of the cake was too wet for my liking. It was also very sweet so I would reduce the caramel by half next time. My peaches were small and I used almost 5 to cover the cake pan and I baked the cake on my baking stone so the peaches would cook evenly. As usual, no one else noticed (or found fault with) the texture or sweetness of the cake and happily devoured it.

• Chocolate cream pound cake

  • Cheri on January 18, 2014

    Quick to put together. Lovely old fashioned chocolate cake! We really liked this! Served warm with whipped cream - splurge! A few berries sprinkled on top would render this company worthy. Would be very comforting with an ice cold glass of milk. Mmmm.

• Orange-chocolate chip pound cake with sour cream glaze

  • niamhbcn on February 24, 2023

    Really delicious with a distinct chocolate orange flavour and a lovely crumb. Great without the glaze too. It won't last the weekend!

• Nutella swirl pound cake

  • Astrid5555 on November 17, 2012

    Absolutely delicious but very rich. You feel like putting on weight immediately after eating a slice. Big hit with the kids.

  • Cheri on December 03, 2012

    This is quite rich and really good. I used about 2/3 of the 13 oz. jar of Nutella, which I think is plenty of the rich filling. Only made one chocolate layer, before swirling. I will definately repeat. It needs no accompaniment, perfect on its own.

  • rstuart on April 27, 2014

    I really wanted to love this recipe! Unfortunately, after baking, when I turned over the cake to tap it out the pan, it fell apart completely. I was very careful and used butter and flour. I was able to salvage most it, but gave it to a friend rather than bring it to the event that I was planning on..

• Rich yellow loaf cake

  • Zosia on February 21, 2014

    I tried this recipe only to use up some egg yolks I had on hand but had no regrets. This was a very nice, basic vanilla cake with a lovely golden colour and tender crumb.

• Sweet potato pound cake

  • Zosia on January 22, 2024

    This cake was delicious! It had the fine dense crumb of a pound cake but unlike some pound cakes, was very moist. The spice flavour was light and while the sweet potato wasn't obvious in the cake's flavour, it did make it an attractive colour.

• Sesame seed pound cake

  • Zosia on November 19, 2013

    Dense but moist cake owes its flavour to tahini, Asian sesame oil and sesame seeds. Easy to make but has a very long baking time. Nice alternative to more common nut-flavoured cakes.

• Applesauce cake with oatmeal streusel

  • Zosia on August 16, 2014

    Beautifully spiced with cardamom and cloves, and super-moist, this will be my go-to applesauce cake from now on. The streusel topping baked up crisp and chewy but I made a half recipe for the top only. I'm not sure why a bundt pan was called for since the streusel would end up on the bottom of the baked cake - I baked this in a tube pan with a removable bottom so that the "topping" actually remained on the top.

• Banana-chocolate chip bundt cake

  • Lhardin on March 23, 2012

    I have never had a cake disappear so fast! Every time someone in the family walked by the cake plate another slice was gone. Delicious, moist cake.

• Chocolate-zucchini bundt cake

  • Zosia on July 25, 2017

    If it weren't for the fact you could see the strands, you would never know there was zucchini in this cake. It was moist, chocolate-y and delicious. I used yogurt in place of sour cream (to no ill effect that I could see) and next time I will toast the almonds first as they added crunch but no discernible flavour.

• Dulce de leche coffee cake

  • Zosia on September 14, 2021

    Both cake and filling were delicious and surprisingly, not too sweet. Make sure the filling doesn't touch the sides of the pan as it will stick; I "painted" the sides of the pan with batter to avoid this.

• Orange-ricotta pound cake with marmalade glaze

  • Aggie92 on March 08, 2013

    This was a lovely pound cake and not too sweet. I upped the orange flavor by increasing the orange zest to 1 tablespoon and adding 1 teaspoon of orange extract.

• Peanut butter-sour cream bundt cake with Butterfinger-ganache glaze

  • PatriciaScarpin on December 30, 2011

    Absolutely delicious! Very tender and moist. I did not add the chopped Butterfinger bars because we cannot find them here in Brazil, but the cake was wonderful all the same. My 17 year old nephew loved the cake. One detail, though: the recipe makes too much glaze - half of it would be enough.

• Red grape, polenta, and olive oil cake

  • Zosia on May 23, 2017

    Really delicious, moist cake and easy to put together too. The grapes were such a surprise. Their flavour intensified during baking but they retained their juiciness. I appreciated the direction to add half the grapes part way through baking so they wouldn't all sink to the bottom.

  • fultre on October 18, 2022

    Chose this recipe to use up a grape windfall, as our neighbors generously shared with us this fall. Agree with Zosia, surprising flavors, delicious, and simple to make. B loved it. Will try increasing grapes next time by 1.5. Don’t know if it is a long keeping cake as advertised by the cookbook title, since we finished it in a day.

  • eliza on November 06, 2022

    This recipe also appeared on the Fine Cooking website (now gone,sadly) and I made it with Concord grapes. I agree with the other reviewers, delicious cake, very easy to make. The grapes in it are very tasty, and I like that it’s an olive oil cake. Made 2 smaller cakes and froze one, which worked well.

• Coffee angel food cake with hazelnut-coffee glaze

  • Zosia on March 19, 2018

    Lovely, light and fluffy cake that wasn't too sweet, as these cakes often are, because of added espresso powder. It's good enough to serve on its own but I did dress it up with a half recipe of the glaze; the full recipe would have been too much, I think.

• Chocolate marble chiffon cake

  • Astrid5555 on February 07, 2016

    This is a light and airy cake which the whole family enjoyed. However, Rose Levy Beranbaum's marble cake will still remain my all-time favorite. There is an issue with the recipe, which if followed, would result in an all-chocolate cake instead of marble. Since I did not find an official correction online, I just added 1 tablespoon of water each after the first and second addition of the flour which worked out great.