The weekend before last I flew down to Melbourne, which called for carry-on cake. I alighted on a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's new cookbook Sweet (stupendous - buy it in bulk and distribute to anyone on your Christmas list who loves baking), adapted it accordingly for airline travel (basically, just halving the quantities of ingredients so it could be made in a loaf tin) and before long I was slicing it in my friend George's South Melbourne kitchen.
As students, George and I toiled together in a suburban Brisbane café serving Saturday shoppers coffee and cake, which probably explains why all these years later we particularly delight in staying in on the weekend with a pot of tea and a whole cake all to ourselves.
This is Ottolenghi and his co-author (Australian!) Helen Goh's riff on Rose Levy Beranbaum's revered recipe for "Perfect Pound cake". Light, moist and fragrant with coffee, cardamom and cocoa,
it's just as good the next day, and the day after that. If indeed it lasts that long.
This week I made two chocolate cakes. Both were oil (rather than butter) based. One was a triumph and the other... the less said about it the better. The big difference in the recipes was in the choice of chocolate. The flop used melted dark chocolate, the success story cocoa.
This cake - from former Chez Panisse chef Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat - is deliciously dark and amazingly, dairy-free (should you choose to serve without the cream). It's brilliant for birthdays and celebrations, and easy enough for weekday cooking. Because of the oil, it keeps beautifully so can always be made ahead of time. Not that it's at all labour intensive. Including cooking time, it takes about forty minutes. So simple. Spectacular. Sold.
When I was growing up, there were a limited number of cakes in the family repertoire. Basically, there were three: Devil's Food, orange and marble. Devil's Food was in high rotation, obviously - what kid doesn't agitate for chocolate? - orange was the adult's choice and marble got trotted out for company as its swirls of chocolate and vanilla were suitably showstopping. Alas I don't have Mum's original recipe, but this one, from American baking authority Martha Stewart, is exceptional. And easy. Made in a loaf tin, its golden exterior slashed with satiny chocolate exempts you from fiddly frosting. It's airy and light yet satisfying sturdy. Rich but not too sweet. And oh so pretty.
