Everything I know about Indian cooking could fit on a strand of saffron. So I was thrilled when Niloufer Ichaporia King came to work with us at Chez Panisse, guiding us through the preparation of several traditional Parsi New Year’s feasts. It was the first time that I’d tasted such authentic and wonderfully aromatic Indian food. My favorite dish that Niloufer gave us a recipe for was a cake enrobed in a sheet of gold leaf, a stunning touch that lent the dessert a splendor worthy of a Bollywood musical. This is my version of that cake, but I left out the gold, since it’s not something you’re likely to have on hand. I did, however, brighten up the batter with vibrant green pistachios, which are more easily found in grocery stores than sheets of gold leaf and, honestly, more delicious to eat.
Make sure that you choose pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which is sweetened and spiced. While there are different versions of pumpkin puree available—many supermarkets have their own brands—if you can, I suggest you buy Libby’s. It is the most consistent, it has a beautiful color and, most important, it’s not watery—it always bakes well.
I love coconut everything, but didn’t know I needed coconut cake in my life—that is, until I tried the perfection that the pastry team at Stissing House in Pine Plains, New York, has achieved. Since that first bite, I’ve been on a quest to eat all the coconut cake possible and in the process realized that it is the perfect “plain” cake. In my recipe, a moist plain cake is poked with holes which allows all the liquid coconut to soak inside. It’s light, rich, clean and spiced all at the same time. Serve it alone or with vanilla ice cream. Delicacy!
Gyulshah Mintash is our assistant manager at the Brent Cross branch of LEON, and this is their deliciously nutty tahini cake.
“This is not considered a special-occasion cake, but everyone loves it. It’s an everyday cake to serve with tea.”—Nawida
Flavored with freshly ground cardamom and a little rose water, this cake is made with both all-purpose flour and corn flour (which is milled more finely than cornmeal). It has an ideal ratio of cake, topping, and just a little crunch, which you get from the coarse yellow semolina flour, or sooji in Hindi, that’s dusted on the bottom of the pan before you add the batter. The result is both familiar and exciting—it’s like the best and most interesting corn muffin ever. It’s also the perfect complement to any kind of tea. Nawida usually tops one side of the cake with mild white poppy seeds and nigella seeds, which have just a touch of bitterness, and the other side with black raisins and large pieces of walnut. You can choose just one topping, but both together on one plate make this very easy dessert so much more appealing—and this approach allows everyone to try both. Ideally this should be baked in a rectangular metal pan about 9 by 13 inches (23 by 33 cm) so that you can easily cut the cake into diamond shapes. I use a square metal brownie pan, so the pieces come out a little thicker, but in a pinch you could also use two round cake pans or even muffin tins. Nawida sometimes uses muffin tins shaped like hearts and stars so that it’s easy and fun for her kids to take a piece of cake to school. Just pay attention as it bakes, as the bake time will vary slightly with a different shape of pan. As with the firni on page 299, though you can buy cardamom pre-ground, for this dish I strongly recommend you grind it yourself. It doesn’t take very long!
This cake is a showstopper, and a perfect ice cream treat to serve around the holidays. There is much room for interpretation, however, and any of the No-Churn Ice Cream flavors (below) can be swapped in for everyday afternoon ice cream cake snacking. (I particularly like replacing the pumpkin with the coffee-flavored ice cream.)
It will be completely un-shocking that my visit to Japan was more cake-centric, less fish-focused. I ate the flooffiest pumpkin doughnuts, elegant apple shortbread cookie sandwiches, silky coffee caramel flan and cheesecake. At the tiny pastry shop Equal Pastryshop, I ate a strawberry shortcake whose perfection made me want to hang up my apron, because if such baking beauty already exists in this world, then my efforts are futile.
The Japanese shortcake is their refined version of the American shortcake and is layers of dairy-rich sponge, cream and strawberries. Eating it feels like hugging a puppy, the first day of t-shirt weather in spring and knowing you are loved all at once.
This recipe offers an elegant twist on the classic pineapple upside-down cake, a dessert that’s been made and reimagined for decades. The basic concept is simple: pour cake batter over slices of fruit and flip the cake after baking to reveal a beautifully caramelized layer of fruit—in this case, pineapple.
The batter in this version is uplifted with the addition of pink peppercorns and cardamom.
I love this incredibly moist pistachio cake made with a few ingredients—just pistachios, eggs, and sugar, plus some almond extract and a pinch of salt. Dorie Greenspan has a Simple Almond Cake in her cookbook, Baking Chez Moi, that my aunt has been making for years, and every time I eat it with her, I say I am going to re-create it with pistachios. I am so glad I finally did, because it’s even better than I imagined! I made my own pistachio flour by toasting the raw nuts and throwing them into a food processor. Surprisingly, almond extract really brings out the flavor of the pistachios here.