Welcome to June, friends! I’m excited that it feels like this summer we might be able to have a real summer, with some gathering with friends and family, relaxing outside, and even some travel. Next week I’m going to visit some friends who I haven’t seen in a year and a half and I seriously cannot wait.
Before I get to the cake, some fun announcements. First: my publisher is doing a giveaway of While We Were Dating over on Goodreads — the giveaway starts today, June 4, and runs through June 20, so click through and scroll down to where it says Enter Giveaway! Second, a reminder that if you want a signed copy of While We Were Dating, you can preorder it from East Bay Booksellers (either the paperback or hardcover). And if you want it personalized, just make a note on the checkout page of how you want me to personalize it! Third: this morning I was on Areva Martin’s show, The Special Report, talking about books and publishing and While We Were Dating, and it was a joy! You can click through to watch us here. And fourth: I totally forgot to tell you all this last time, but there’s going to be a mass market edition of Royal Holiday, coming out August 24th! And look at this fantastic cover!
Isn’t it great? I love it. If you want to preorder a copy, click through any of those links above and look for the mass market paperback.
Last night I finished reading Malibu Rising, the new novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid, who also wrote The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and The Six. I loved both of those books, and so I expected to like this one, and wow wow Malibu Rising just blew me away. It’s about family, and the bonds that we do — and don’t — make, and what we owe one another and ourselves, and it’s just so so good. I can’t wait to talk to Taylor about this fantastic book next week, on June 9, at 8 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific. You can get tickets here.
And on to the cake. Okay so for the past few months, a bunch of my friends have been posting on every form of social media about the book Snacking Cakes — they all said how easy the cakes were, and how unexpectedly great they were. So I picked it up (at East Bay Booksellers!) a few weeks ago, and as I flipped through I bookmarked a bunch of recipes I wanted to try. I immediately loved a lot about the book, especially how the author says that she developed these recipes to be easy — cakes that can be tossed together in one bowl (and she really means one bowl!) and with ingredients you’re likely to have in your pantry. Well, yesterday I finally made my first one, and can I say, I this book is a miracle, if this cake is representative of the whole book. It took twenty minutes from walking into the kitchen to putting the cake in the oven, and that was with me not being able to find a few things in my pantry at first, and realizing that I was out of my favorite parchment paper sheets, etc. — if I had been more together, it would have taken less than 15 minutes. And it turned out almost as beautiful as the picture in the cookbook — see? Everyone should go out and buy this book; I can’t wait to make more cakes from it, and also I can’t wait to make this same cake over and over again.
Powdered Doughnut Cake
Cake
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (220 g) sour cream
1/2 cup (113 g) (or one stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (190 g) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Topping
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
Preheat your oven to 350, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease an 8x8 square baking pan, and then line the pan with parchment paper (do it so a strip hangs over two sides). In a large bowl, whisk the granulated sugar and eggs until pale and foamy (this is one of my absolute favorite baking things to do, and makes me excited to make this cake again). Add the sour cream, butter, nutmeg, vanilla and salt, and then whisk until smooth. Then add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and whisk until smooth.
Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan, and bake until it’s puffed and golden, and a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean — the recipe says 25-35 minutes, it took exactly 30 minutes for me. Set the pan on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes, and then use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and set it on the rack to cool.
When the cake is still just warm, brush the top with the one tablespoon of melted butter, and then sift the confectioner’s sugar over the top. Use all of the sugar; be generous! Partly because it looks pretty and also partly because the cake absorbs some of the sugar. Store it, covered at room temperature, but I promise, you won’t need to store it for long.
Enjoy! Have a good weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
Find me elsewhere! Facebook Instagram Twitter Bookshop
Buy The Wedding Date, The Proposal, The Wedding Party, Royal Holiday, and Party of Two! And preorder While We Were Dating!