I'm definitely going to do some stress baking this weekend

Wherein I tell you about a recent baking disaster

Hi everyone! I write to you shortly before leaving for my traditional pre-book release manicure appointment for my Drunk On Love themed nails (I will almost certainly post a picture of them on Instagram later on today, don’t worry). Drunk On Love comes out in just a handful of days (next Tuesday September 20th!!!) and I am a bundle of nerves, so hopefully I’ll be able to sit still for an hour or so while my nail artist works her magic. I really love this book a lot, and I hope you all do too.

Please come to see me at one of my events over the next few weeks! I’ll be in Oakland at East Bay Booksellers, in LA at Barnes and Noble at the Grove, in New York at The Strand, in Boston at Harvard Bookstore, in DC at Loyalty Bookstores, in Chicago at Women and Children First, back in Oakland at Sweet July, in Atlanta at 44th and 3rd Bookseller, and in Toronto at the Toronto Library. All of the links and other info you need is here on my events page! And if you can’t attend an event, you can still preorder a signed (and personalized, if you want) copy from any of the bookstores that I’ll be going to, so call them or hop on their website to do that. And you can always order signed copies of any of my books from East Bay Booksellers — I’ll personalize them too, just say in the order comments how you’d like it personalized). I’m really thrilled to get to talk about this book in person with so many of you — I missed meeting readers so much for the past few years, and I’m so so happy I get to do that again.

Okay, as promised in last week’s newsletter, here is a recipe for a delicious cake, and also a list of mistakes I made with it that I’m warning you not to do, even though the cake was still delicious. First, because I didn’t have the metal 9x13 inch pan that the recipe calls for, but because I do have two 8x8 pans, I thought, “Oh, I’ll just make it in those two pans.” Now, that works out baking wise, but what I didn’t know is that either my kitchen floor or my oven is a little tilted, and this is a very liquid batter, so both 8x8 cakes turned out very slanted, one much more than the other for some reason. So then I thought, okay well, I have all of the ingredients, I’ll just make a half recipe in one pan and use that cake instead! It does work to cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8x8 pan, so feel free to do that, if you want, but of course the third cake also turned out slanted. So then I decided to frost all three cakes, and then (this is the really do not do it decision) stack them on top of each other, to sort of hide the slanty-ness. Well, this did not work at all, because this is a very tender cake, you see, which yes, makes it delicious, but that’s why the recipe has you make it as a sheet cake and not a tiered cake, because the top layer broke apart badly, which was very clear even with a whole lot of frosting on top, so we ended up calling it the Avalanche Cake. However, it was a) very delicious and b) the frosting recipe makes enough to frost one and a half of these cakes, so you don’t have to worry about skimping on the frosting. Anyway, make this cake, just don’t make my mistakes.

(Edit: I just realized that I forgot to include the link to the original recipe! I did not make this up, it was from Bon Appetit, but the mistakes are all mine!)

Chocolate cake with Brown Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups (219 g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (64 g) Dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal or 1 1/4 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) (284 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/3 cup (32 g) nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal or 1 1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1 lb box or bag (453 g) powdered sugar, sifted, divided
Flaky sea salt (optional)

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 375 F, with a rack in the middle. Line the bottom and sides of a 13x9 metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat paper with nonstick spray.

Whisk the sugar, flour, and baking soda in a medium bowl to combine. Then, in a large bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, vegetable oil, and 1 cup hot tap water until the cocoa is fully dissolved, about thirty seconds. Add the eggs, the buttermilk, the salt, and vanilla to the cocoa mixture, and whisk again to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the cocoa mixture, and whisk slowly until the batter is smooth (don’t overdo it). Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 25-30 minutes (it took 25 in my oven). If you’re serving the cake in the pan (which I would recommend, see above re Avalanche Cake!), let it cool on a rack until completely cool; if not take it out after about ten minutes and put it on a rack to cool completely. If you do this, be gentle with it!

Frosting:

In a small skillet over medium low heat, melt 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) (57 grams) unsalted butter until it begins to foam. Then add 1/3 cup (32 g) of nonfat dry milk powder and cook together, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture turns dark brown — this takes about five minutes, it will look clumpy for a while. When you get to the nutty dark brown color, remove the skillet from the heat and immediately add 2/3 cup heavy cream, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Let cool for about 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, beat the kosher salt, the vanilla, and the remaining 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter with a hand held electric mixer on medium high speed (or a stand mixer on a slightly lower speed). Turn the mixer to low speed, and add 8 ounces of powdered sugar and beat until it’s incorporated. Add the brown butter mixture and the other 8 ounces of powdered sugar and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

Frost the cake (this frosting is very fun to frost with), sprinkle with the flaky sea salt and any other decorations and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Jasmine