Bibliography: Chattman, Lauren. (2009). Cake Keeper Cakes. New York: Taunton Press. ISBN: 9781600851209
Review: I have many memories of cakes. Birthday cakes, special cakes only made at Christmas, cakes I made to enter at the state fair. Many of these were baked in a bundt or tube pan, and often served plain or only with a light glaze. Lauren Chattman’s new cookbook brought back all those baking memories and inspired me to make more. Her book includes 100 simple but delicious cakes meant to be mixed and baked in a few hours or less, and stored at room temperature under a cake keeper, if you’ve got one. Assuming there is any cake left to keep.
The recipes are divided according what size and shape pan in which they are to be baked. There are snack cakes, coffee cakes, crumb cakes, bunt cakes, chiffon cakes, angel food cakes, fruit upside down cakes, cakes with unusual flavor combinations, and some with familiar but delicious tastes. The directions are very clear, including preparing the pan, tests for doneness and suggestions for serving. In many cases, Chattman has modernized the preparation for the batters. For example, with all butter based cakes, such as pound cakes, there is no fussing about how to add the liquid and the flour, you basically add one and then the other. This makes for what will seem like a different batter than most bakers expect, but it bakes up just fine.
The design of the book itself is very appealing. Coming in at just under 8 X 8 inches, and under 200 pages, it is not the intimidating tome that many recent cake and baking cookbooks have been. Gorgeous full color photos of many of the recipes and lots of white space are a joy. Too bad there isn’t a picture of every cake. Listing the ingredients on the side of the page instead of the top and highlighting them in a different color makes them very easy to read and follow.
I have made several recipes from this book, and loved all of them. I have made the World’s Quickest Yeasted Coffee Cake (p. 39) two or three times, it is more than just quick, it is delicious. And while it is adapted from a Fleischman’s yeast recipe, Chattman’s is better. One note, this cake does not store well, so bake when you know you have people to share it with. Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake (p. 121) is very similar to a recipe that my sister and I make that starts with a cake mix and pudding. This one, however, is from scratch, and you can tell the difference–it bakes higher and has a better crumb. A note on this one, if I make it again, I will lower my oven temperature 25 degrees, as I think it was ever so slightly overcooked. The fault being my oven, not the recipe. Just this afternoon, I made the Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Pound Cake (p. 101). Having read Chattman’s note about changing out pans and pan sizes, I decided to double the recipe and bake it in a bundt pan. I couldn’t find my cloves, so I substituted the same amount of ginger. Also, I knew my husband wouldn’t like the chocolate chips and I forgot to buy walnuts at the store, so I left both out of the recipe. The bundt pan was very full, if you have a smaller pan, you would need to take some batter out. I baked mine at 325 degrees for 60 minutes and it came our perfect. A crisp outside and moist inside and a beautiful golden orange color throughout. My husband thought it was fabulous, plain and unadorned, and I did too.
Therein lies the beauty of this little book. Each recipe is like the foundation on which you can build your own versions of whatever strikes your fancy. Once you know the basic idea for a fruit upside down cake or a crumb cake, you can change the fruit to what you have on hand or what’s in season. You can add and subtract mix ins, change flavorings, and more. This might be just the book to get me away from boxed dessert mixes. This would make a great gift, especially if you added a cake keeper and the different baking pans used in each chapter.
Review Excerpts: “The former pastry chef Lauren Chattman’s new book sets out to prove that baking a cake can be an everyday activity. In the spirit of industrious folks like Julie Powell, who spent a year cooking her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (the experience spawned a book and a movie), Chattman baked a different cake every day for almost a year; the resulting 100 unfrosted and unfilled cakes range from old favorites like the crunchy-topped blueberry buckle to an Italian-style red grape, polenta, and olive oil cake.”–Saveur
““Author Lauren Chattman’s recipe for Cinnamon Pudding Cake and Almond Brown Butter Cake conjure winter days and warm milk. Pear Cake with Sea Salt Caramel Sauce appears dinner-party worthy without being fussy. Meanwhile, cakes like Fig and Cornmeal with Pine Nuts or Chocolate Chipotle — a rich buttermilk loaf with a subtle, smoky kick — strike just the right balance between comfort and sophistication. Make no mistake: these are not quick cakes. They are simply simple cakes, no frosting, no flower cut-outs, no intimidation.”–The Associated Press
Reviewed from publisher provided copy. Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
