Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

Adapted by Jen Kim

The first peonies of the season (the coral ones, according to the flower vendor), asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries have emerged in the marché. It’s spring in Paris. While I’ve been busy packing for another international move back to the States this time, I’ve been making time to bake and cook my favorite spring produce to catch the fleeting beauty of this season. Since Romaine and I have given away, sold, or shipped most of our things, our cooking and baking projects have to be simple.

This recipe is an adaptation of Dorie Greenspan's Rhubarb cake in Baking Chez Moi, one of my favorite cookbook authors. I’ve baked this cake several times with her recipe, and over the years, I’ve modified it to work for me. I’ve changed the rhubarb topping, skipping the maceration phase and adding strawberries to the rhubarb. I’ve swapped out most of the melted butter in the cake batter for oil because I love the moist crumb and oil cake produces, and I pop the batter directly into the skillet because I don’t have a cake pan. The resulting cake is fabulously delicious and is best served with a dollop of crème fraîche after a chic spring meal or as an opulent little bite with your morning coffee.

Recipe Type: Dessert

Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

Rhubarb and Strawberry Top

250 grams of strawberries washed and stems removed

500 grams rhubarb washed and cut into two-inch pieces

½ cup of white granulated sugar

Two tablespoons of butter

Cake

150 grams of all-purpose flour (1 ¼ cups)

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch of salt

100 grams of light brown sugar (½ cup)

50 grams of white granulated sugar (¼ cup)

3 medium eggs (1 medium egg is around 55-65 grams)

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

60 grams of neutral oil (sunflower, canola, grapeseed)

40 grams melted butter

Zest of half an orange or one lemon

Crème fraîche for serving

Equipment

9 inch or 24.6 cm ovenproof skillet such as a cast iron or carbon steel pan

Mixing bowls

Large fine mesh strainer

Whisk

Scale

Measuring spoons

Knife and cutting board for fruit

Silicone spatula

Instructions

Mise en place

Wash the fruit and cut the fruit; gather your ingredients. You can choose to pre-scale your ingredients into separate bowls, or if you’re feeling confident in weighing your ingredients scale, then you can scale them directly into the bowls (following the order of operations in this recipe of course) to save yourself from washing more dishes.

Preheat the oven to 180℃ 350℉.

Rhubarb and Strawberry Top

Cook the rhubarb, strawberry, and sugar in the skillet over medium heat until the fruit releases around a cup of liquid and shrinks to around half its original volume. This should take anywhere from five to seven minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and strain the fruit over a bowl to collect the syrup and return the strained fruit to the pan and place it on medium heat. Add the two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of the strained juice and cook until the butter is melted and the fruit has a nice glossy sauce. Take off the heat, and make sure the fruit is distributed evenly on the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

You can use the leftover syrup to make a soda (just add sparkling water, ice, and a lemon wedge) or make a cocktail with it.

Cake

In a medium mixing bowl, weigh the dry ingredients—flour, salt, and baking powder. Give the mixture a quick whisk and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl weigh the brown and white sugar, add the eggs and whisk immediately to mix the two (whisk immediately because the sugar can change the chemical structure of the protein in the eggs—which means clumpy drama). Add the vanilla, oil, and melted butter. Whisk. Finally, add the orange or lemon zest and whisk again.

Then, add half of the dry ingredients into the sugar and egg mixture and whisk gently until just combined. Then add the second half and whisk until just combined. Pour the cake batter evenly over the fruit in the skillet. Tap the pan gently on the counter to even out the batter and pop it into the oven on the middle rack.

Bake for 25 and rotate the cake in the middle of baking. The cake will be cooked when the top has browned and a paring knife or cake tester comes out clean when you poke the middle of the cake. Let cool for five minutes then invert the skillet carefully onto a large plate. If some pieces of rhubarb are left on the skillet, place them on top of the cake. Let cool for 3 hours and then serve with a generous dollop of crème fraîche.

Hello, angels! As promised in my October newsletter (did you miss her? Read her here, and make sure you get the next one by signing up!), here is a cozy little recipe using the homemade pumpkin purée technique I shared last week! This bundt cake is essentially a pumpkin spice cake, or pain d’épices en français, and has all the cozy spices (nutmeg, clove, cinnamon) you want in the fall. It also has orange zest to brighten the flavor and the queen of spices, cardamom, to add elegance. The cake is robed in a cardamom orange glaze that envelopes the beauty-bundt in a citrusy sweet embrace. Don’t have a bundt pan? No worries, I’ve also included a loaf cake recipe with a crackly sugar crust so you don’t have to miss out.

Recipe Type: Cake

Time: 1

Ingredients

Bundt Cake Ingredients

320 grams fresh homemade pumpkin purée or ¾ of a 15-oz can of Pumpkin Puree

3 large eggs at room temperature

100 grams water or ½ cup

160 grams neutral oil or ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (sunflower, canola, grapeseed) plus extra oiling pan

150 grams or ¾ cup white sugar

150 grams or ¾ cup brown sugar

320 grams or 2½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 grams or 1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon orange zest grated on a microplane

⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom

Orange Cardamom Glaze

1 cup of confectioner’s sugar

⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon orange zest grated on a micro-plane

3-5 tablespoons juice from the zested orange

5 grams or 1 teaspoon of kosher salt

Loaf Cake Ingredients

212 grams fresh homemade pumpkin purée or ½ of a 15-oz can of Pumpkin Puree

2 large eggs at room temperature

75 grams water or ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons

120 grams neutral oil or ½ cup(sunflower, canola, grape seed) plus one teaspoon for oiling pan

100 grams white sugar or ½ cup

100 grams brown sugar or ½ cup

2 tablespoons raw turbinado sugar or 1.5 tablespoons of white sugar

245 grams all purpose flour or 1 ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon orange zest grated on a micro-plane

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Equipment

Mixing Bowls

Whisk

Silicone spatula

Loaf Pan 8x4 or 9x5 or 10 or 12 cup bundt cake pan

Pastry Brush

Baking paper

Microplane

Recipe Tips

Here is a tutorial for how to make homemade pumpkin purée. Trust and believe, it’s so fabulous and not at all difficult.
A measuring tip: When weighing ingredients, make sure to scale them in smaller bowls before transferring them into the larger mixing bowls with the rest of the ingredients. That way if you make an error, like adding too much flour, it’s self-contained. If possible, invest in a scale and measure ingredients by weight. It’s the most accurate way to measure.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180℃ 350℉. If you are baking with a dark baking pan, then lower the temperature by 5℃ 25℉.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda) and whisk to combine thoroughly.
In another larger mixing bowl, add the eggs, oil, pumpkin purée, one teaspoon of orange zest, water, brown and white sugar and whisk together. Then, add the spices and vanilla and whisk once more.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) into the large bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk together until just combined.
- For the bundt pan, brush the pan with oil and sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the pan and shake the flour in the pan (over the sink) to lightly coat the inside of the bundt pan.
- For the loaf pan, brush the pan with oil and line with parchment paper. Brush the parchment paper with oil.
Place the bundt or loaf pan on a parchment lined baking sheet and pour the batter into the pan.
- For the loaf cake, sprinkle turbinado sugar evenly on top (it’ll form a nice crackly crust). If you don’t have turbinado sugar, sprinkle white granulated sugar. Then, using a small knife, draw a line down the center of the loaf lengthwise leaving 1-2 inches on each side. Then pour a little bit of oil using a spoon or squirt bottle down that line. This will enable the bread to crack down that line of oil and puff up beautifully. If you want to glaze the cake, omit the sprinkle of sugar on the cake.
- For the Bundt cake, make sure you fill the pan ¾ of the way so that it doesn’t overflow. I tested this recipe in a 10 cup Bundt and had just enough batter. In the event you have extra, save it and make muffins.
Bake the cake (both pans) for 50-70 minutes depending on your oven. Make sure to rotate the pans 25 minutes into baking to ensure even cooking. Check the loaf and cake starting at 45 minutes for doneness. The loaf is ready when a sharp knife, cake tester, or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf or the center of the cake comes out clean.
Prepare the glaze: while the cakes are baking, add one cup of confectioners sugar into a small mixing bowl with the ground cardamom, salt, and orange zest. Slowly whisk in the orange juice 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze has the consistency of runny honey.
When ready, remove the cake from the oven, and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove from the pans and let cool on a wire rack.
- For the loaf cake run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to release it from the pan. With some clean kitchen towels, remove the loaf from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Let cool for one hour and enjoy! If you want to glaze the loaf cake, then pour the glaze on top of the loaf after one hour.
- For the bundt cake place a wire rack on top of the cake, and gently invert the cake. It should come out easily. Let cool for one hour, then pour the orange cardamom glaze on the cake on the wire rack set on top of a baking sheet (to catch the drippings).
The cakes benefit from sitting for a day, but if you’re impatient like I am, then feel free to dig in!