IntroductionSo, what exactly makes a cake a snacking cake? I certainly didn’t invent the concept, and it depends a little bit on who you ask, but to me a snacking cake is a single layer cake, probably square, covered with a simple icing—or nothing at all—and it must be truly easy to make. It’s a cake that makes an ideal breakfast to-go, wrapped in a paper napkin, and a perfect little sweet to have alongside coffee in the afternoon.
These cakes are the kind of baking I love—they are low stress and don’t require much besides a reasonably stocked pantry, a bowl, and a whisk. These aren’t the kind of all-day project bakes you’ll see on
The Great British Baking Show; rather, they are humble everyday treats that can lift your spirit and satisfy your hunger for something sweet, at any time of day. These are the sort of cakes you can throw together after work on a weeknight with minimal effort, minimal time, and minimal mess.
Snacking cakes can be cut into tidy little squares and tucked into lunch boxes or wrapped up in a sheet of beeswax food wrap to gift to a friend who has just moved into a new apartment, so they have something for dessert that night, and breakfast the next morning. They are the sort of cakes that help celebrate the large and small moments of life. Even if that moment is just making it through work on a Monday. These are also the perfect kinds of recipes for little hands to help with. Since everything basically gets thrown into the same bowl, if your tiny assistant gets overzealous and adds the ingredients a little out of order, nothing too terrible will happen, theoretically. . . .
I’ve tried to hit every possible cake craving in these 50 recipes, from bright, citrusy olive oil cakes to fudgy chocolate ones, to fruit-and veggie-(yes, veggie!) packed cakes with seedy toppings and naturally technicolor glazes or fluffy frostings. There are lots of variations, too, and you have my full encouragement to make these cakes your own. You can combine the cakes and toppings in any way you see fit, and if glazes or frostings seem too fussy, these cakes are all perfectly delicious with a simple dusting of confectioners’ sugar—or nothing at all.
It’s a simple luxury to bake a snacking cake for yourself or your friends and family. I hope this book inspires you to do it often, and with abandon.
Copyright © 2020 by Yossy Arefi. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
