Rebecca Firth - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving

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To my grandmother, Eleanor Dolores Dimitt Marshall (aka Granny Pete). Your love of sweets taught me the way. You are missed and loved dearly!

My tai tais: Erin, Robin, Louise and Lanelle. You have been my food-loving pengyoumen since our first playdate. Im so grateful for your friendship. Also, see the Triple Chocolate Threat Cake () for a reminder of Beijing birthday shenanigans.

And always, Gavin and Stella. I could not love you more!

xoxo

Friends and cake lovers! Im so happy The Cake Book has made it into your hands! The Cookie Book hadnt been out more than a month when I started dreaming about writing this cookbook for you. I wanted to create a collection of cakes that were delicious, accessible and dazzling all at the same time! I wanted to gather all of my favorite cake recipes and mash them up with fun tastes and flavors, so here we are! My hope is that these are the cakes youll use to celebrate your life and pass on to family and friends for years to come.

Nestled in these pages are quite literally all of my favorite cakes. Pavlovas () for you to enjoy first thing in the morningbecause what could possibly be better than cake for breakfast?!

But before we get started, I have a confession: Im not a fan of overly decorated cakes. Thats not to say I dont admire all of the skill and technique that go into them, because lord knows I do. It often borders on witchcraft what people can do with buttercream and marzipan and fondant. But these arent the types of cakes that I make at home for my family and friends. I reach for the same recipes that are delicious and beautiful and not too complicated or ornate.

However, to know me is to know how much I love flair. I mean, whats life without jazz hands?! With that in mind, I included simple ways to jazz up your cakes, such as easy piping techniques, sparkling sugar, glossy glazes, delicate flower petals, whipped up buttercreams, a dusting of confectioners sugar, sprinkles (lots of sprinkles!) and more. Beautiful does not have to mean complicated, I promise.

There were a couple of things that guided my recipe development for The Cake Book. I would be lying if I didnt acknowledge that 2020 changed the way I write recipes. I will always be drawn to fun and unexpected flavor combinations, and Ill never shy away from a good baking project. However, when creating these recipes, I aimed to keep the ingredient list as concise as possible without sacrificing flavor. I absolutely adore muscovado sugar, but its not always easy to find. I tested the Muscovado Banana Bread ()it is 100 percent worth it. When I include less readily available ingredients (such as muscovado sugar or goats milk), then a) its because I really think its worth it (so try to find it!), and b) Ill list substitutions where possible. Overall, I want this to be as fun and stress-free as possible.

Here are my quick tips for cake perfection:

Gather all of your ingredients and bring them to room temperature if the recipe requests it (dont skip this step!).

Make sure you have the correct pan. Going up or down in pan size will change your bake time, so proceed with caution. More on this in The Displaced Kitchen section ().

Read through the recipe. I have to admit, many times Ive just looked at the ingredients and proceeded with how I think it should be done. But youre missing out on all of the great nuggets that the recipe author (me!) has to share with you. Plus, it gives you a good idea of how long its going to take (1hour? 4 hours? overnight?) and of any special tools you might need.

Preheat your oven please! Ovens often arent warmed to the appropriate temperature even when they say they are. Make sure you give your oven ample time to warm up and come to the proper temperature.

Carefully weigh or measure your ingredients. The recipes include both volume (cups and spoons) and weight (grams). For accuracy and to get the same exact cake every time, I cant recommend a scale enough. They can be purchased inexpensively, youll create fewer dirty dishes (YAY!) and youll consistently get perfect cakes every time. Have I convinced you yet?

Bake to doneness. Every oven is different; if yours runs hot, check your cakes earlier. If it runs cooler, they may need a little extra time. Look for signs that your cake is done: has it puffed up, gently pulled away from the sides and does the center spring back when gently pressed? These are all clues that your cake is done. Let your cakes properly cool. I get so impatient waiting for any sweet treats to get out of the oven, and I definitely (sometimes often) rush the cool-down time. Dont be like me! Nine times out of ten, your cake will taste better if its cooled completely. Its one of those crazy things about life that makes zero sense. So set your cakes on a cooling rack, turn them out to finish cooling outside of their pan when noted and then go take a bath, read a book, go for a walk or whatever it takes until that baby has cooled down.

Now go forth and bake some cake, sweet friends!

Here are some quick notes and tips I use in my kitchen to get perfect cakes every time. I could have gone on and on, but we only have so much space! Below are the ones that I really want to highlight for you before getting started.

FLOUR NOTES

The most-used flour in this book is all-purpose flour. I wanted a flour that would consistently produce a fine, soft crumb, as well as be accessible so you dont have to work too hard to satisfy your cake cravings.

If a cake is especially delicate, such as angel food cake (), then I reach for cake flour. A common substitute for cake flour is to measure out 1 cup (135 g) of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons (18 g) and replace it with 2 tablespoons (16 g) of cornstarch. Sift together several times to make sure they are thoroughly combined.

The all-purpose flour used for recipe testing in this book was unbleached with 11.7 percent protein content. Additionally, I list 1 cup of all-purpose flour as equal to 135 grams. This is a heavier weight than many baking references, but Ive found that its more in line with what an actual cup of flour weighs when people use cups as measurement.

Since nobody wants a dense cake, I highly recommended weighing your ingredients to get the best baked treat, and nowhere is this more important than when measuring flour.