Last minute cake

I'm calling this "Last Minute Cake" because it is, seriously, so easy to put together that you can make it at the last minute, on a whim, or whenever the need arises.  It's actually a lemony almond cake - a simple, casual, everyday cake you might just pick up and snack on or have with a cup of tea.

Making this cake really requires very little to no advance planning.  It helps to have a lemon and some sliced almonds on hand (and I very often do, luckily) but I think the recipe is adaptable and you could play around with what you have on hand.  As far as the batter goes, it gets mixed by hand within a matter of minutes.   I decided to make this one Saturday night recently when we decided to stay in for dinner.  It was already about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I started getting some tomatoes ready to roast for pasta and dessert was on my mind.

This was one of the easiest recipes I could think of and comes from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  It's actually called Swedish Visiting Cake in the book, referring to the source of the recipe, a friend of Dorie's whose mom would whip this cake up when she saw guests arriving.  That made me consider calling this "Unexpected Company Cake" too.  But what really attracted me to this cake was the description of it as "soft, chewy, moist and reminiscent of cakes made with almond paste."  I love almond paste so I knew I had to try this recipe one day.

With just the 3 of us for dinner and plenty of dessert-making in my future, I divided the recipe in half and made a teeny 6-inch cake.  The cake is meant to be baked in a 9-inch cast iron skillet (that you can serve the cake directly in), which I don't have (need to work on that).  But you can also make this in a buttered cake or pie pan so again, it's quite versatile.  Without any chemical leaveners (i.e., baking powder/soda) in the recipe, the cake is fairly thin.  The texture is moist in the center, contrasted with a crisp top and edge thanks in part to a scattering of almond slices and some granulated sugar on the surface.  Lemon zest adds freshness to the buttery flavor and almond extract together with the almonds contribute the almond flavor.  It's not quite as moist and robust in flavor as a true almond paste cake but it is similar! 

You just can't beat how easy this cake is to make.  I had it done that Saturday night in well under an hour from beginning to end.  After we enjoyed our pasta with roasted tomatoes for dinner (I couldn't resist including a picture of it here), a small wedge of this cake was a nice way to end the dinner on a sweet note.

Another bonus point for this cake is it keeps well so you can wrap it tightly and enjoy it over the course of about 5 days.  I love cakes like that!

Low-fat and vegan (super-easy) chocolate cupcakes

Do you remember the days as a child when birthdays meant a little party and cupcakes at school?  Nowadays, food (not to mention sweets) is essentially prohibited at classroom birthday celebrations.  Maybe it's not the case everywhere but where I live, that seems to be the protocol once we reach past preschool.

I totally respect parents' desire to limit their children's intake of sweets and the proliferation of food allergies these days but I really miss those days of birthday cupcakes in the classroom.  When I made these cupcakes, I thought about that.  Since these are low-fat and vegan chocolate cupcakes, I wonder if they might even pass muster with the school nurse and be allowed in the classroom.  And as an added bonus, these cupcakes are a real cinch to make.  You mix wet and dry ingredients together with a wooden spoon and the batter is done.

These chocolate cupcakes are very moist, light, with a chocolate flavor that comes from cocoa and espresso powder.  A little bit of molasses might be the secret ingredient.  The recipe, which comes the Flour cookbook, makes a 6-inch cake but I opted for cupcakes and divided the recipe in half (like I often do) to make a small batch.  I liked these cupcakes because unlike many other low-fat foods, they are not loaded down with sugar so they're not too sweet and there's no cloying aftertaste.

You might wonder how a chocolate cupcake that has no butter, eggs or other dairy tastes.  They're actually really good and I liked it more and more as I tasted it.  When I first took a bite, I thought "ok, they're pretty good but I can definitely tell the difference between these and 'regular' cupcakes."  But the lines blurred the more I ate, and even if they are a little different, it's different in a good way.  It's like my love of frozen yogurt; it's not quite the same as ice cream but a good fro yo is very satisfying too. 

These reminded me of the basic chocolate cupcake recipe I often use and they're even not very far removed from the everyday chocolate loaf cake I once made (just way less fat and calories involved).  The two kids that tried these cupcakes certainly didn't notice anything unusual about them.  And you don't leave the table feeling weighed down after eating one; it is a great option when it comes to getting a chocolate fix in a more healthful way.  And since they are so easy to make, it's a great treat to prepare with kids.

Now, if you don't mind throwing "low-fat and vegan" out the window, you can add frosting.  I couldn't resist and topped a few with some whipped chocolate ganache.  I figured it was alright to mix a little bad in with the good but I might've been a little too generous with the topping since I had more than I needed.  I've been thinking that as a compromise, coating the tops of these cupcakes with just a little bit of chocolate glaze (spoon slightly warm ganache over the top) would be a nice medium ground.  But topping or no topping, I see myself making these again.