I never really lie to my wife. I may omit some facts that others would consider vital, but Suzen is so busy I don’t want to overload her with information that might ruin her day.
So I sometimes will resort to an occasional exaggeration, subtle bribe, or maneuver that is really in her total benefit.
And then sometimes, I’m actually fully honest.
“Look at this picture,” I said.
“Beautiful,” she nodded. We were reading cookbooks in bed and she was on the verge of winking out. [No, I don’t consider this midnight conversation a dishonest approach.]
The pictured showed a spice cake composed of eight thin, perfectly even layers: half vanilla white and half spicy dark. It was a work of art.
And then I applied the killer. “Each of those layers is baked separately. Under the broiler.”
“I want to do it,” she smiled and faded into sleep.
I had succeeded and I felt no guilt.
This cake is intriguing. The picture in the book was stunning. Our picture above is very pretty, but I admit far from the one in the book. This cake tastes fantastic and immediately attracts people visually. Suzen and I do need some practice with the technique.
Ah, it is the technique that caught my imagination. A batter is made, then divided in half. In one half, spices are added to yield a dark, contrasting color. The two bowls are used alternatively — each four times. A thin layer of batter is put in the pan, the pan is put under the broiler, then removed in a “short” time when it is browned and solid. The pan is removed, the baked layer is brushed with melted butter, a new layer of batter is added, and the pan is returned to the broiler. And so it goes for a total of eight layers.
We had a couple of issues, not major, but that do result in the “staggered” effect you see in our picture instead of even layers. First, in our oven, the layers were getting done in just under 2 minutes, not the 3 mentioned in the recipe below. And, putting soft batter for the new layer on top of a baked layer just out of the oven requires some skill. The batter you are adding immediately begins to soften, if not liquefy. You have just seconds to attempt a spread before you have to put the pan backing he broiler. That explains the uneven layers in our picture.
In the end, it does not matter. It’s very pretty, visually exciting, and vibrant to the palette.
This recipe comes from Warm Bread and Honey Cake: Home Baking from Around the World by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra. This is definitely a book you want. The author describes herself in a way I’ve never seen: “a convent-attending Guyanese Hindu of Indian ancestry, who was educated in North America and Europe and subsequently married into a European Jewish family.” She now lives in the Netherlands.
With this background, and her cooking interests began at age 12, Gaitri has gathered recipes that truly are from around the world. The ideas here are from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and all parts of Asia. Most of these recipes involve techniques and flavors that I’ve never seen, but the pictures and extensive headnotes just pull you in.
For this spice cake, from her now native Dutch culture, the story is charming. The cake originated in Indonesia, which was a Dutch colony. The Dutch name is spekkoek or “bacon cake” because the stripes resemble bacon. [And I think our more random version is a truer representation of real bacon!]
The book is filled with interesting food facts. The Dutch generic name for spice cakes is peperkoek or pepper cake. Pepper was once so highly expensive in Europe that the Dutch language still has the expression peperduur meaning “as expensive as paper.”
Warm Bread and Honey Cake is a marvelous book. It’s very hard to convey the breadth of exciting ideas that await you. Find a copy and you’ll immediately begin to treasure it.
Multilayered Spice Cake
Yield: 1 eight-inch round serves about 10 people
Ingredients:
- 9 ounces [2 ¼ sticks] butter, softened
- 7 ounces [1 cup superfine] sugar, divided into two 3 ½ ounce portions
- 5 eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ½ ounces [scant 1 cup] all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ⅛ freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 ½ ounces [scant ½ stick] melted butter for brushing
Preparation:
Generously grease an 8-inch round cake pan.
Beat the butter until smooth. Add 3 ½ ounces of the superfine sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and beat well to incorporate.
Sift the flour with the salt and set aside.
In a scrupulously clean bowl, using a clean whisk or beater, whisk the egg white until foaming. Pour the remaining superfine sugar in a slow but steady stream onto the whites while still whisking. Continue whisking until stiff peaks hold their shape. Add a generous spoonful of the white s to the creamed mixture and mix well. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites in three batches, alternating with the flour. Do not overmix.
Transfer half of the mixture to another bowl. Carefully fold the spices into the contents of one bowl. Carefully fold the spices into the contents of one bowl. Spread a quarter of the contents of one bowl of the bottom of the greased baking pan and level it off with a plastic scarper.
Place the pan under a hot broiler and broil until the top is puffy and the batter cooked through. The first layer always seems to take a little longer, perhaps about 5 minutes, depending on how close it is to the heat source. [WARNING: when Suzen baked this, we were well done in under 3 minutes; watch carefully!].
Remove the pan from the broiler, then brush with butter and add another contrasting layer.
Each subsequent layer will take about 3 minutes — they will be puffed up and golden brown and should be cooked through. You should have a total of eight layers. Always be sure to spread the batter evenly and to wipe any spills off the side of the pan. Spills tend to burn and drop into the batter, spoiling the appearance the taste of the finished cake. When you have broiled all of the layers, carefully loosen the edge and turn onto a wire cooling rack.
Afterthoughts from Suzen:
Serve this cake in thin slices. A dollop of whipped cream on the side is not necessary but does provide welcome decadence. When it has fully cooled, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap to avoid drying.
Source: Warm Bread and Honey Cake: Home Baking from Around the World by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra