The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Sweets – Cakes

Each month I’m highlighting a different non-Ina cookbook – these can be old favorites, classics I need to try, or new books I’m excited about. I’ll make at least one recipe from each chapter of the book to get an overall flavor of each. For the month of June, the book is Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. I hope you’ll cook along with me! The book is available for purchase here.

Note: some recipes may be available online, but I only share links if they explicitly state it’s reprinted with permission from the author or publisher!

Blueberry Cornmeal Butter Cake

Ever since I was little, given the choice I always went for the blueberry baked good. Whether pie, muffin, sauce, crumb cake, or pancake, I didn’t discriminate. Deb’s phenomenal sour-cream-tinged cornmeal snacking cake is packed with blueberries and the cinnamon/sugar streusel top (which is honestly always the best part of these cake) provided a sugary crunch which is the ideal finishing touch. We could not stop going back for more! The recipe calls for an 8-inch square pan, but my pan went missing so I used a 9-inch round pan which worked perfectly.

Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 245
Rating: 5/5 
How Easy Is That: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: sour cream
Pricey Ingredients: —

Official recipe is not online.

S’more Layer Cake

I’ll take any excuse to break out the blowtorch! This take on the ubiquitous summer campfire dessert will make your inner child giddy with excitement! The buttermilk sponge is made of a mix of all-purpose flour and honey graham cracker crumbs which gives it that golden color with hints of honey and cinnamon. Sandwiched between the two layers is a lush milk chocolate ganache. The cake then is enveloped in a light, glossy meringue frosting, crowned with large dollops that are toasted until light-brown caramel-y perfection! I ran low on meringue frosting, so couldn’t cover the entire top with dollops – my suggestion is to start in the center and work your way out, that way if you run out of meringue it won’t be obvious!

Book: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 263
Rating: 5/5 
How Easy Is That: Intermediate
Store-Bought Is Fine: milk chocolate
Pricey Ingredients: —

Official recipe is not online, Deb does share a recipe for a S’More Cupcakes here!