The first time I made this cake, I poured in a cup of fresh cider straight from the jug and called it done. It smelled like a fall bakery while it baked, but once it cooled, the apple flavor had all but disappeared into a plain spiced bundt. This homemade apple cider donut bundt cake…
The first time I made this cake, I pulled it out of the oven expecting a light, tender crumb and instead found something closer to pumpkin pudding wearing a cake’s shape. It tasted great, but it was heavy and dense in a way that had nothing to do with my technique. This homemade pumpkin spice…
The first time I made this cake, I assembled it a full day ahead to save time before a dinner party. By the time I sliced into it, the kunafa filling that had been so satisfyingly crunchy the night before had turned soft and chewy. This homemade Dubai chocolate cake fixes that exact problem, rich…
The first time I made zucchini cake, I read one blog that said to squeeze every last drop of water out of the zucchini, so I did, twice. The cake came out dry and a little flat, nothing like the moist, tender cake I was expecting. This homemade zucchini cake fixes that exact mistake, a…
The first time I made brown butter cake, I poured the butter straight from the pan into the mixer while it was still warm and liquid. The cake came out dense, greasy, and barely rose at all. This homemade brown butter cake fixes that exact mistake, a moist, tender cake with deep nutty, caramel flavor…
The first time I made peach cake, I sliced into it expecting a beautiful cross-section of fruit throughout, and instead found every single piece of peach sitting in a soggy layer at the bottom. The top two-thirds of the cake was peach cake in name only. This homemade peach cake fixes that exact problem, a…
The first time I made ube cake, I left it in the oven five minutes too long because I got distracted answering the door. When I finally pulled it out, the crumb had gone from a bright violet to a dull, brownish gray. That one mistake taught me more about ube cake than any recipe…
The first time I made this cake for a birthday, I grabbed the wrong sprinkles without thinking twice. By the time the batter hit the pans, it had turned a dull, streaky gray. This homemade funfetti cake recipe is the fix for that exact mistake, a soft, moist vanilla layer cake loaded with sprinkles and…
If you have never made tres leches cake before, you are about to understand why 700 million people across Latin America consider it one of the great desserts of the world. The premise sounds strange at first. You bake a light sponge cake, poke hundreds of holes in it while it is still warm, then…
Bold claim: this is the moistest chocolate cake you will ever make without butter. That is not a small thing to say. Butter-based chocolate cakes have a loyal following for good reason: they taste rich, they have structure, and generations of home bakers have grown up making them. But butter has one weakness that olive…