The best cake I ate this month

Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone frosting

May 18, 2024

Hello everyone! Issue #12 of Let’s Get Lost will arrive in your in-box next Saturday, May 25. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a brand new recipe on Of Batter and Dough for a cake I hope you will love as much as we do.

We are in Colorado, where our daughters live, and one of my favorite things about being here is getting to cook for them. Our oldest spent an afternoon and evening with us last week and I made Cabernet Braised Short Ribs (recipe in next week’s newsletter!) and this cake.

We actually ate the cake first because it was done a couple of hours before the short ribs and we couldn’t wait. Who says you have to have dessert after dinner anyway? Also, there were the pieces on the plates from the photos and we couldn’t just leave them sitting there. We are not monsters.

Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

If I was English and adhered to a tea time tradition, this is exactly the kind of cake I would like to eat at tea time every single day. As an all-too-typical American, pausing in the middle of the afternoon for tea and cake is beyond my over scheduled work-focused capacity. Sigh. We are who we are.

But if cake has the power to change that attitude, this syrup drenched, mascarpone and cream covered orange poppy seed cake might do it.

This is the kind of cake that stretches the boundaries of just how moist a cake can be. The cake itself includes actual fruit - a couple of whole oranges are mixed right into the batter along with the poppy seeds.

Including whole fruit in the batter allowed me to use less sugar because the fruit is helping to do sugar’s job: it adds flavor, locks in moisture, and creates a soft and tender texture. Less sugar means the cake is not overly sweet so you can drench it in citrus syrup (so YUM) with abandon and no concern for it becoming cloying.

And, of course, you can frost this cake with whatever buttercream you like, or serve it naked, adorned with nothing but that glistening citrus glaze. But I do hope you try it with the mascarpone frosting because its light, creamy, not-too-sweet consistency really is the perfect complement to the syrup drenched cake.

—> Get the recipe: Orange Poppy Seed Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

A few other recipes I’m into right now

Beer Battered Fried Fish

I have it on very good authority (my mom’s) that this recipe makes the absolute best fish and chips - better than you’ll find at any restaurant anywhere. And we all know that mom’s are always right, so there you have it.

The batter is very light and flaky but also flavorful. You know how sometimes fried fish is coated in batter that’s crispy but flavorless? We can do better than that and by better I mean we can add beer.

Beer does several fantastic things for fried fish batter, but the main effect comes from the carbonation. The bubbles in beer aerate the batter, which helps to make it light and crispy. The same effect can be achieved by adding plain club soda, but beer also adds flavor.

Here’s where you’ll find the recipe: Beer Battered Fried Fish

Crispy Carrot Fries + Za’atar Labneh + Marinated Feta

Crispy panko and parmesan covered carrot fries are a perfect match for spoonfuls of creamy, tangy Za'atar Labneh. Add some marinated feta, roasted nuts and olives, a bottle of good wine and a movie and THIS is my idea of the perfect Friday night.

Za’atar Labneh, by the way, is a super creamy middle-eastern soft, fresh cheese topped with Za’atar and garlic that's been simmered in olive oil until the garlic is crispy and the za'atar is intensely fragrant and flavorful.

And marinated feta is a delicious flavor packed treat made by letting cubes of feta cheese soak in olive oil infused with garlic, lemon, and spices. It is so, SO good.

Here’s where you’ll find the recipes:

Have a delicious week friends! I’ll see you next week with 4 new recipes + photos (we bought a new truck! Steve restored our motorcycle! We moved to a campground by a lake and are planning a sleepover in the RV with 12 of our nieces and nephews plus our daughters. It’s going to be crazy and chaotic, and I can not wait. Also, maybe send wine.)

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