the only three cake recipes you will ever need Wine News

IIf you’re planning on baking this May holiday weekend, read on for three mouthwatering cake recipes …

Novelty is a drug. We love new flavors, new recipes, the unusual, the unknown. But most of us also have a basic repertoire of dishes that are as much a part of us as the way we dress. We make them because we like to eat them but also because we could transform them while we sleep.

I make cakes that take some work (layers of sponge cake, strips of mousse-like topping, a mirror of shiny frosting on top) but these are project cakes, not what I slip into the oven an weekend afternoon. I have what I think of as a “capsule wardrobe” of cakes, favorites that can be subtly modified or accessorized.

Odette Williams, a New York-based pastry designer who loves cakes, has an even larger core repertoire, which she turned into a book, Simple cake (Ten-speed press, £ 17.99). It features 10 basic recipes with different flavor profiles and 15 toppings that you can mix and match. I swallowed it (and I’m including her yogurt cake recipe here, shared below).

My own basics are an olive oil and nut cake, a sour cream or yogurt cake, and a chocolate cake made by the creaming method (in which the butter and sugar are beaten until ‘until they are pale and frothy before adding the eggs and flour). Olive oil and yogurt cake are made with just a spoon, so you don’t even have to take out your blender (a handy tip: to make plain flour self-rising, add a spoon to coffee rounded baking powder (5g) to each 100g of flour).