CakeBook Monday: OVENLY by Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin

How do I love thee, let me count the ways. 
I love thee for your Blackout Cake,
Singing with Stout and Salty Dark Chocolate Pudding and
Pudding in the buttercream. In. the. buttercream.
And your cookies, all kinds,
Peanut Butter and Salted Chocolate Chip,
Shortbread crunchy with coffee grounds,
Who would have thought?
Or your quick breads,
Citrus bright, banana sweet,
and that one cake
the Crumb,
Banana and Nutella and Brown Sugar
and it's almost too much.
I shall but love thee better with an empty stomach.

Buy thee here

CakeBook Monday: GREAT CAKES by Carole Walter

Today's pick for CakeBook Monday is Carole Walter's Great Cakes. A treasure trove of recipes, the title comes from Martha Washington's recipe for Great Cake (which is presented in its original form before the ToC), and the book features both historic and modern cakes. There's also an incredibly useful section of techniques and tips at the beginning. Originally published in 1991 (this edition is from 2005), the book is sadly out-of-print, but used copies are readily available online.

A few year ago, I baked the 18th C. Pound Cake recipe from the book, and tested out the old technique of keeping cake wrapped tightly in a brandy-soaked cheesecloth to extend the shelf life. Once a week I would cut a thick slice off for a taste, then re-soak the cheesecloth in plenty of brandy before rewrapping what remained and returning it to hide away in tupperware. The cake lasted well over a month, each piece just a bit more alcoholic than the last, before the flavor unpleasantly soured and my modern palate (and food borne illness phobia) led me to toss it.

CakeBook Monday: BAKED, NEW FRONTIERS IN BAKING by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

This book, the very first of what's now four (and counting?!) from the charming guys behind Baked, remains one of my most cherished, stained, smeared, and utilized baking books.

Today's pick for CakeBook Monday, it's one that I imagine many of you already own, but if you don't, you should. You really, really should. It's got the recipe for their famous Sweet and Salty Cake and their killer brownies, but it also has the recipes for two of my all-time favorites: the Lemon Drop Cake and the Coconut Snowball Cupcakes (which I bake as a layer cake). I am admittedly devoted to all that they do, but love-tainted palate or not, I promise much edible joy from what's in these pages. 

CakeBook Monday: 1954 PILLSBURY BAKE-OFF BOOKLET

Today's pick for CakeBook Monday is really all about one recipe: Blueberry Boy Bait.

Honestly, I've never even made another recipe from the booklet as it's all been about BBB ever since that first bite of this delicate, lemon-blueberry-cinnamon-sugar beauty. 

Rennie Powell, a young woman in Chicago, submitted the recipe to the 1954 Pillsbury Bake-off, taking home 2nd place in the Junior division. She said whenever she baked this particular cake, the boys would come running, hence the Boy Bait part. I was so taken with this notion, I once tried to bring it to life:   

Both Smitten Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated have written about Rennie's creation, but I always love going straight to the source. Bonus: the recipe for Thrifty Giblet Pie!

CakeBook Monday: FEAST-DAY CAKES FROM MANY LANDS

Happy CakeBook Monday! Today's selection is Feast-Day Cakes From Many Lands. Published in 1960, it features dozens of cake (and cookie) recipes from all over the world and includes history and folklore as well. Loosely arranged by holiday, the book has the recognizable—Hot Cross Buns and King Cake—and some more usual fare such as Singin' Hinnies (like a scone) and Pope Ladies (a type of bun). Available used.