Piece of Cake!: One-Bowl, No-Fuss, From-Scratch Cakes

Piece of Cake!: One-Bowl, No-Fuss, From-Scratch Cakes

Author: Camilla V. Saulsbury

Publisher: (2011)

I pride myself on making cakes from scratch. A few times a year, I’m able to get really fancy and go all-out with an elegant layer cake with homemade frosting, or a super-rich cheesecake that fills a craving with only a sliver. The rest of the year, though, I like to bake low-fuss, low-mess cakes with minimal adornment – and no box mixes. Camilla Saulsbury seeks to fill this niche with her book Piece of Cake!: One-Bowl, No-Fuss, From-Scratch Cakes.

This book claims to alleviate many of the sticking points that prevent home bakers from making cakes from scratch – recipes here don’t need multiple bowls, creaming, separating eggs, alternating dry and wet addition or sifting. In fact, the roughly 240 pages of recipes in Piece of Cake kick off with the classic, almost never-fail Wacky Cake (p. 12). The cakes are, for the most part, designed to be incredibly simple in their presentation, although Saulsbury does include over 50 recipes for various topping (i.e. icings, glazes, and sauces). For the truly new cake-bakers, this book contains a lengthy introduction covering ingredients, equipment and techniques. Reading this section is 100% optional for those who have baked at least a few times in their lives, but if not, I strongly suggest a perusal.

My favourite part about this book is that Saulsbury includes homemade cake mixes for both “conventional” and “vegan” cakes. While almost any cake can be converted into a dry mix (just by mixing the dry ingredients in a bag separately), Saulsbury’s recipes also include the solid fat component, so much like a conventional baking mix all you’d have to do is add eggs, milk and a touch of oil to have cake any time. I tried the Yellow Cake Mix (p.42) and have to say a food processor is definitely the best way to go here. I did find the cake a little denser than storebought mix, and it took a little more time in the oven than I’m used to – I think this is the result of the book’s mix only calling for 2 eggs instead of three.

My problems with the cake outcomes continued when I went to make a classical favourite here: lemon cake. Titled grandly as Luscious Lemon Loaf (p.73), I had high hopes for this as a perfect accompaniment to tea with guests. Unfortunately, all the liquid in the cake (3 eggs, 1 cup of sour cream and ½ cup of oil) simply caused the “luscious lemon cake” to turn into mush, which burned on the outside while never baking through. After that failure, and my previous experience with the cake mix, I was very wary about trying anything else from this book as I don’t want to waste ingredients. However, I will continue to use the recipes as bases for my own modifications and ideas, as they are plentiful here.

While I may not have found cooking from this book to be easy, Piece of Cake!: One-Bowl, No-Fuss, From-Scratch Cakes does contain solid knowledge of basic baking techniques and plenty of fodder for would be bakers to build on. I highly suggest learning what batters and ratios should look like before attempting anything in this book so as to avoid disappointment.

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150 Best Vegan Muffin Recipes

150 Best Vegan Muffin Recipes

Author: Camilla V. Saulsbury

Publisher:  (2012)

It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t love a good muffin. The quintessential quickbread, they are portable, pre-portioned and infinitely variable treats – and depending on the recipe, they can invoke feelings of angelically healthy sainthood, decadent sin or devilish spice. Most common renditions of the classic muffin rely on eggs, milk, or both, but not all of them – as author Camilla V. Saulsbury points out in her book 150 Best Vegan Muffin Recipes.

Vegan Muffin is a great resource for any muffin man (or woman) to have in their collection, from those who have never set foot in the baker’s kitchen to those who can whip out a dozen with their eyes closed. The book begins with a 20-page primer on muffin baking in general, from tips for Muffin Mastery (p. 6) to the equipment and ingredients you’ll need to achieve your ideal results. While the ingredients section of the introduction is specified as “vegan”, anyone can – and should – glean the information should the need to reduce or eliminate animal products from cooking or baking arise. If you only choose to read one portion of the preamble, though, make it Muffin Mastery. It was in this section that I learned the tricks to adapting recipes for different tin sizes and freezing muffin batter for a-la-minute baking – two tips that have made me a veritable “muffin queen” at home. Not only are all the recipes in Vegan Muffin free of animal products (and thus, two major allergens – egg and milk), but Saulsbury shares so many interesting variations on the theme that it’s almost impossible to get bored. Not “preachy” or belabouring the vegan views, the focus of the book is to share tasty and generally nutritious options everyone can enjoy together.

The recipes in Vegan Muffin are generally divided by their intended time of enjoyment: Breakfast (43), Coffeehouse (85) (AKA breaktime), and Lunch and Supper (113). At the end of the book is a chapter on Global Muffins (155), which definitely brings into light just how variable the simple quickbread can be. Saulsbury also includes a chapter with her Top 20 Muffins (21), which includes the mother recipe for Best Basic Muffins (22).  In general, all the ingredients Saulsbury calls for are relatively inexpensive, easy to find in decently stocked supermarkets, and often already found in many a pantry these days, putting to rest the argument that veganism is too complex or expensive a lifestyle.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (p. 28)

I chose to make Saulsbury’s Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (p. 28) first, as my sister had returned from college with a taste for the cafeteria’s version. The recipe (which I made with white whole wheat flour) came together quickly, although we agreed that the lemon flavor needed a little more oomph and the poppy seeds could have been dialed back a bit. A subsequent batch with an added teaspoon of lemon extract and only two tablespoons of poppy seeds was a resounding success, and if you are baking for traditionally “non-vegan” clientele I would strongly suggest either unsweetened almond or rice milk for their mild flavours, since soy can bring a “beany” tone to the finished dish. To test out the “bake from frozen batter” guide in the Muffin Mastery chapter, I jumped at the chance to make Saulsbury’s version of one of my favourite combinations – Chocolate Avocado Muffins (p. 98). The recipe baked up splendidly both fresh and frozen, although I would suggest reducing the oil to ¼ cup from 1/3, as mine were a little greasy for my taste. The original recipe doesn’t call for chocolate chips, but a sprinkling on top gives them more of a “bakery” look and will convince anyone – even avocado-haters like myself – to have a bite.

Chocolate Avocado Muffins (p. 98)

Enjoying a freshly baked muffin was never an experience solely for the omnivorous crowd, although traditional bakeries and cookbooks can make it seem that way. A delicious variety of tastes and textures await anyone who picks up a copy of Camilla V. Saulsbury ‘s 150 Best Vegan Muffin Recipes – you need only pick one and get into the kitchen!

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Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes

Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes

Author: Camilla V. Saulsbury

Publisher:  (2015)

Muffins. Cookies. Waffles. Burgers. All fundamental parts of day to day Western eating, and all packed chock full of the latest nutritional “baddie” – gluten. While the protein, found  in wheat, barley, spelt, rye, Kamut and triticale, is no danger to most people, for the 1% of the worldwide population living with celiac disease that pesky little molecule becomes a big, life-altering problem. Thankfully, the increased (if misguided) popularity of gluten free diets has opened up a whole world of whole grain flavour and nutrition, and companies like Bob’s Red Mill are doing their part to bring naturally gluten-free grains and pseudograins safely to the table. Their latest endeavour is a cookbook full of healthy, hearty fare, all written by Camilla V. Saulsbury of the blog Power Hungry: Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes.

Everyday Gluten-Free focuses on giving readers the opportunity to enjoy great-tasting, satisfying and nutritious meals and snacks without relying on overprocessed stand-ins for bread and pasta. Noodles, in fact, are completely absent from the pages of Everyday Gluten-Free, and with the exception of two burgers, store-bought bread products are eschewed as well. Saulsbury relies instead on the array of gluten-free whole grains and whole grain flours Bob’s Red Mill offers to create treats like Olive Oil Cake with Cherries and Dark Chocolate Chunks (p. 304), Mushroom Quiche with Teff Crust (p. 202) and even French Crepes (p. 56). Most of these, especially the ones involving baked goods or batters, use Bob’s Red Mill’s signature packaged  “all purpose flour” blend – however, a quick websearch will point you to any number of satisfactory flour combinations you can make at home and keep in stock (personally, I recommend these two).  

Something I particularly like about Everyday Gluten-Free is that the recipes are not only celiac-friendly but generally nutritious as well. While I wouldn’t suggest cooking a brand new recipe from the book in the middle of a hectic weeknight – learning some of the more unusual ingredients, methods and spices is a task more suitable for a lazy weekend – once you find a few favourites  dinner can be just as fast as “regular” meals. An extra bonus is that the book’s recipes tend to contain more fibre and whole foods than the Standard American Diet, so you can have your meal and eat it too! This book is not a vegetarian tome, but there is a sizeable chapter of Meatless Main Dishes (p. 179) is included and many other chapters feature a majority of vegetarian items as well. I even had success with converting a few baking recipes in Everyday Gluten-Free to vegan or eggless goodies, making the goods safe for the other food allergies in my taste-tester group.

Like most other books published by Robert Rose, Everyday Gluten-Free has limited photography. The photos that are present in the book are curated into four “blocks”, which are worth a perusal on their own. While not every recipe is photographed, Colin Erricson manages to cram enough mouth-watering images into such a restricted space that it tempts the reader into trying the others as well. After spotting the Chorizo, Kale and Teff Soup (p. 118) mug (bowl?) shot, I was inspired to cook up a few batches of soup myself. 

Split Pea Soup with Chia Chutney (p. 103)

I was pleasantly surprised by the flavour and texture of Saulsbury’s take on Split Pea Soup with Chia Chutney (p. 103) – split pea soup is a favourite around here and the zippy elements of lime, ginger and cilantro elevated it to another plane. Since transport and easy enjoyment of these soups was the name of the game for us (who took Thermoses to work), I swirled the elements of the Chia Chutney into the whole pot at the end, adding an extra layer of oomph in every spoonful. I also used some pre-roasted and frozen beets from last year’s garden to whip up the Amaranth Beet Soup (p. 83) with some flair of my own – blood orange juice and shawarma spices. While these recipes were delicious, what was strongly lacking in both was salt. Most of the recipes in Everyday Gluten-Free lack this ingredient, which is a disservice to the flavour potential the whole grains, legumes and produce offer. I’m not asking for heaps of sodium chloride, but a hefty pinch of Kosher salt really turned the soups I made from vegetable water into a hearty, flavourful meal. The other issue I found with the savoury dishes, at least, was with the stated yields – the soup recipes created 10-12 respectable main course servings, rather than the 6 Saulsbury documents. Luckily, we are a family who enjoys leftovers, but if your household is more into one-shot cooking, keep the scaling of recipes in mind!

Amaranth Beet Soup (my version)(p. 83)

Everyday Gluten-Free is somewhat more than a run-of-the-mill cookbook, even a gluten free one. The introduction is a hefty 32 page exploration of gluten-free grains, including their history, flavour, cooking techniques and nutrition, as well as a section on fleshing out the pantry with staple goods and even measuring ingredients properly. For those who already follow a gluten-free diet due to celiac or gluten intolerance, this read is mostly review. However, for those just jumping on the gluten free trend or  who simply want to cook with more whole grains, it is a fabulous beginner’s resource. What I particularly liked was that the author gave a few different methods of cooking the grains, and included important ingredients for any healthy pantry such as legumes, nuts and seeds.

There are so many tempting treats in Bob's Red Mill Everyday Gluten-Free Cookbook: 281 Delicious Whole-Grain Recipes that it is hard to pick a single favourite. Moreso, this book is a fantastic point of inspiration and basic methodology for readers to develop their own spins on old favourites. Who knows, the language of delicious, nutritious whole foods may just become your (gluten free) bread and butter!

 
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