The Artful Baker by Cenk Sonmezsoy
October 25, 2017 by Jenny
Cenk Sönmezsoy is the creative voice behind the award-winning blog, Cafe Fernando, named after Rose’s teddy bear on the Golden Girls. “Bake and watch the Girls with Cenk” was just added to my bucket list.
The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker is the talented blogger’s debut cookbook. Trust me when I state that he came out of the gate running with this gorgeous title. Page after stunning page, photo after stunning photo, decadent recipe after decadent recipe all make for one of the most beautiful baking books ever.
Brownie wears lace (the brownies he created for Dolce & Gabbana); Fig, thyme and blue cheese galette; step-by-step instructions (with photos) for Croissants and Pain au chocolat;, and Blanche, a timeless tart named after Blanche Devereaux (another Golden Girl), are just a small sampling of the greatness in The Artful Baker. Weights are provided in weights and volume and incredibly thoughtful details are provided for each recipe.
This book will make my list of best books of 2017. It is stunning, inspirational, and a must-have title in a sea of must have books released this year. The Artful Baker rises to the top, breaks the water and politely screams, take me home! (much like Blanche).
Special thanks to Abrams for sharing Cenk’s favorite cake with our members today. The publisher is also providing three copies of this book in our contest below open to the US. Eat Your Books is providing one copy worldwide (so a total of four books!). Be sure to scroll down and enter.
Sour cherry & almond
upside-down cake
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I’ll say without hesitation that this cake is my favorite recipe in the book. Considering that there is a chocolate cake using more than a pound of chocolate, passion fruit caramels that make me weak in the knees, and several ice creams that I can’t live without, this is a big statement. I’m not sure whether it’s the sticky-sweet sour cherries against that buttery, almond-y crumb, or the fact that the fruit layer gets sweeter and stickier each time I apply the sour cherry glaze to refresh it, but this cake is what I crave most.
It is also one of the easiest recipes in the book. For the cake, you put the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor one after another and press a button. For the fruit layer, you’ll cook the cherries before arranging them on the bottom, enabling you to fit in more and preventing the bubbling juices from leeching into the cake. Since the fruit won’t shrink further in the oven, there will be no gaps between cherries when you invert the cake onto a serving plate.
The cake is so flavorful it doesn’t really need the fruit layer, but if sour cherries aren’t in season or are hard to find where you live and you still want that sticky-sweet layer, try using another tart fruit with a low moisture content-one that will retain its shape after an hour in the oven. Without a doubt, Raspberry Jewel pluots would be my second choice. Not that you need yet another reason to run immediately into the kitchen, but the cake gets better with time, too.
Serves 8
Fruit & glaze layer
5 ¼ cups (1.62 pounds; 735 grams) pitted fresh sour cherries
(from about 1.9 pounds; 860 grams sour cherries with pits and
stems)
⅔ cup (133 grams) granulated sugar
Cake
10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (5.3 ounces; 150 grams) unsalted
butter, cut into large pieces and softened, plus more for pan
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 grams) pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (150 grams) blanched almond flour
¾ cup (105 grams) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
¼ teaspoon (2 grams) fine sea salt
To make the fruit layer and glaze, in a large, high-sided skillet over medium heat, cook the cherries and sugar until the juices released from the cherries begin to simmer and the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes, stirring gently so as not to break up the cherries. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the juices thicken but are still fluid, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Scrape the cherries with their juices into a mesh strainer set over a medium heatproof bowl and let drain completely, shaking the strainer gently to help drain the juices. Reserve the juices for glazing the cake.
To make the cake, set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
Butter the bottom of an 8-inch (20.5-cm) round cake pan, line the bottom with a parchment round, and wrap a dampened cake strip around the pan. (I highly recommend using a cake strip to prevent a domed top, which can cause the fruit layer to crack after the cake is inverted onto the serving plate.)
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla with a fork until blended.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the almond flour, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the dough gathers around the blade, about 1 minute. Add the egg mixture and process until blended, about 20 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The batter will be very thick.
Arrange the drained sour cherries in a tightly packed single layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Scrape the batter over the cherries and spread it evenly with a small offset spatula.
Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Pressing firmly against the pan, run a small knife around the edge to loosen the cake, invert onto a serving plate, and remove the parchment round.
Skim off the foamy layer on the sour cherry glaze with a spoon and discard. Use a pastry brush to apply a generous amount of glaze to the cherries, and serve.
Transfer the remaining glaze to a small bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator.
Storage: The cake will keep, wrapped airtight, at room temperature for up to 4 days. Before serving, refresh the fruit layer with leftover glaze warmed in a small saucepan over low heat. You can substitute leftover glaze for the raspberry syrup in Raspberry Lemonade (page 292) to make sour cherry lemonade.
From The Artful Baker by Cenk Sönmezsoy, published by ABRAMS c 2017.
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US and Eat Your Books is supplying one copy worldwide. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on November 26th, 2017.
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