PicoBlog

In this week's newsletter you get to see how my baking brain works. My train of thought can be scattered or it can be linear. Sometimes I see something (usually on social media) that I want to make. Or I have an ingredient in mind. Or I have a flavor combination that I want to try. Or I wonder if I can simplify a recipe. Or I simply have a craving.

But here is the most common way my baking brain works: I make one recipe, then I think about how I can riff on it. What if I changed the flavor, shape, topping, filling, or flour? Would it work? How would it taste? Would the texture change? This thought process happens to me all of the time. I call it "playing with my food." One recipe evolves like the branches of a tree.

I go down rabbit holes, and I come up with endless lists of what I could do with a certain recipe. I made a lovely batch of brioche a couple weeks back, and now I cannot stop thinking about what it can turn into: donuts (baked and fried), monkey bread, tarts (sweet or savory), tarte tropezienne, kuchen, cinnamon rolls, and other rolled-up treats. Or I think about how can I change the base recipe. What different flours can I use in the brioche? What flavors can I add to the dough? I just keep going like this until I have an almost endless To Bake list.

The past week I've been pondering lemon curd and easy one-bowl cakes. Why not smash the two together? After I made my blood-orange pistachio cake, I couldn't stop thinking about how this cake might be swirled with some lemon curd. Conveniently, I had a batch of curd in my refrigerator.

What happens when you combine the recipes from the past two weeks in one bake? You get this lemon curd single-layer snacking cake! Start with a simple one-bowl cake, rich with butter, olive oil, and almond flour. Then dollop and swirl in some homemade lemon curd and sprinkle with slivered almonds. Chaotically drizzle some tangy lemon icing and you have a bright little cake to nosh. The pockets of lemon curd surprise you with the tangy creaminess, and the almonds provide a little crunch. It's so easy and a fantastic way to use your lemon curd! I used about one half of my lemon curd recipe in this cake, but you can use a bit more or less, depending on what you have.

Makes one 1-layer, 9-inch square cake, about 9-12 servings.

Cake

180 g sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

160 g all-purpose flour or Janie's Mill sifted durum flour

80 g almond flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

100 g (7 Tablespoons) butter, melted

30 g (3 tablespoons) olive oil

3 large room-temperature eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

80 grams plain (unsweetened) yogurt (regular or Greek-style work fine, ideally full-fat)

About 160 g (1/2 cup) lemon curd

100 g sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds

Icing

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

Pinch of salt

80-120 g powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350F with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Butter a 9-inch by 9-inch square metal baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

Add the sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl. Zest the lemon right into the bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers. Add the all-purpose flour, almond flour, and baking powder, then whisk to combine. Add the melted butter, olive oil, beaten eggs, lemon extract, and vanilla extract, then whisk to combine. Add the yogurt and whisk to combine.

Dump the batter into the prepared pan and bang it on the counter a few times to level it out. Dollop approximate teaspoons of lemon curd evenly around the cake, then take a toothpick and do one gentle swirl to distribute the lemon curd, but do not mix it into the batter. You want clumps and streaks of curd. Sprinkle the top with sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds for some crunch.

Bake the cake at 350F for 28-32 minutes until the cake springs back when gently pressed in the center. (The toothpick test doesn't really work for this cake because the curd might stick to it.)

Cool for at least 20 minutes in the pan, then place onto your serving platter. Let cool completely before icing.

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the icing to get a viscosity that you can drizzle, but that still holds its shape a bit. Somewhat between a glaze (super runny) and a frosting (that doesn't move at all). Using a spoon or small whisk, drizzle it chaotically across the cake. This is a casual cake, so no need to bust out the piping bag unless you’re feeling fancy.

This cake lasts quite well. I’d say it’s good for at least 3 days, covered, at room temperature.

Happy Baking,
Martin

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