Conference Call Cake is one to make when your COVID-19 lifestyle feels crazy
While browsing Facebook recently, I saw a post by a friend about an electronic cookbook called “Family Meal.”
It had many famous chef contributors like Ina Garten, Dan Barber and Samin Nosrat, so my interest was piqued enough to click on the link and check it out. It’s a charitable cookbook to support COVID-19 Restaurant Worker Relief, so I figured that if there was one good recipe in it, it would be worth the price, and $6 is not much to pay to contribute to a good cause.
This e-cookbook is full of fantastic, diverse recipes, and this week’s recipe for Conference Call Cake is from the CEO of Penguin Random House. The hilariously written recipe sure feels like everyday life these days. There’s mentions of Zoom calls, homeschooling, disinfecting and walking the dog, even when the dog isn’t interested in taking a walk. Can’t we all relate to most of that right now?
It just hit my funny bone, and lightened my mood instantly. I’m not homeschooling, but all of my girlfriends are and are doing their best to keep themselves together and run their households without losing it. It’s the friends who have three or four kids and are juggling so much that I think about often. Thankfully, school will be out soon.
Have you found yourself baking more during COVID-19? Sweets just seem more appealing and so does bread, hence the flour shortage in many larger cities. Every day I’m grateful to live in Wichita, and especially now. Our fine city is big enough but just the right size.
Whether this week’s recipe for Conference Call Cake motivates you to get out your spring form pan or not, I think the recipe will have you smiling at least. Humor and cake will get us through when things seem to be grim.
Conference Call Cake
From my quarantine to yours:
Take the clementines you haven’t yet eaten from when you bought that large bag on your last shopping trip. Ideally, 4 to 6 of them.
When you’re getting ready for your first Zoom meeting of the day, plop the clementines, peel and all, in a pot with enough water to give them plenty of room. Bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer.
When it’s time for your mid-morning break (about 2 hours later), fish them out of the pot and let them cool. Then puree them, ideally in a food processor but if you don’t have one you could probably figure out how to mash them using whatever you have. You want to end up with a consistent, pulpy mash. You can now wait any amount of time to finish the recipe. Take a call. Have a meeting. Do some disinfecting. Supervise home schooling. Walk the dog (whether the dog wants to or not).
Ready to start again? Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Hope you have a 9-inch spring form pan, but if not, use any kind of baking pan. Coat with cooking spray if you have it. Or butter and flour if you don’t. If you have parchment paper, line the bottom of the pan to make your life easier.
In a big bowl, whisk 6 eggs, the clementine pulp, 1 cup of sugar, 2 cups of almond flour, and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Pour it all into the baking dish.
Bake for about an hour, during which time you can have another meeting, or supervise another home-schooling session or disinfect again. You’ll know when the cake is ready when the edges are golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge, then remove the spring form collar or flip the cake out and set it on a rack to cool completely.
Vacuum. Make everyone wash their hands. Walk the dog again. Wash your hands. Have another Zoom.
You could now eat the cake. Or you could do what any sensible person would do, which is to make a chocolate glaze: Melt 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate with 1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup. Let it cool for a while. If you have a thermometer, “a while” means when it’s about 89 degrees F. If you don’t, “a while” means when you’ve run out of patience. Pour it on top of the cake.
Do some more work. Make dinner. Then serve the cake. Clean up.
Pass out, and dream of the day when restaurants will be open again.
Madeline McIntosh, CEO Penguin Random House, US, “Family Meal, Recipes from Our Community – E-Cookbook”
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
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