i just ate three pieces of cake

it’s a good thing i didn’t eat breakfast. because i just made a cake that made me remember why millions of people survived without chocolate cake for centuries.

typically i’m not a huge fan of vanilla-flavored cakes; they tend to be overly dry, or have too much vanilla…essentially i’ve come to realize that i’m just not a fan of vanilla in general, unless it’s ice cream. ice cream is one of the few venues in which producers manage not to go overboard (in the case of good vanilla ice cream).

i recently made shuna fish lydon’s caramel cake. it had a gorgeous photograph: it was golden-brown (closer to a dark brown), somewhere between a golden cake and gingerbread, with a larger-than-normal crumb. it looked moist, but not too moist, not dry, and just…beautiful.

but when i made it, for some reason it didn’t come out quite correctly – it was a beautiful goldeny color that usually doesn’t happen, but it was not the deep dark color that i had been anticipating with a watering mouth. the disappointment was accordingly cutting. it had lovely subtle overtones, and gorgeous undertones of caramel…but i just couldn’t get over the lack of color.

fittingly, the cake that made my day was french. ah, those french. i checked my food blogs today and discovered a good-looking cake : le gateau piege from chocolate + zucchini. i’ve been looking for a cake that can stand on its own, without needing frosting – that elusive one-layer cake that is stealthily delicious even though it’s only one layer and has no frosting.

a cake like this has to be better than all other cakes, because with no frosting there’s only cake. accordingly, that crumb better be good, it better not be too dry, and the flavor has to be more pure and stunning than normal.

and this is it. this is the cake to end all cakes. well, really i’m overexaggerating here, but this is a good cake. it’s a light – but not in the way that angel food cake is light, ie, spongily light – orange-flavored cake. it’s butter, sugar, eggs, and flour with an orange flavoring. (and this is why it’s french: it’s delightfully unadorned). it actually does have “frosting,” too – you butter and sugar the pan, and it develops a lovely, lightly caramelized crust.

this is the cake.

le gâteau piège  (adapted from chocolate + zucchini)

for the pan
1T butter
1 1/2 T sugar

for the batter
1/2 cup plus 1 T unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2T sugar
2 eggs
1 medium organic orange, scrubbed
1 cup flour
1 T baking powder
large pinch salt

1. preheat the oven to 350F. butter a 9″ or 10″ cake pan with the butter. dump the sugar in the bottom of the pan and swish it around until it coats the bottom and sides of the pan.

2. cream together the butter and sugar. add the eggs one by one and mix until thoroughly combined. grate the zest from the entire orange over the bowl. juice the orange and add 1/2 cup of the juice (give or take a little) to the batter. mix until smooth.

3. in a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. whisk the flour mixture into the batter and mix until just combined. scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the cake is golden and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. let cool on a rack for ten minutes (no more, or the caramel on the crust will harden and stick to the pan), then flip onto a serving plate. let cool completely before serving.

 [makes one 9″ cake; serves 6-8]