Les Poissonchats

Mother used to say we reminded her of Little Red Riding Hood whenever we went to visit Grandfather, for we always carried a basket full of good things to eat for him – thankfully, with no wolf involved. 

Not long ago I asked her what his favourite cake had been, the one he’d ask Grandmother to bake for his birthdays.
An Ordinary Cake, she said.

What’s an ordinary cake? I asked, unable to hide my smile. She told me how it’s made, and I wrote it down for you here.

An Ordinary Cake, and a bottle of wine, tucked into a basket.

What you’ll need

For the cake

• 4 eggs
• 180 g sugar
• 200 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 300 g flour, sifted
• 1 packet baking powder (about 15–16 g)
• 1 small pinch of salt
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the vanilla pudding filling

• 500 ml (½ liter) milk
• Seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla paste)
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch
• Sugar to taste

For the chocolate glaze

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

How to bake it

Start with the cake.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a baking tin and dust with flour. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the butter in small portions and mix until smooth. Fold in flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30–40 minutes. To test if the cake is done, poke a knitting needle into it – if it comes out clean it’s good to be taken out of the oven.

Let cool in the tin, gently tip out once you can touch the tin without getting your hands burnt.

Continue with the vanilla pudding.

Heat the milk with the vanilla seeds on the stove, mix the cornstarch with a little cold milk until completely smooth. Once the milk starts boiling, add the cornstarch mixture.

Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Sweeten to taste, then let the pudding cool.

Once the cake is cool, cut it into two disks in the middle so you get a top and a bottom disk. Spread the cooled vanilla pudding evenly over the bottom half of the cake. Place the top half back on.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (bowl in a bowl of simmering water). Stir in the coconut oil until smooth and glossy. Pour the glaze over the cake, letting it run down the sides.

How to eat it

An ordinary cake works both on ordinary and on special occasion days, also, it works all year around, which, and here I agree with my late Grandfather, quite possibly makes it the best cake in the world.

*This is Les Poissonchats Wondrous Advent Calendar! Advent calendars are a big tradition where I come from: every day until Christmas Day you prepare a small gift for a loved one, fourandtwenty little surprises. Advent calendars come in beautifully old fashioned prints on cardboard, extra glitter and glory, and each day there’s a little perforated window waiting for you be opened. Others are more elaborate, pretty baskets filled with twenty four numbered parcels, red velvet ribbons and sprigs of fir. The one I’m making for you this season is a different one altogether, it comes in digital form. Unless specially marked, all content is hand-stitched by myself, lovingly compiled and written for your amusement.