Keep the Cakes Coming with Chattman's Easy Recipes by Lisa Messinger - Cooks' Books on Creators.com

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Keep the Cakes Coming with Chattman's Easy Recipes

"Cake Keeper Cakes" by Lauren Chattman (Taunton Press, $17.95)

Lauren Chattman always considered her cakes keepers. After all, as a restaurant pastry chef and author of 10 cookbooks, including "Dessert University," she was an expert at creating sophisticated stunners.

However, it wasn't until last Mother's Day that Chattman had a revelation about cakes really worth keeping. She was given a cake keeper, a pretty little storage device one puts on the counter to keep unwanted visitors — like sticky kids' fingers — at bay.

She challenged herself to keep nonstop cake in the trapper for a year. This meant Chattman needed to create easy recipes for cakes like bundt, pound, loaf, angel food, crumb and snacking that were delicious, but a snap to prepare.

Soon she learned that this kind of shortcut cake could be as simple as whipping up a batch of cookies. Terrific toppings topped her list of quick tricks.

After cluing you in to what kind of inexpensive pans to have on hand to rev up your variety — like 8-inch square, 9-inch round, 9-inch loaf, 12-cup bundt, angel food and springform (many of which most of us can just gather from our own kitchen cabinets) — Chattman dazzles with creations like:

— Chocolate Malted Snacking Cake

— Chocolate-Caramel-Banana Upside-Down Cake

— Sweet Potato Pound Cake

— Peanut Butter-Sour Cream Bundt Cake with Butterfinger-Ganache Glaze

After preparing a few of these, like Chattman confesses, you may just ditch your cookie jar forever in exchange for a cake keeper.

SWEET POTATO POUND CAKE

1 sweet potato (8 ounces)

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1& 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Yields 8 to 10 servings.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake sweet potato until soft, about 1 hour. Cool, peel and puree. Measure out 1 cup of the puree, setting aside any leftovers for another use.

Grease the inside of a 9-inch loaf pan and dust with flour.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and sweet potato puree. Stir in the vanilla.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack, then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or loosely wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

YOGURT CAKE

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt or low-fat yogurt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Yields 8 servings.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl. Pour yogurt mixture into flour mixture and stir until just moistened.

Scrape batter into prepared pan for about 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar, then slice and serve.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.