I have written about a great number of easy recipes during my time here. I’ve covered everything from burritos to cookies to Spam. However, now I’ll be covering one another sweet treat. Cakes.
1. Simple Strawberry Shortcake.
For the first of our easy recipes, well be covering a slightly more complicated one. This is a pretty simple Strawberry shortcake. As far as easy recipes go, this is one of the more intensive ones, but it’s still good.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup plus 1 tsp. sugar, divided
1½ tsp. kosher salt, plus more
1 lemon
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1 cup sour cream, divided
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1½ lb. strawberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Directions:
Place a rack in center of oven; preheat to 400°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk 2 cups flour, 1½ tsp. baking powder, ¼ tsp. baking soda, 4 tsp. sugar, and 1½ tsp. salt in a large bowl to combine.
Finely grate zest of about half of 1 lemon right into bowl (reserve lemon for later).
Cut 1 stick cold butter into ½” pieces and toss with dry ingredients until coated. Work butter into dry ingredients by pinching and rubbing it between your palms until there are lots of flat shards and pea-sized bits remaining.
Combine ¾ cup sour cream and ⅓ cup heavy cream in a medium bowl. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Scrape cream mixture into well. Working in circles from inside the well outwards with a rubber spatula, mix dough until large, shaggy clumps form.
Knead once or twice until it forms a mass and most of the flour has been incorporated into the dough.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Pat to a 1″-thick square (it should be about 6×6″).
Cut dough into 4 equal squares, then stack them all on top of each other, creating one very tall tower of dough. Press down on stack with your hands, flattening dough back to a square. Pat to a 7½x5″ rectangle about 1″ thick.
Cut rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut each of those 2 rectangles into 3 squares. Transfer squares to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle tops with 1 Tbsp. sugar. Freeze 10 minutes.
Bake shortcakes until golden brown all over, 20–25 minutes.
Trim and discard stems of 1½ lb. strawberries. Cut smaller ones in half and larger ones into quarters. Transfer to a medium bowl. Cut reserved lemon in half and squeeze 2 Tbsp. lemon juice into bowl with strawberries. Add 3 Tbsp. sugar and toss to combine.
Pour remaining 1⅔ cups heavy cream into chilled bowl. Add 1 tsp. vanilla, 3 Tbsp. sugar, and a pinch of salt. Vigorously whisk with your largest whisk, making figure-8 motions, until soft peaks form. Whisk in remaining ¼ cup sour cream until just incorporated.
Add strawberries and whipped cream once the shortcake is done.
2.Basic Vanilla Cake.
For the Second of our easy recipes, we move on to something a bit less complicated. This is one of the easiest of our easy recipes, at least where cake is concerned. You can modify this recipe as you see fit.
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whole milk (or 3/4 cup heavy cream mixed with 1/2 cup water)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch-round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper; butter the parchment and dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.
Whisk 3 cups flour, the baking powder and salt in a bowl until combined. Beat 2 sticks butter and the sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium; beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour, until just smooth.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until the cakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the pans and turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Remove the parchment. Trim the tops of the cakes with a long serrated knife to make them level, if desired.
3. Carrot Cake.
The next of our easy recipes is carrot cake. As far as these kinds of easy recipes go, carrot cake is an absolute classic. This only covers the cake portion and no frosting.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
4 cups (about 1 pound) peeled, grated carrots
1 cup raisins
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable pan spray and parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy, for about 1-2 minutes. Add the oil in a thin stream, and continue beating well.
Add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in the grated carrots and raisins.
Divide the cake batter evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
4. One Bowl Chocolate Cake.
As far as our easy recipes go, this one of the easiest. It’s a dead-simple chocolate cake that’s perfect for beginner bakers. You can even freeze it to make it last longer.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer.
Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin.
Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Glazed Lemon Pound Cake.
For the last of our easy recipes, we have lemon pound cake. Pound cakes are notoriously easy recipes, so even a novice baker should have no trouble making this delicious treat.
Ingredients:
1cupunsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature, plus more for the pan
2 ½cupsall-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for the pan
1teaspoonkosher salt
½teaspoonbaking soda
½teaspoonbaking powder
3cupsgranulated sugar
2tablespoonsfinely grated lemon zest, plus 6 lemon juice
6large eggs, at room temperature
1cupplain full-fat Greek yogurt
1cupconfectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Heat oven to 325° F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in 4 tablespoons of the lemon juice, then the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Reduce mixer speed to low. Add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt, and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 65 to 75 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 1 of the remaining tablespoons of lemon juice until smooth, adding the remaining lemon juice as necessary to create a thick, but pourable glaze.
Are there any Cake Recipes you love? Tell us about them!
Featured Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/chocolate-cake-on-blue-ceramic-plate-5531659/
