This dense, flavorful pound cake loaf is perfect with coffee or tea, and makes a delicious addition to brunch. And - hint, hint - it's a perfect cake to make for Mom on her special day this weekend. Best of all, it is surprisingly easy to make. You may already have the ingredients in your kitchen.

This recipe, slightly adapted from the book Bake From Scratch, makes two 8.5" x 4.5" loaves. As a small family, we usually halve the recipe. If you have a good scale, we recommend that you weigh the ingredients. That way you're assured of a good loaf. 

The recipe also has you make your own strawberry preserves filling. We used a purchased mixed berry jam in ours (our favorite is an all-natural French jam). If you use jam you bought, choose one that is a looser style, not a jelly for best results. We also added a simple glaze to the top and decorated with a few dried raspberries we had on hand. It's just as delicious naked!

We highly recommend that you read through this recipe before you make it. The mixing instructions are a little different than normal. ​You should always do this, but we have to confess - we often don't! 

​We'll post a VIDEO soon!

• 1/2 pound (225g) fresh strawberries, hulled
• 2 Tablespoons (30g) water
• 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
• 3 Tablespoons (36g) granulated sugar

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1. In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse strawberries until smooth, about 1 minute.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch until smooth.
3. In a medium saucepan, stir together pureed strawberries and sugar over medium-high heat. Whisk in cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute.

Will yield about 1 cup.

The addition of whole wheat flour imbues this tender carrot snack cake with a little less guilt. The orange zest and juice adds a lovely, fresh flavor sure to please everyone in your crowd.

We halved the recipe below to make an 8 x 8 cake, which we think is plenty if you're calling it a "snack cake!" You can bake it as a full cake in a 9 x 13 pan. The larger size is perfect for a spring brunch, school banquet or a neighborhood potluck.

Recipe is from BHG. Hands-on time for this recipe is about 25 minutes. Total time to make is around 2 hours, including cooling time for the cake. Nutrition information: 316 cal, 21g fat, 54mg chol, 252mg sodium, 28g carb, 2g fiber, 4g pro.

Cake

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup neutral flavor oil (we used canola)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2-1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans

Frosting

• 8 ounce cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons softened unsalted butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange zest to mix in
• 1 teaspoon orange zest to sprinkle on top

When we try a new recipe, we often make a smaller version of the original recipe. For cookies, that's as simple as cutting the ingredients in half and making a smaller quantity. But for cakes, it gets quite a bit more complicated. And - horrors - requires some math!

In this post, we explain how to adjust your recipes for the pans you have on hand or when you want to make a smaller cake or cheesecake because you're not feeding a large group. Thanks to Alice Medrich from Food 52  for these calculations!
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​HOW TO USE THESE NUMBERS:
Once you know the area of any pan, you can compare it to the area of another pan to see how much bigger or smaller it is. You can divide the area of a large pan by the area of a small pan to figure out how many times to multiply a recipe to fill the larger pan with the same depth of batter. In our case, we usually are dividing a larger recipe. So, for example, if we want to divide a recipe designed for a 9-inch round pan (64) and make it in a 6-inch round pan (29), we multiple each of the ingredients by .45 or 45% (29/64). In this case, we'd round up to 50 percent for ease of conversion - as long as the pan can accommodate the small increase in total ingredients. For such as small increase, it's not likely that the baking time would need to be increased for most recipes.

For squares and rectangles: The area of a square or rectangular pan is calculated by multiplying one side times the other side. The area of an 8-inch square is 64 square inches because 8 x 8 = 64; the area of a 9 x 13-inch pan is 117 square inches because 9 x 13 = 117. Easy. 

For rounds: The area of a circle equals π times the radius squared. In case you don’t remember, π = 3.14; the radius of a circle is half of its diameter; and squaring means multiplying a number by itself. Ready? To calculate the area of an 8-inch round pan, multiply 3.14 (π) by 4 (because it’s half of 8) times 4. Thus, the area of an 8-inch circle is 3.14 x 4 x 4, approximately 50 square inches. Not so hard!
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This recipe produced the most tender and delicious madeleines we have ever had. Do dry and dusty little cakes here! The glaze adds a burst of sweetness and helps keep the mads from drying out too quickly. The recipe is adapted from one by David Lebovitz.

​Traditional madeleines rely on the whipping for loft. But we used baking powder to get a little oomph and to make sure we achieved the little "humps" on the back. If you use baking powder, they may take another minute or so to bake since the batter will rise higher. They’re done when the cakes feel just set if you poke them with your finger. Avoid overbaking them. There’s nothing better than a fresh, buttery madeleine.

Don't be tempted to speed the process on this recipe. The chilling of batter and pan are the key to perfect texture and shape. You need to be a little zen with these - or maybe channel your inner Parisienne.

If you like the tops of your mads more browned - we don't - bake them in the upper-third of your oven, so the tops get slightly-browned. You can also skip the glaze and eat the mads "naked" if you like.

​Recipe makes 24 mini cakes. Glazed madeleines are best left uncovered, or not tightly-wrapped; they’re best eaten the day they’re made. They can be kept in a container for up to three days after baking, if necessary. We don’t recommend freezing them since the glaze will melt.

Mads

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
• rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup (175g) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional - but recommended)
• zest of one small lemon
• 1 or two madeleine pans ( will take longer to re-chill with one pan)
• 9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for preparing the molds OR baking spray with flour.

Glaze

• 3/4 cup (150g) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water