This yogurt cake is a breeze to memorize and hardly more effort to bake. For starters, French yogurt is sold in a little half-cup jar, which conveniently serves as the measuring cup in the recipe. The author remembers the proportions as “1, 2, 3, then 1, 2, 3.” Translation: 1 jar of yogurt, 2 jars of sugar, and 3 eggs, followed by 1 jar of oil, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 3 jars of flour. She offers two versions, one only slightly more embellished by additions of vanilla, grated citrus zest, and sea salt. It’s a genuinely lovely cake, with a nice, golden top and a split down the middle, a hint of citrus, and a pleasing, slightly chewy texture.
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Jacket cover for “Gateau” by Aleksandra Crapanzano.handout
Crapanzano, who lives in New York, writes about desserts for the Wall Street Journal and won the M.F.K. Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing in 2009 from the James Beard Foundation. Her prose is delightful. She’s intimate with the best tea shops and cafes in Paris and with how the French market, cook, bake, entertain, and eat. “The world’s captivation with all things French, particularly all things Parisian, is not one I would ever wish to dispel,” she writes. “I fall squarely into the Francophile camp.” She goes on to say that whether someone is tying a silk scarf or making a genoise, “far less time is expended than would seem fair for such fabulous results.” Their secret, she suggests: mastering the classics, then skillfully improvising on them.
You need recipes that you know by heart and can execute intuitively, advises Crapanzano. “When you know what you’re doing, there’s no need to overthink it. It looks easy because it is easy.”
I started with the Gateau au Yaourt, then made Gateau a l’Huile d’Olive (Olive Oil Cake), another winner, baked in a springform pan, made with a buttery olive oil, both orange and lemon rind, and freshly squeezed orange juice. It’s lighter than the yogurt cake, with a firm crumb, golden crust, and delicious taste.
Aleksandra Crapanzano, author of “Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes.”Melissa Foreman
I read about other favorite confections of mine: clafoutis with apples (a kind of airy pancake with fruit embedded), Gateau Basque (two rounds of dough sandwiched with custard), Gateau a la Pistache (“almost pudding-like” and “rich beyond imagination yet light as a feather,” she writes), and Bouchons au Chocolate (made in cork-shaped molds).
Then I found Visitandines, little almond cakes, baked since the 17th century, when nuns in the Order of the Visitandines in western France made them with almonds, sugar, butter, flour, and eggs. Crapanzano adds kirsch or dark rum or vanilla, and almond extract, to the buttery, egg-white batter based on almond flour. She leaves it overnight to firm up and bakes it in mini-muffin tins. I ran out to buy the pans because Visitandines sounded so intriguing.
The batter is unusual. You fold lightly beaten egg whites into a bowl of almond flour, a little all-purpose flour, sugar, and salt (no leavening). Then incorporate quite a lot of melted butter, the flavorings, and another egg white beaten to soft peaks. After the batter chills overnight, and goes into the tins, the little cakes bake at 425 degrees. I thought the temperature was too high but when testing, I always bake according to a book’s exact instructions.
The recommended oven temp is too high, perhaps because of a typo. It was likely supposed to be set high initially, then turned down when the tins went into the oven. I pulled them when I smelled burning and lowered the temp to finish them. The taste was delectable and the size is darling. I’ll make them again and fiddle with the oven temperature.
But first, there’s a chocolate marquise I’ve been eyeing.”It’s a mousse, it’s a cake, it’s a semifreddo, it’s a chilled chocolate custard, it’s a slab of the good stuff,” Crapanzano enthuses. I can’t wait.
The book has no photographs, but beautiful little illustrations by Cassandre Montoriol. Jacket blurbs come from author and part-time Paris resident Dorie Greenspan, Food 52 co-founder Amanda Hesser, Los Angeles restaurateur Nancy Silverton, and Poilane Bakery co-owner Apollonia Poilane.
Got an urge to bake and simultaneously submerge yourself in French culture? “Gateau” will enchant you.
Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com.