AN UNCATERED AFFAIR

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One of the strangest - and best - cookbooks that I’ve discovered on a year-long quest to read and review pretty much everything under the sun is called An Uncatered Affair: Cooking For Friends.

It turned up on the shelves of a culinary bookshop in Maine and it struck me because, despite being self-published, it was impeccably typeset and read incredibly well. Here’s how the store’s catalog listing described it:

A privately printed cookbook, by one of America's leading patrons of the arts, a Smith College alumna, creator of the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in Chicago's Millennium Park, and recipient of the National Medal of Fine Arts. Fine copy in gilt-stamped red cloth. No dust jacket, as issued. Scarce. [OCLC locates no copies].

This is about as close to a private cookbook as you can find, which is a shame - I’ve made four recipes from it, and they’ve all turned out impeccably well. It should be better known, because it’s terrific.

I’m including one recipe from my original review of the book here, and the two new ones that I just tried recently. They’re all worth making and eating. Just remember to really butter your bundt pan. — James Norton

TAKING THE CAKE

I make and eat a lot of bundt cakes. They’re fun to look at, fairly straightforward to make, and can contain all sorts of flavors and intensities of sweetness. This marbled cappuccino pound cake is a new favorite, combining as it does a real hit of coffee flavor and a subtle but natural hit of cocoa. It’s not terribly sweet but it’s perfect with coffee and its sophistication makes it a little black dress of cakes - it can go just about anywhere.

One important note (and an explanation for my less-than-dazzling photography) - the fairly light and stick batter clings tenaciously to the pan, so make sure you butter and flour (or PAM) the living hell out of your bundt, and let it cool considerably before carefully extracting it. It’s always worth keeping an eye on the pan prep / cake removal dance when you make one of these things, but this one is particularly fussy.

CAPPUCCINO POUND CAKE

1 cup milk
3 tsp instant espresso
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
5 large eggs 
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
additional confectioners' sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 350 F. Thoroughly butter and flour dust bundt pan. 

Combine 1/4 cup milk and espresso powder, heat to dissolve, add milk to total 1 cup. Set aside.

Whisk together cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar in small bowl, set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in stand mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, and eggs, one at a time. Add flour and milk to batter, alternating.

Turn half batter into prepared pan and smooth surface. Using back of a teaspoon, make an indentation in the batter halfway from the edge of the pan. Spoon cocoa mixture into indentation, then cover with remaining half of the batter. Use broad side of dinner knife to swirl batter to create a marble effect and then smooth batter with back of a spoon. 

Bake until toothpick comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Cool in pan at least 30 minutes, and then loosen thoroughly from sides and center of pan. Invert carefully onto wire rack to cool to room temperature. Dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.