Dessert -- Laurie Colwin's Nutmeg Cake
Submitted by dvdlee on August 27, 2004 at 10:48 am

DESCRIPTION
Dessert -- Laurie Colwin's Nutmeg Cake

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under cakes

INSTRUCTIONS
This recipe is from Arthur Schwartz (a newspaper food editor and restaurant critic in NYC) and a friend of Mrs. Colwin) The foodmaven.com. It is an unpublished recipe from Ms. Colwin who gave the recipe to a friend 'who couldn't bake'. This was a cake she taught her to make saying:

"Itýs easy. You can do it. And it will be your specialty. You donýt have to tell anyone where you got the recipe. You can say it is an old family recipe if you want. And I wonýt ever publish it.ý

Now Janice wanted me (Mr. Schwartz) to have the cake recipe. I am still touched by the gesture. She thought Laurie would like me to have it, and that I, as a food writer, could probably make hay with it, while all she could do was bake it and eat it.

It is truly a great cake -- tender and buttery, full of character from the large measure of nutmeg, and with the caramel sweetness and added texture of a crisp bottom layer of brown sugar shortbread. To me, it is a bittersweet cake. But isnýt that appropriate.

The mixing technique here is unusual. A portion, about half, of the butter-flour-sugar mixture, which is combined by cutting the butter into the dry ingredients, is used to make a cookie-like base for the cake. Then the remainder of the mixture is blended with the spices, yogurt, egg and the leavener, which is baking soda. Youýll end up with a light, but rich cake top over a crisp cookie base.

The cake stays moist, under a dome or wrapped in plastic, for many days. Iýve kept it for as long as five days, although the crisp base gets less crisp with each passing day. I prefer eating it several hours after it is made, or the next day.

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
1 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Butter the sides only of a 10-inch springform pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, cut into 6 to 8 pieces, with the flour and dark brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles fine meal.

Measure out 2 1/2 cups of this mixture and spread it evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan. With your hand flat, firmly compress the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan.

Add the spices to the remaining dry ingredients. Mix well.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir the egg and yogurt together to mix well. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Finally, sprinkle the baking soda over the surface of the batter and gently but thoroughly stir it in.

Spread this batter over the mixture that was pressed into the bottom of the pan, and with a rubber spatula, smooth the top of the batter.

Scatter the chopped walnuts on top.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden cake tester comes out clean from the center of the cake, and the sides of the cake have shrunk slightly away from the pan.

Cool in the pan, on a rack, for 5 minutes. Then slid a thin-bladed knife around the circumference of the cake to make sure there are no spots still attached to the sides of the springform pan. Remove the sides of the pan and cool the cake completely.

For presentation, the cake can be fairly easily removed from the bottom of the springform. When serving, cut down hard through the shortbread bottom.