Cakes Archives - Jenny is baking

Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake

Today you are getting a moist apple cinnamon bundt cake. I believe this cake is fall incarnation. For me October is apple season. This year I find the season extremly pretty. Our street is lined with maple trees and they are so vibrant and pretty this year. Of course I had to stop and incorporate the leaves into my pictures. I felt they match the cake with all its warmth. As stated, the bundt cake contains apple sauce and cinnamon. I made the apple sauce myself, but of course you can go with store-bought.

24/10/2025

Gâteau Opéra or French Opera Cake

Gâteau Opéra or French opera cake is the French answer to an Italian tiramisu. It is a classic of elegant French patisserie. It consists of an almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, and chocolate ganache layered into a seven-layer dish. Traditionally, the decadent cake slices are cut into small rectangles, and decorated with the word “opéra,” but I opted for a treble clef instead. The inventor of this elegant cake, the French Cyriaque Gavillon aimed to provide the whole experience in one small bite. Once his wife tried his concoction, she claimed that this cake reminded her of the Parisian opera house Palais Garnier. Voilá the French opera cake was born. The pastry shop Dalloyau where Gavillon was employed, has been serving this cake since 1955. This is as French as it gets. But I will warn you, it does have many components and takes its amount of time to prepare. But slices can be frozen and components made in advance. You will be rewarded with the most delicious cake that so nicely combines the coffee and chocolate flavor. Maybe you will give this a try?

10/10/2025

Tres Leches Cake from Mexico

Tres leches, or literally translated as three milks, is a famous cake from Mexico. I have been meaning to introduce it and never got round to it, but finally I am doing it now. Think of a sponge cake, which is soaked in three types of milk. The version I introduce below is with condensed milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. By soaking the cake, it becomes extra moist. I liked the version that has one layer of whipping cream on the top, which is then sprinkled with cinnamon. If you like milk flavor with a touch of vanilla, this very soft cake is probably for you.

19/09/2025

Decadent Snickers Cake

Yay, today I am introducing this decadent Snickers cake to you! This means you will get moist chocolate cakes brownie style, peanut caramel, peanut buttercream and some more additional chocolate. Imagine a Snickers in cake form, I am telling you, this cake is so delicious. But be warned, this cake has a lot of components, so it will take some time to prepare. The good thing though is that you can make some components in advance or even freeze the entire cake. Continue Reading…

05/09/2025

Russian Honey Layer Cake – Medovik

Today I am introducing the cousing of the famous Russian Napoleon cake: Medovik. Just as Napoleon is a layer cake of twelve layers, so is Medovik. The main difference is the dough, Medovik does contain honey, but Napoleon does not. Just as there are several options for the filling for Napoleon, I opted for the traditional sour cream filling. This cake also as a crumb crust, which is leftover and baked dough that was processed into crumbs and then patted on the outside of the cake. Since you need to bake 12 layers of dough, this is a warning that this recipe requires time. I definitely believe it is worth all the effort. Usually I prefer fruity cakes with fresh fillings, however, once I tried Medovik, I secretly went for a second helping, it tastes amazing. Below you will see the recipe for a cake slightly smaller in diameter. I purposely went for a 18cm cake as it is rather filling and there is only the two of us. You can definitely cut into rather small pieces. Continue Reading…

22/08/2025

Quick and Easy Plum Cake

If you are short on time and can’t make the traditional German Zwetschgendatschi with yeast dough, you may want to try this version. Instead of yeast, we are going to work with baking powder as the leavener. The base is a sort of cream cheese/sour cream type of dough relying on oil instead of butter. It comes together in minutes and can immediately be baked. No rising times, no waiting. I like my fruit cakes with lots and lots of crumbs on top. These have some silvered almonds included. However, you may omit the crumbs or streusel completely or make the simple version with flour, butter, and sugar. I provide the recipe for a half-sheet cake below. If you want to have a full sheet, simply double all amounts.

08/08/2025

Tarta de Santiago – Gluten-Free Cake from Spain

The “tarta de Santiago” or “tarta de Compostela” stems from the Spanish city Santiago de Compostela in the north west in the provence Galicia. It is a gluten-free almond cake, which was already served by Don Pedro de Portocarrero in 1577 when professors were ordained in the university of Santiago de Compostela. This means this cake dates back centuries, originally it only contained almonds, sugar, and eggs. It was only later that additional ingredients were added. in 2006 the cake was geographically protected, it had to be made in the provence Galicia for it to deserve the name tarta de Santiago. Moreover, it needed to have a certain amount of almonds, sugar, and eggs and had to be dusted with icing sugar, leaving out the Jacob’s cross. Otherwise it is not a tarta de Santiago, see details here. When we had the chance to visit the city in summer 2025, we tried this cake right there and then, obviously. I immediately decided to make the cake while still on holiday. My brother-in-law (Spanish), declared this cake his new favorite. Today, Santiago’s name day, which is on July 25, I decided to publish the recipe for this delicious cake.

25/07/2025

Simple Apricot Cake

This simple apricot cake is exactly what you need for a picnic, I took pictures outside on purpose. Sitting in a green area with a piece of this cake sounds perfect to me. The cake is easy to make and does not require any chilling times. Even though there are only two of us, we gobbled it up quickly. I was inspired by this simple cherry cake, but I would be me if I didn’t tweak the recipe a bit and made it even simpler. If you are looking for some more recipes with apricots or peaches, how about this blog article with 14 apricot and peach recipes.

11/07/2025

12 Tips for Cheesecakes with no Cracks

You are wondering how you can manage to make delicious cheesecake without the dreaded cracks? Look no further, below I list twelve tips for perfect cheesecake. The main takeaways are that you bake it in a waterbath even if the recipe doesn’t call for it (I have a super simple method, see point number 7) and that you are patient when cooling it. Remember: cheesecake hates sudden changes of temperature. This holds true for baking as well as for cooling it off. It all should be done slowly and delicately. The best is if you prepare cheesecake the day before as it gives you time to chill and put in the fridge. After providing my tips for perfect cheesecake, you will find 15 recipes for delicious cheesecakes, including some with German quark, some with sour cream, heavy cream, etc. I also include the recipe for Japanese cheesecake and the one from Spain.

You see here a simple sour cream cake with cinnamon topping Continue Reading…

20/06/2025

German Cheesecake with No Crust

My grandma was a wonderful cook and she baked the most amazing cakes. I was gifted a recipe booklet from her. She passed away a few years ago so you probably can understand that this is a little treasure for me. Today I am introducing a German cheesecake recipe I found in this little booklet of hers. She titled it “Quarckkuchen”. I was surprised she actually had written down measurements for the recipe, that is not always the case. A full kilo of German quark (similar to farmer’s cheese) has to go into the cake. Maybe you can find quark in Aldi or Lidl? Unfortunately, the steps involved in making this cake were pretty limited, e.g. no oven temperature or time was given. So I decided to give it a go and put into place what I have learned so far of cheesecakes and how to avoid cracks. I think the result speaks for itself, there were no cracks whatsoever, I am so proud. I wish I could hand a piece to my grandma for her to try.

06/06/2025

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