Byopia Press Advent Calendar 2022: Day Eleven and Two Cakes

Today’s post is a bit of a break for me as it is an adapted version of a post from 2021.

The May 2021 book arts challenge on Instagram was #areyoubookenough_fruit. Since I live adjacent to a city named for a fruit —Saskatoon— and since the bushes grow wild where I live, I chose the Saskatoon berry. Although they are usually baked in pies or made into jelly, I like them in cakes too. My book of the month was a slice of cake and a recipe. If you follow the instructions in this post you can make both.

Book first, cake recipe later.

You will need to download Saskatoon Berry/Applesauce Cake.

Print page one on lightweight paper. (I used 75 gsm/20lb copier paper.) Then print page two on the back of page one, making sure you feed it through with the same leading edge. Print pages three and four on two sheets of cover or card stock. (Stiffer is better. I got away with using 176gsm/65lb cover stock.) The pdf is sized for 8.5 x 11″ paper. If you are printing on A4 you will need to shrink it slightly. Make sure you shrink all pages the same amount. (About 97% should work on most printers.)

Cut out the circular image of the cake. There are faint grey areas where the cake’s edge is not perfectly even.

Lay the circle (recipe side up) flat on your work surface oriented so that the line drawing is on the right and the line in the middle is horizontal.

Fold the bottom edge up. The fold should be parallel to the horizontal line.

Fold the left side over to the right.

Fold the upper corner down to meet the lower right corner.

Crease all folds firmly, then set aside.

Score the longer (left) cake server and the cake wedge on page three using the guides provided, then cut everything out. Score along the edges of the cake wedges (case parts) on page four between the image and the solid colour flaps, then cut them out as well.

The book is designed so that the cake server removes the book from the case. Two ridges need to be created to make this work.

Fold the cake stiffener and longer (scored) cake server as shown below. The arrows indicate the backs of the parts as well as areas for glue application. (Drawing is not to scale.)

To assemble the cake server, glue the two parts together so that there is a bit of a ridge at the fold. Be sure to leave a gap without any glue so that the tip piece can bend a bit.

Now glue your cake stiffener to your pre-folded cake.

After folding as above the stiffener will be glued to the part that is on the bottom. (The images should match.)

You should end up with a wedge shaped book with a ridge on the back and a cake server with a ridge on the front. (The image below gives you the idea, but is from a previous iteration of this structure called Cabbage Pie.)

To assemble the case (the parts you scored and cut from page four), fold down the coloured flaps at the sides of the cake wedges. Trim them to a depth that matches the thickness of your book plus the cake server. (Mine were cut to 1/8 inch.) Glue the two halves together along the flaps. I glued mine with the contents inside to provide stability. If you do this, be careful not to permanently glue your book into the case.  ; ]

(Just a note: I realise that the case has two ‘tops’. A more obsessive individual might have  photographed the bottom of the cake, but apparently I am not that far gone.)

And there you have your Saskatoon Berry/Applesauce Cake Book.

The model for the book was an actual cake, and here is the recipe for it. (It’s also included in the book.)

Saskatoon Berry/Applesauce Cake

2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 cup soft margarine
1/2 cup firmly packed golden sugar

1 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp milk*

2 cups saskatoon berries**
1 Tbsp cake flour

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC/Gas Mark 4.

Lightly grease a 9in/23 cm round cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of baker’s parchment. (I also dust the sides with a bit of flour.)

Mix together dry ingredients, blending thoroughly.
In a second bowl big enough to hold the completed batter, cream together the margarine and sugar.
Stir in the applesauce and almond extract and milk.

Blend in the flour mixture about a third at a time.

Toss the berries with the tablespoon of flour and gently stir about one third into the batter.

Scrape batter into the prepared cake pan and level it. Spread the remaining berries over the top of the cake. Bang the cake tin sharply on a flat surface once or twice to eliminate large air bubbles, and place in the preheated oven.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the sides of the cake pull away from the pan and a cake tester/toothpick comes out clean. (The large amount of fruit may mean an extra 3 or 4 minutes of baking.)

Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack.

Cake may be served while still slightly warm.

*For a vegan version, use something like almond milk. Do not substitute water. The milk is there to lower the acidity of the applesauce. Without it your batter will be very frothy and your cake full of holes.

**If you don’t have saskatoon berries you can use blueberries. Wild blueberries are preferable or the smallest commercial ones you can find. You can use frozen fruit but let it thaw first. I have tried recipes with still-frozen fruit, and they have never been completely successful. If the fruit is sitting in juice after thawing, drain it but don’t bother trying to get the surface completely dry.

Enjoy!

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Tomorrow: Day Twelve and More Stars in Circles

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