Eat & Make

A year ago, in their Spring Issue, Sweet Paul magazine published a gorgeous article on Skinny laMinx (read it here), and they’ve certainly been busy since then, with Paul Lowe having just launched the Sweet Paul recipe book / kitchen crafts book, called SWEET PAUL EAT & MAKE. Congratulations!

Now, which of the yummy recipes to choose? Hmmm. Well, this one was voted The World’s Best Cake, so that’s a good place to start, I reckon.

Below, an excerpt from SWEET PAUL EAT & MAKE, with the recipe too:

World’s Best Cake – Serves 8

This cake was awarded the title of Norway’s National Cake a few years back. It’s called verdens beste in Norwegian, and I agree that it just might be the world’s best. You may be skeptical of its

superiority, since it isn’t iced as are many American cakes. When we photographed it, I left it at the studio apartment of Alexandra Grablewski, this book’s photographer, and the next day she

confessed to having eaten two huge servings. “I guess the Norwegians are right,” she said.

10½ tablespoons (1 stick plus 21⁄2 tablespoons) butter, softened

12⁄ 3 cups granulated sugar

11⁄ 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 large eggs, separated

1⁄ 3 cup whole milk

1⁄4 cup sliced almonds

1 cup heavy cream

1⁄2 vanilla bean

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, with a rack in the middle position. Line an 8-x-12-inch baking pan

with parchment paper.

2. Beat the butter and 2⁄ 3 cup of the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and

creamy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the flour and baking powder and mix well on low speed.

4. Mix in the egg yolks and milk.

5. Scrape the batter into the baking pan.

6. In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites and the remaining 1 cup sugar to soft peaks. Spread on

top of the cake layer. Sprinkle with the almond slices.

7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown and puffed. Cool on a wire rack in the

pan. Transfer to a cutting board.

8. When the cake is cool, put the cream in a medium bowl and scrape in the vanilla seeds. Discard

the vanilla pod. Beat to soft peaks with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes.

9. Cut the cake in half crosswise with a serrated knife. Place one half of the cake on a serving tray

and cover with the cream. Place the other half, meringue side up, on top.

10. Let the cake sit for 1 hour in the fridge before serving.

Photo credit: © Alexandra Grablewski

Text credit: Excerpted from SWEET PAUL EAT AND MAKE, © 2014 by Paul Lowe Einlyng.

Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

PS: Who is Sweet Paul? Watch this video by Sweet Paul Magazine to find out EVERYTHING!