From the founders of Hamilton, Ontario’s Cake & Loaf Bakery comes the delicious new
cookbook, Cake & Loaf Gatherings: Sweet and Savoury Recipes to Celebrate Every Occasion, launching March 14th. Cake & Loaf Gatherings features sweet and savoury favourites from Canadian bestselling authors Nickey Miller and Josie Rudderham. Packed with over 80 recipes to create lasting memories and organized by occasion, Cake & Loaf Gatherings offers a range of mouthwatering recipes for any celebration.
We are sharing three recipes from Cake & Loaf Gatherings to give you a taste of what you will find in the cookbook.
Goat Cheese Brownies
These brownies may have you scratching your head, but trust us, they are worth every single crumb. The goat cheese brownie is an employee favourite, and for longtime customers it’s something like “if you know, you know.” It was a staple in our pastry case for a few years during our early days. The tart and slightly sour goat cheese plays well with the decadent chocolate and makes for a fudge-like brownie experience. We hope you enjoy this flavour journey, and we hope these brownies become a regular in your household. Several employees demanded that we make an extra tray for snacking when we made them for this book, so they must be good! We love these for birthday parties because they are easy to make (no fussy icings) and they fulfill everyone’s cravings for chocolate while being just different enough to encourage curiosity.
Makes one 8-inch square pan, nine 2½-inch square brownies • Prep: 15 minutes, plus cooling time • Cook: 45 minutes
Brownie Batter
½ cup cocoa powder, sifted 1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted 1 large egg
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup buttermilk
½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
Goat Cheesecake Filling
9 ounces (250 g) soft goat cheese
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-inch square cake pan with parchment
- Make the brownie batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, salt, and melted butter until the mixture is smooth and no oily film remains around the edges.
- Whisk in the egg and vanilla, adding a little air, until the mixture is smooth and has lightened slightly in Whisk in the buttermilk until the mixture is smooth. Using a silicone spatula, stir in the flour and mix until no dry flour remains and the batter is smooth. Set aside.
- Make the cheesecake filling and bake the brownies: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the goat cheese, sugar, and egg yolk on medium-high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix again on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Do not overmix or the mixture will become too liquid.
- Scoop the brownie batter into the prepared pan, alternating with smaller scoops of the cheesecake Using a butter knife, swirl the two batters together a little. You want to leave distinct areas of cheesecake and brownie batter. Tap the pan lightly on the counter to level out the batters. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the brownie comes out clean. Allow the brownie to cool at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours and, once cooled, cover the pan and refrigerate overnight before cutting.
- Cut the brownies using a warm chef’s knife by dipping it into hot water and drying it on a clean kitchen Wipe the knife between each cut to get nice clean cuts.
Do Ahead
These brownies can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Remove them from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving and serve them at room temperature.
Mini Egg Shortbread Cookies
In an average year our bakery goes through more than seven hundred pounds of chocolate candy mini eggs. That’s equivalent to the weight of two full-grown gorillas. Just when we think people are sick of mini eggs, they request more! One customer request led to the creation of these mouth-watering cookies. These melt-in-your-mouth shortbreads last much longer than the Mini Egg Chocolate Chunk Cookies (page 61) and Ruby Chocolate Chunk Cookies (page 41), so you can prepare them up to two weeks in advance for your gathering and they will still taste freshly baked. Because they stay delicious for weeks, they also make a great take-home gift for your guests. Just make sure to bake them thoroughly and that they are dry all the way to the centre if you need them to last; they tend to hang on to moisture in their centres. They are beautiful gems to add to your platters or charcuterie spreads for a little extra colour and an unexpected treat to balance out a cheese tray or other savoury spread.
Makes 3½ dozen 2-inch cookies • Serves 12 • Prep: 10 minutes • Cook: 16 minutes
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup icing sugar
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
¾ teaspoon salt
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
10 ounces (285 g/1½ cups) lightly smashed milk chocolate candy mini eggs
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, lightly cream the butter on medium-high speed just until it is smooth, 1 to 2 Do not incorporate air into the butter. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add the icing sugar, cornstarch, vanilla bean paste, and salt and beat on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high speed, until the mixture is smooth and no chunks remain, 1 to 2 Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the flour and mini eggs and mix on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high speed, until the flour is fully incorporated, without whipping air into the dough, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Scoop twenty-one 1½-tablespoon portions of cookie dough onto each prepared baking sheet, leaving a little space between Gently press down on the cookies to flatten them to ¾-inch thickness. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 16 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets.
Do Ahead
You can make these cookies ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. They can be frozen, in an airtight container, for up to 2 months. Thaw them uncovered at room temperature for an hour before serving.
S’mores Bars
When a campfire isn’t readily available, these bars will fulfill that summer craving for s’mores and then some. A layer of buttery graham base topped with milk chocolate hazelnut spread and homemade marshmallow make for the perfect s’mores experience. The crowning layer of creamy Nutella drizzle on top of these bars completes the experience, complementing the dense, fudge-like, baked Nutella inside the bar. These are most scrumptious when slightly warm and you can still get that pull-apart marshmallow gooeyness, but they will firm up nicely for bite-size party treats when refrigerated.
Makes one 8-inch pan, nine 2½-inch square bars • Prep: 15 minutes, plus cooling time • Cook: 40 minutes
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted and warm
½ cup packed dark brown sugar 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup graham cracker crumbs 1 cup all-purpose flour
1¼ cups Nutella, divided 8 ounces (225 g/2½ cups)
Marshmallows (page 314), cut into ½-inch pieces
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease an 8-inch square pan with canola oil cooking spray and line with parchment
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth and the sugar has
- Add the graham crumbs and flour and stir until well combined and no dry flour
- Press the graham mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared Using an offset palette knife, spread 1 cup of the Nutella evenly over the base.
- Evenly distribute the marshmallow pieces over the Nutella layer. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the marshmallow is a deep toasty brown and the Nutella has bubbled up a little around the Allow to cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- In a small heat-resistant bowl, heat the remaining ¼ cup Nutella in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds to make it easier to Using a spoon, generously drizzle the Nutella over the bars in diagonal lines across the top.
- Cut the bars using a warm chef’s knife by dipping it into hot water and drying it on a clean kitchen Wipe the knife between each cut to get nice clean cuts.
Do Ahead
These bars can be baked and stored, uncut, without the final Nutella drizzle, wrapped in beeswax or plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 3 days. The marshmallows can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 months. Store the finished bars in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Excerpted from Cake & Loaf gatherings : sweet and savoury recipes to celebrate every
occasion by Nickey Miller and Josie Rudderham. Copyright © 2023 Nickey Miller and Josie
Rudderham. Photography and illustrations by Nickey Miller. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by
arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
