I can’t help but think back to last fall when I was bustling around the kitchen in preparation for my friend to arrive. While grey clouds floated by outside my kitchen window, and the rich red and jewel-toned orange and yellow leaves fluttered in the breeze, I felt happy to be putting the finishing touches to the cake I baked. Having friends over for coffee was a regular occurrence before the pandemic but standing there at the counter, trying to artfully swoop the thick chocolate ganache onto the cake, I realized that in the past handful of years my kitchen (and house in general) has been quiet. But why? Could it be that having spent so much time sequestered in our homes has led us to seek the company of pals away from the places where we spent too much time? Going instead to coffee shops, on walks, and the like? I pondered this as I pulled out my favourite red transferware dessert plates with their matching mugs, excited for what felt like a return to normal. A post-Covid reset that had me looking forward to a comfortable afternoon in conversation with a friend I hadn’t had over since 2019. After realizing that a casual catch-up with my friend was turning out to be a special occasion, I felt glad that the recipe I chose to bake and share had come from the pages of Sarah Kieffer’s latest cookbook, 100 Afternoon Sweets. The cake ended up being a bit of a revelation (I’ll get to that a bit later) and it felt right that one of Sarah Kieffer’s recipes should be part of this occasion. If you’re a regular reader of my reviews, you’ll already know that I am a longtime fan of Sarah Kieffer’s work (read reviews for 100 Cookies here, Baking for the Holidays here, and 100 Morning Treats here).
100 Afternoon Sweets is organized into 8 chapters: 1) One-Bowl Bakes, 2) Brownies, Blondies, and Bars, 3) Pie Bakes, 4) No Bakes, 5) For A Crowd, 6) Weekend Projects, 7) Beginning and Ends, and 8) Extras. And while this book focuses on all those delightful baked goods that can be enjoyed alongside a restorative afternoon coffee or tea, Kieffer isn’t including cookies in this book since she has a book already dedicated to them (and spoiler alert: it’s a winner!). As with her other books, she offers us ingredients measured in both volume and weight (although she would advise bakers to use the latter) and, there are a wide range of recipes – from easy to complicated — for home bakers to choose from. I also love that for some recipes she includes variations and notes on how to enjoy them in new or different ways.
Back to that cake! Inviting my friend over after such a large gap between our home visits, I knew I wanted a cake that was homey yet interesting and, the recipe for Honey Sesame Cake seemed to fit my yearning. While toasted sesame oil, honey, and chocolate seem like unlikely bedfellows, the combination offers a rich pairing which is subtle in its sweetness and is laced with a quiet umaminess from the bittersweet chocolate ganache. The cake was undeniably moist and so delicious that I almost rethought my earlier decision to send the leftovers home with my friend! That Honey Sesame Cake smothered in Ganache looked unassuming in it’s little 8X8” pan but as I cut and plated squares of cake, it smelled so wonderful I couldn’t wait to taste it. Honestly, I think we could have eaten the whole thing, but my friend stopped herself after the second slice and I after my first, knowing that her family would have more to enjoy if I stopped and that I could just bake myself another if I needed to.
Sometimes I enjoy baking whenever the mood hits but, for this book, I found myself baking and freezing cake so we could enjoy a slice in the afternoons choosing from the selection I had already prepared. Some of the favourites to occupy my freezer were the Straight-Up Yellow Snacking Cake, Banana Bread Bars (w/ the streusel variation), and the Blueberry Muffin Cake (so aptly named for the fact a muffin recipe is baked in a cake pan rather than in a muffin tin – which is genius because as Kieffer says: “Now, not only do I get to skip scrubbing out a muffin pan, but I also have a perfect way to sneak morning muffins into the afternoon hours.”). I think my daughter liked the Straight-Up Yellow Snacking Cake the best because with this plain, unfrosted cake she could have a dollop of vanilla yogurt with fruit because it looked fancy and felt like something to look forward to after school.
I was surprised that the other cake I loved was the Banana Bread Bars (w/ the streusel variation). Banana bread feels like that quintessential afterschool snack I loved when I was a kid, but almost never make as an adult. By adding a generous layer of the Pecan Streusel, it added to both the texture and flavour as well as to my desire to make it again. As with the other recipes I’ve tried from this book, it feels like Kieffer has deftly taken familiar recipes and added her own unique twist. As a side convo, since the streusel recipe is found in the chapter on Extras, I ended up using the streusel I needed for the cake and the leftover for the Good Morning Berry Crisp I made from her last book, 100 Morning Treats (another enduring favourite of my family from Kieffer).
With 100 Afternoon Sweets, Sarah Kieffer has written another wonderful book for home bakers to enjoy and share with loved ones. Sure, we have afternoons every day of our lives but I’m glad for Kieffer’s recipes that make the occasion a little sweeter, cozier, and more relaxing.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Raincoast Books and Chronicle Books for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Note: First printings of 100 Afternoon Sweets have corrections, here.
Shipshape Eatworthy 