Food 52

Cointreau Daffodil Cake

Some things just never go out of style... they just get better with time! Light as cotton, airy as a Spring breeze carrying hints of fragrant orange blossom, this fluffy pale yellow and white daffodil cake, delicately flavored with orange Cointreau liqueur and decorated with sugared pastel violas is a delightfully refreshing take on a retro dessert recipe from the 1940s, specially and symbolically revamped for 2021. The original version from the 1940s: Open up any recipe book from the '40s and '50s from Good Housekeeping to Betty Crocker and you are sure to find Daffodil cake featured under sponge cakes, sandwiched somewhere between its more popular cousins, Angel food cake and Chiffon cake. Daffodil cake is a completely butter-free and oil- free cake, featuring egg yolks in half the batter and egg whites in the other half, layered in swirls and baked into a light and high, airy sponge cake. Retro revival revamped for 2021: My update to this timeless and memorable old-fashioned dessert was flavoring it with bright citrus notes and and decadently lacing it with Cointreau liqueur and a sweet Cointreau icing with orange zest. Decorated with fresh or sugared edible flowers (pansies and violas in spring or nasturtiums in summer) this cake is truly a delight for the senses. I specially chose to resurrect this vintage dessert for 2021. Last year was a very difficult year for many, but a year where we trimmed the fat and realized what's really important. As the clouds lifted earlier this year and the sun started to peek through, this low-fat, fragrant, light and sunny yellow cake, is a symbolic representation of 2021; a much needed breath of sweet fresh air and an edible ray of sunshine. A reminder that happiness and hope is on the horizon... and a reminder that things only get better with time.