Pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz's cakes are definitely amazing. They're topped with unexpected garnishes, like purple radicchio, or topped with gray black sesame frosting for a modern twist.
But while she clearly has a knack for impressive visuals, my favorite cake tricks might be the ones that hide beneath the surface. While flipping through her new book, More than cake, a little tip wrapped in a recipe for vanilla cupcakes caught my eye: “A coat of cooking spray on the parchment (lining the pan) will stick any number of crunchy toppings to the sides of your cake, create an extremely delicious crust taste. Small seeds like flax and sesame and crunchy sugars like turbinado add texture and visual interest.”
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Natasha explained to me the various benefits of this trick. First of all, it allows you to create more flavor in your baked goods. “(With crust treatments), you're able to highlight the recipe with another version of that ingredient in the crust itself,” says Natasha. As you often ask yourself, “Basically, how can I take the personality of the cake and extend it in an additional way to inject flavor?”
Excerpted from More Than Cake by Natasha Pickowicz (Craft Books). Copyright © 2023. Photos by Graydon Herriot.
There is also visual appeal: Some ingredients, such as final sugars such as turbinado sugar or carbonated sugar, add some sparkle and beauty to the final bake, elevating a potentially simple quick loaf or unfrosted layer cake. But there is also a practical benefit.
“Have you ever had a piece of cake that was kind of dry around the edges, like it was exposed to air?” Natasha asks. “I've found that coating the cake with little crunchy seeds like sesame seeds or baking the cake with a turbinado sugar crust allows it to retain that moisture, and I think it extends the shelf life of these baked goods.”
So what ingredients does Natasha like to use for pie crusts? “I love seeds and seed mixes,” she recommends, as evidenced by using black and white sesame seeds to coat the outside of More than cakedate cake. “Finely chopped walnuts also work. Really, anything that will stick to a pan that's been coated with non-stick spray or brushed with a little melted butter.” This includes coarse sugars, although Natasha warns against using molasses-laden brown sugars that are a little wet, as they can be difficult to spread evenly in the pan to coat. If you're using nuts, she recommends toasting them ahead of time: “Again, it's a very quick step that creates flavor.”
Food photography and styling by Liz Neily
How to Frost Your Cake with Crust Treats
Start by coating the pan with a thin layer of oil. (If the recipe calls for lining with parchment, grease it pan lined with parchment.) Natasha uses a wide range of fats, including melted butter, coconut oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, and non-stick spray. The key is to get a full, even coating all over the pan. (A pastry brush comes in handy here.) “I like nonstick spray for this very reason, because it gives just the right amount of stickiness for things to stick to,” she says.
Add a few tablespoons of your chosen crust treatment to the bottom of the pan – finely chopped nuts, seeds, granulated sugar, etc., using a little more than you think you'll need. Then tilt the pan in all directions, shaking it gently to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. No need to get in place – just let gravity do the work. Then gently tap off any excess that hasn't stuck to the pan. Fill with dough and bake as the recipe directs.
Recipe to start baking
Inspired? You can try this technique with Tahini Poppy Seed Pound Cakewhich already contains a coating of sesame seeds on the outside of the bread to complement the tahini nut flavor notes in the dough.
Then work your way up by applying this technique to recipes that don't include this tip. Spiced Carrot Cake already contains chopped walnuts or walnuts folded into the batter – why not use finely chopped toasted walnuts to coat the outside as well? Alternatively, you can paint the underside of this Semi black sesame coffee in a coating of toasted black sesame seeds to really enhance the flavor and texture.
Excerpted from More Than Cake by Natasha Pickowicz (Craft Books). Copyright © 2023. Photos by Graydon Herriot.
You can also use this trick for muffins. Natasha uses a millet coating in her Millet Parsley Chocolate Chip Muffins (pictured above); you can experiment with millet or try a linseed crust on them Blueberry Flax Muffins, which would be a nice crunchy contrast to the juicy berries inside. Just apply the same method to the ea wells muffin pan.
me? I will add some glitter powder carbonated sugar on the outside of the everyday Banana bread to make this ordinary bread feel a little more special.
For more baking tips from Natasha, see our previous post: Things bakers know: Bake your layered cakes in one pan.
Cover picture (Tahini Poppy Seed Pound Cake) and food styling by Liz Neily.
