15 Comments
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Harrison's avatar

Love this! Reminds me of the lemon almond Birthday Cake I celebrate with every year.

check it out:

https://thesecretingredient.substack.com/p/turning-24-my-lemon-almond-birthday

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Bridgette Meinhold's avatar

Thank you SO MUCH for #4. And then #5 blew my mind. 🙏🙏

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Heddi Nieuwsma's avatar

I really enjoyed this list! Totally agree with #1. And, I'll have to try #5. I'm curious about #4 because I've read that you should avoid adding rising agents directly to the wet ingredients (before the flour) because the chemical reaction could start to early and lead to a more dense cake? Glad this hasn't been an issue for you!

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Ali Slagle's avatar

Hi Heddi: This is a good point. I have not experienced dense cakes, but I do work quickly once the rising agents are mixed in.

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Heddi Nieuwsma's avatar

I agree - if you work quickly, the effect should be negligible, right? Thanks again for your helpful tips!

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Amanda Rago's avatar

I love tip #4!!

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Katie's avatar

This sounds so lovely!

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Maggie Hoffman's avatar

This sounds fabulous. Love an oil-based cake and love these flavors.

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Marshall Shaffer's avatar

This looks so delicious! The PDF download isn't working for me though :(

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Ali Slagle's avatar

me neither, and I’m not sure why. Sorry about that. How’s this? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xIpILfvqa0GRBIcmvq6JP242jRgs9J8MtybS_AT28wk/edit?usp=sharing

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Marshall Shaffer's avatar

That works! Thanks so much!

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FfsBoise's avatar

thank you!!

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Stephen Douglas Scotti's avatar

That is interesting. I thought seed oils were bad, but tahini might be healthy. Have you ever tried using olive oil instead? That is a lot of ingredients.

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FfsBoise's avatar

The debate about seed oils has lots of nuances. It's a long way from a clear cut "bad" or "not bad" answer. There are all sorts of factors, including other being used with other ingredients in ultra- or highly-processed foods, as well as ratios of the different types of fats in the oils. And how they're processed might also be a factor. Look at the science, not the influencers. Or if you look to the influencers, look for multiple references of peer-reviewed science. Otherwise, it's just opinion without any basis.

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A Sawyer's avatar

It's the processing of large scale (canola and soy) oil production that one could object to. Tahini is just ground sesame seeds, no chemical refinement involved! Try it :)

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