Zosia's Profile

From: Toronto, ON

Joined: October 19th, 2011


Latest review:

March 14th, 2014

Silk Chocolate Cream Pie with Pecan Crust from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle

This is a showstopper of a pie with rather sophisticated flavours - intense chocolate filling with salty, crunchy crust. Can't say I cared much for the crust on its own but it was a great foil, both texturally... read more >


recipe reviews (781)
book reviews (23)
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Zosia's Reviews


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7 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 7Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats

By Lauren Chattman
Taunton Press - 2009

18th April 2013

Chocolate Malted Snacking Cake : page 18

One bowl, a spoon and a few basic ingredients are all you need to produce this moist little snacking cake with respectable chocolate flavour and caramel undertones.

Quite good considering the minimal investment of time and ingredients.

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28th January 2012

Chocolate Marble Chiffon Cake : page 168

Passe though it may be these days, my family loves marble cake so this lightened-up version appealed to me. I was initially very pleased...it looked good, had excellent texture (light, airy, moist) but unfortunately, the flavour was disappointing......it just didn't have that much.

The method was quite involved and used a lot of dishes: one bowl for whipped egg yolk/sugar mixture, one bowl for beaten egg white, one bowl for chocolate mixture and one bowl for dry ingredients - all of which were combined at various stages to create chocolate and vanilla batters.

There is an issue with the recipe that is either an error of omission in the ingredient listing (which seems unlikely considering how well the cake turned out) or there is an error in step 4, an instruction, which if followed, would result in an all-chocolate cake instead of marble; there is no official correction online from the author or publisher.

It wasn't bad, but for all the effort it took, it should have been great.

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8th July 2012

Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake : page 140

This is a fun and casual cake, great for a picnic as it’s moist, yet sturdy enough to travel well. The flavour is mildly chocolate-y with caramel undertones.

This oil and cocoa-based cake was very quick and easy to put together, simply mixing wet with dry ingredients by hand. The baking time was a little long, but the author suggests taking it out early if you prefer a fudgy cake.

The recipe called for a spring form pan, which wasn’t absolutely necessary as the cake wasn’t delicate and could withstand handling, but the 3” sides were needed as it was a very tall cake. I baked mine for the full length of time (1 hour). The top cracked a bit so I relied on my favourite trick to mask flaws: a dusting of powdered sugar!

I did think it too sweet, but I was once again in the minority as it turned out to be very popular.

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30th August 2012

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake : page 90

Moist vanilla pound cake with chocolate-hazelnut marbling….what’s not to like….

The recipe is for a typical pound cake that’s rich in butter, sugar and eggs that bakes up dense but very moist. Store-bought Nutella spread is used for the marbling. I use only ½ cup of the spread – ½ the amount of the recipe – and fold it in quite aggressively to create the marbling effect and to prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

My son loves Nutella and this is one of his favourite cakes; it’s delicious, even if you’re not a particular fan of the spread.

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13th September 2013 (edited: 13th September 2013)

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Pound Cake : page 89

Moist cake with a fine crumb has a nice balance of flavours that’s sure to please peanut butter-chocolate lovers. I myself prefer the less sweet and more intense flavour of this bundt cake.

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This is the best peanut butter cake I’ve ever had. It has good peanut butter flavour, is not overly sweet and has a pound cake-like texture, dense but moist.

There’s a good amount of peanut butter in the cake, and this, in addition to the butter and sour cream keeps it moist. The batter comes together easily with a standard creaming method and bakes for some time – mine took 55 minutes.

Glazed with a chocolate ganache and topped with a chopped Butterfinger (or Cadbury Crispy Crunch) candy bar for a crunchy contrast, it made for a delicious cake and was a huge hit as 1 of the offerings on a dessert table.

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28th August 2012

Zebra Cake : page 55

A very fun take on a marble cake….

The effect is easy to create: thin vanilla and chocolate cake batters are alternately poured into the centre of a round cake pan. The process isn’t difficult, but takes some time as you’re using ¼ cup and 2 tbsp increments of batter respectively. You can save a little time by increasing the size of the batter increments…you’ll have fewer, but more dramatic stripes. I may do that next time.

The cake bakes up moist and, though I would have preferred a more intense chocolate flavour, the overall flavour of the cake was good.

The cake was a huge hit and is something I will definitely make again. In fact, I think this would make a wonderful birthday cake….I see 2 or even 3 layers paired with a milk chocolate ganache buttercream…….

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