What it Takes to Bake a Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes

This is my family’s favorite cake recipe, made as cupcakes for an easy to-go snack. Thank you, Mommy, for making dozens of them every Erev Pesach. And then dozens more on Chol Hamoed because they’re gone before you can blink.

YIELDS 24 CUPCAKES

• 8 eggs
• 2½ cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa
• 1 cup ground walnuts
• 1¾ cups oil
• 1¾ cups potato starch
• ground nuts, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Beat eggs for 8–10 minutes, until stiff peaks form. Reduce speed. Add sugar and the rest of the ingredients and mix. Pour into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes.

—Suri Friedman, copy editor

Easy Pesach Blondies

Here’s my family’s favorite Pesach blondie recipe. We make a bunch of these every year. Thank you to my friend Blima for sharing her family recipe years ago.

YIELDS 1 9X13-INCH (23X33-CM) BAKING PAN

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 7 oz (200 g) ground nuts
• chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix all ingredients together besides chocolate chips. Place batter in a 9×13-inch (23×33-cm) baking pan. Top with chocolate chips. Bake for 45 minutes, or more until the center is fully baked.