Chocolate Buckwheat Cake with Torched Raspberry Meringue

do and make what you love

Without sounding too melodramatic, but do you ever forget about the things you love? I have a lot of hobbies and side passions, but often when life gets busy or I’m racing towards a manuscript deadline everything that isn’t the central focus or task at hand falls to the wayside as I just try to get through the day. Over the last week, I gave myself some time to rest and it allowed me to recognized some new loves in my life and rekindled some old ones.

My first old flame is shockingly architecture, or more specifically architecture school. I was asked to speak with a class of Berkeley Architecture students about my relationship with food and design and my thought process for grocery shopping and sourcing ingredients. I think about these things constantly so I was elated but also a little intimidated to re-enter the academic architecture bubble. But it was so much fun to chat with the students and get a special tour of Berkeley Bowl, my second home. I was gifted a honorary BBowl uniform and I will cherish it forever. The assignment for the students was to go grocery shopping to make spaghetti but everyone had a different modifier like “convenient spaghetti” or “beautiful spaghetti” and I helped by guiding them to different products or sections of the store and discuss what “convenient” really means or how it’s definition can be different for everyone. Now I miss being in an architecture studio late at night with my best friends.

A few students from the architecture class invited me over for lunch a few days later and I don’t normally say YES to eating at just anyone’s house but I had a good feeling about it after she told me she’s been inviting a different international student over for lunch every weekend and making their favorite comfort meal from their hometown. I had no requests but was served the most exceptional (mostly) Northern Chinese homestyle meal. It was so inspirational to not only eat their food but also speak to them about being international students in the Bay and how they hope to blend their own love of food with design one day. The food and surprise treats (like an osmanthus tea with osmanthus jelly and salted cream to balance the spice of the stir-fried Chinese Tiger-skin peppers and a trio of asian-ish tiramisus) seemed never-ending and I think I now know what it feels like to be a guest in my own house when I start serving all my experiments. I love being a guest!

I didn’t think I would ever say this but I think I love football now? Maybe that’s more shocking than rekindling a love of architecture school. Reuben and I just had so much fun hosting a Super Bowl party for our friends and serving up Philadelphia themed foods and cheering on the Eagles as they dominated. I will always love hosting and developing a menu Super Bowl party, it just took me 11 years to start enjoying the sporting component.

My last new love is the most unserious and actually ties into the recipe you came here for… I’m all about decorating my cakes with toasted meringue instead of buttercream. Nothing against butter but I don’t miss it. A meringue is light and sweet, surprisingly not too sweet either. If you’re making an American buttercream, you’ll be shocked how much powdered sugar goes into it. But most importantly, you get the opportunity to torch the meringue, which gives whatever you just baked a lovely toasted marshmallow flavor and beautiful visual effect.

This cake is topped with a light, tart, and fruity raspberry meringue. Freeze dried raspberries give the meringue a cute pink hue and strong berry flavor without weighing how the meringue (using fresh fruit in a meringue can get tricky). I buy freeze dried fruit from Berkeley Bowl but you can also easily find them at Trader Joe’s. You can decorate the cake with big dramatic swoops or bust out your favorite piping tips and make a more intricate design. I loved spending my time decorating the cake and need to remind myself to do this more often.

The cake underneath is based on my go-to chocolate cake recipe that I’ve using for almost a decade. It is technically dairy-free and uses coconut milk, which gives the cake just a moist and decadent texture without overpowering the cake with coconut flavor. I added buckwheat flour into the cake because chocolate and buckwheat is a flavor power couple that needs to celebrated more. The buckwheat almost enhances the flavor of the chocolate while giving the cake a nutty flavor and slightly chewier texture.

The recipe makes a single layer cake for ease, especially if you want to have a snacking cake around or make something shareable for the 14th. But if you love the cake a lot and want to upgrade it into a layer cake, just double it up!

Hope you love the cake as much as I do and remember to do and make what you love!

Chocolate Buckwheat Cake with Torched Raspberry Meringue

Makes one 8-inch cake