Easy holiday baking recipes: You’ll love these sweet cakes and loaves

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A spiced, sweet loaf is a delightful treat during the holidays. Especially when paired with a warm beverage (ahem, and if there’s a splash of alcohol in said sip, we won’t judge!).

We asked a few Vancouver-based pastry chefs and restaurant teams to share their favourite, relatively stress-free holiday loaves and cakes to bake up and slice into this season.

Here’s the recipes they shared:

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Pain d’epices

Recipe by: Betty Hung, Beaucoup Bakery; from her book French Pastry 101.

Pain d’epices is a French-style spiced quick bread, loosely translated as gingerbread. The French version is less heavily spiced and is made with rye flour and honey. The result is a moist, tender and mild-flavoured cake.

1/2 cup (120 g) whole milk

2 star anise

2 whole cloves

6 green cardamom pods

3/4 cup (250 g) dark liquid honey

1/4 cup (55 g) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (125 g) whole rye flour

1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp + 1 tsp (15 g) baking powder

2 tsp (10 g) salt

1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp (10 g) vanilla extract

2 tsp (4 g) grated fresh ginger

1/8 tsp ground white pepper

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Cinnamon sticks, for garnish (optional)

Lemon slices, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Line a 1 ½ pound loaf pan (10X5X3 inches (25X13X8 cm]) with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, star anise, cloves and cardamom pods over medium heat until the milk simmers, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the milk steep for 15 minutes.

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Turn the heat back on to medium, and add the honey and butter. Heat the mixture until the honey fully dissolves. Strain out the spices and discard them.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the warm milk and honey mixture. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment for about 30 seconds, until there is no more dryness.

Add in the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, ginger, spices and zests. Mix on low for another 30 seconds, just until incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to finish mixing in the bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and place it on a baking sheet.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the top is golden and a cake-tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before unmolding it and transferring it to a cooling rack. Garnish it with cinnamon sticks and lemon slices, if desired. Store the cake at room temperature, well wrapped, for up to 3 days. Enjoy.

 Makes 1 loaf.

Old-fashioned pound cake

Recipe by: Ocean Yoo, head chef, Combine Cafe & Bar.

Part A

1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) kosher salt

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1.5 lb (680 g) cake flour

1 cup (250 mL) cornstarch

3 tbsp (45 mL) baking powder

2 1/2 cups (635 mL) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups (750 mL) sugar, granulated

Lemon zest from 1 whole lemon

16 large eggs, room temperature

Part B

1 1/2 cup (375 mL) pistachio butter, sweet

1/2 cup (125 mL) dried cranberries

Coat the loaf pan with light fat and line with parchment paper.

Sift together the salt, cake flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Cream together the butter and sugar with the whip attachment, starting on low speed and increasing to medium speed, for 5 minutes.

Combine the lemon zest with eggs and add alternately with the flour in three stages on low speed.

Transfer one-third of the batter to a separate bowl and add the pistachio butter and cranberry. And mix them well.

Gently pour the pistachio batter into the plain batter. Using the handle of the spoon, gently swirl the batter together with three or four strokes. Don’t over-blend.

Pour the batter into two baking pans. (12X7X4 inches). Bake in a 330 F oven until the cake springs back, and tester inserted near the centre comes out clean. It will take about 55 to 65 minutes. Cool slightly in the pans.

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Yogurt white chocolate ganache

1 1/3 cup (330 mL) semi-sweet white chocolate

1/2 cup (125 mL) cream

3/4 cup (180 mL) Greek yogurt

Double boil the white chocolate with the cream on the small mixing bowl. Stir gently until the chocolate is fully melted. Once the chocolate is melted, pull it out from the heat and add yogurt. Continue to stir the mix until it creates ribbons on the surface.

Assembly

Cool loaves completely and glaze the top with yogurt ganache. Garnish each slice with maraschino cherries (if desired) for a more festive look.

Makes 2 loaves.

Raspberry-orange Bundt cake

Recipe by: Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. 

Tangy raspberries and citrus oranges join forces to create a Bundt cake that’s perfect for the festive season. Serve this for celebratory brunch or any time we celebrate holidays.

Cake

2 1/2 cups (315 g) all-purpose flour

2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) baking soda

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt

1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

Zest of 2 oranges

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1/2 cup (125 mL) fresh orange juice

1/2 cup (125 mL) sour cream, at room temperature

1 cup (120 g) fresh or frozen raspberries (if frozen, do not thaw)

1 tbsp (15 mL) all-purpose flour (to coat raspberries)

Glaze

1 1/2 cups (180 g) powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp (30-45 mL) fresh orange juice

1/2 tsp orange zest (optional)

Fresh raspberries, candied cranberries or orange slices for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Grease and flour a 9-inch Bundt pan, ensuring all crevices are covered.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Stir in vanilla extract and orange zest and combine well.

In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice and sour cream until smooth.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the orange juice and sour cream mixture. Start and end with the dry ingredients.

Toss the raspberries with 1 tablespoon of flour to prevent them from sinking. Gently fold the raspberries into the batter. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and place cake on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes.

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Carefully invert cake onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.

In a bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, orange juice and zest until smooth and pourable. Add a bit more orange juice or water if the glaze is too thick.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake (it’s important the cake is completely cool before glazing). Garnish with desired toppings. Slice and enjoy.

Makes 1 cake. 

Orange honey castella

Credit: Nikki Tam, head pastry chef, Minami.

Orange syrup soak

1 tbsp (15 mL) orange juice

1/2 tbsp (7.5 mL) honey

Heat up orange juice and honey on low heat until honey melts. Set aside to cool.

Orange honey castella

5 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

1 cup (250 mL) bread flour

3 tbsp (45 ml) orange juice

2 1/2 (37.5 mL) honey

4 tbsp (60 mL) candied orange peel

Preheat the oven to 325 F and line the bottom and sides of a 9X5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift bread flour and set aside. Chop candied orange peel into small pieces and set aside.

Using a stand mixer, whip the room-temperature eggs with the whisk attachment on medium speed until well-blended and then add in the sugar gradually. Turn the mixer on high speed and mix until the egg sugar mixture quadruples in volume and turns a pale yellow colour.

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Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually add the cooled orange honey mixture and whisk until combined, about 20-30 seconds.

Then gradually add the sifted bread flour and continue mixing on low speed until just combined, careful not to overmix. Add in the chopped candied orange peel and gently scrape and fold the batter from the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula a few times, making sure the peel is distributed evenly throughout the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and use a bamboo skewer to draw zigzag lines through the batter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake the castella in the middle rack of the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then keep the oven door ajar for 10 more minutes before taking the castella out of the oven. The cake is done if it bounces back when you touch it with your finger.

Once the castella is removed from the oven, invert the cake from the pan onto a non-stick silicone mat and let it cool to room temperature with the parchment paper still on. Once the cake is cooled, brush the top with orange syrup soak and wrap the cake with its parchment paper with Saran Wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Makes 1 loaf.

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