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<\/a><\/div>Greenspan\u2019s new book, Dorie\u2019s Anytime Cakes<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, is an approachable collection of recipes and advice that hit right in her own sweet spot: \u201cSimple cakes for bakers of all levels, that\u2019s where my heart is,\u201d she says. \u201cThese aren\u2019t high layered cakes you have to balance on a cake server and hope they don\u2019t tip over. A lot of these cakes don\u2019t even need a fork. You can break off a little piece, keep pouring coffee. These are cakes to sit out on the counter, cakes to keep the conversation going.\u201d Greenspan chatted with me about this warm hug of a new cookbook from Paris, where she and her husband, Michael, live part-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paris!<\/strong> We\u2019ve spoken before<\/strong><\/a> about your love of Southern food and hospitality. Have you been to <\/strong>Mashama Bailey<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s <\/strong>new restaurant<\/strong><\/a> in the city yet? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I ran into Mashama in the spring or summer earlier this year. I was just walking, looking around and dreaming, when someone calls my name, and I turn and it\u2019s Mashama! We hug, and even though we\u2019d never met before, we knew of each other, and she said, \u2018I knew it was you from the back, the hair, and the scarf.\u2019 We had a great talk, and she was putting the restaurant together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I went last week with friends and wow, it\u2019s so exciting to have her here. I had black-eyed peas, Michael had oxtail, and it was all just great. We ordered corn bread and we heard, \u2018I\u2019m sorry there\u2019s none left.\u2019 I looked over to the table next to us and each person had corn bread! I was thinking, Ladies, you could share<\/em>\u2014sharing is a nice thing. But I didn\u2019t have the nerve. I\u2019ll be back, though\u2014there\u2019s no restaurant quite like this in Paris. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you return from Paris, is there anything hospitality-wise you take back to the States?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A million things. But for some reason it seems so much easier to get together with friends in Paris than it does in New York or even Connecticut, which is really where we\u2019re living for the most part. People seem more available and say, \u201cCome for dinner!\u201d And they make a plan, like, \u201cOkay, come in two days.\u201d Back in the States, we say, \u201cGee I\u2019m booked for the next month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been thinking about this a lot. It\u2019s important that people make time for their friends. Yes, we\u2019re all working, just as people are everywhere. Maybe it won\u2019t be come for dinner<\/em> but let\u2019s have coffee together<\/em>. There\u2019s a caf\u00e9 on every other corner, so you don\u2019t even have to have people over\u2014it can just be, \u201cHey, I\u2019ll meet you there,\u201d and we\u2019ll stay an hour. I think there are more moments in the day that we can share with friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is that some of the inspiration for <\/strong>Dorie\u2019s Anytime Cakes<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was growing up in Brooklyn, I came home from school and if my mother wasn\u2019t working, I would see her with friends, and there would always be coffee and there would always be cake or cookies. My mother didn\u2019t cook, but she went to three different bakeries on her shopping street\u2014one for fresh bread, one for crumb cake that had fruit, and one for cookies. In the new book, I write about this idea of there always being cake around because there were always people around\u2014neighbors, friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your mom didn\u2019t teach you how to bake, but she did teach you something important about welcoming people.<\/strong><\/p> Yes, and I will go South with you for a minute. I must have been ten when my parents put me on a plane for the first time, all by myself, and sent me to New Orleans to visit my aunt. It was around Mardi Gras and she took me to all of her friends. Everywhere we went there were cakes on cake stands with doilies on them and I was given something sweet to eat. That stayed with me, friends always having something ready for when friends came by, and friends did<\/em> come by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What are the mechanics of always having cake on hand? When should someone be making these cakes or buying them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can plan it, or you can bake on a whim. You could make these at night when everyone is tucked in, the dishes are done, and the house is quiet. You can bake, turn the cake out, let it cool overnight, wrap it in the morning, or eat in the morning with coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kind of cakes I bake and that I think of as the counter cakes are really simple. They can be made without any machine\u2014they can be something you set aside an hour on the weekend for and they\u2019ll stay for three or four days. I\u2019m lucky enough to work at home, and I can pop up and think, \u201cI\u2019m going to bake a cake,\u201d and I often will. I find that if I\u2019m stumped and trying to think of something in my work, I can walk or I can bake. Because I\u2019m concentrated on something else, ideas will come. You\u2019re thinking about the cake, measuring and watching as things transform, and you finish feeling refreshed, like you\u2019ve really done something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes it\u2019s hard because you\u2019re on a deadline and you think you\u2019ve got to do such and such. But when you have that feeling of \u201cNo, I have to push through,\u201d I\u2019m telling you, no, you should be baking a cake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I will never forget <\/strong>an image from a Mississippi family<\/strong><\/a> I interviewed years ago\u2014their house was almost completely destroyed in a tornado and yet their pound cake was still standing on the counter in its cake stand with a lid. Talk about the power of cake on a counter!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That also shows you the power of being known for something\u2014that woman\u2019s family knew her for her pound cake and they knew where it would be. I used to be known for making Goug\u00e8res, French cheese puffs. Maybe one of these recipes could be something someone gets known for\u2014or just being that friend who always has a cake sitting on the counter that friends look forward to sharing. A new tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also just something about a cake stand that makes anything special. Everyone is using the word \u201celevate\u201d these days, but hey, a cake stand really does elevate a cake. I do love cake stands, but most of the cakes in this book you could put on a simple platter or just out on a cutting board. It\u2019s practical and it makes your friend or family think, Oh, that\u2019s on the cutting board, I can just dig in<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for sharing some recipes with G&G<\/em> readers, including Bourbon Brown Butter Cake (below) and Grandmothers\u2019 Honey Cake<\/a>. Tell us a little about those.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of these recipes keep well enough that you could send them for the holidays, or freeze them and keep them on hand for when you have people over. And I love to send people home with cake, to keep the memory of our time together.<\/p>\n\n\n My grandmother was from Russia, and she would bring us a honey cake in Brooklyn every week. The recipe probably changed hands many times, but it\u2019s a fairly common type of cake from Eastern Europe and Russia. It\u2019s not a soft, moist cake. It has a rough texture, almost like bread. My mother didn\u2019t much like the cake, but she liked the little row of almonds across the top, so the cake would come and my mother would pick all the almonds off it. I don\u2019t think I ever saw a cake without all the little divots on it.<\/p> This recipe eluded me for years until my friend Ellen Einstein, who ran Sweet 16 Bakery in Nashville, sent me a version. I made it and it was my grandmother\u2019s cake, all those flavors were there. I know honey is a sweetener, but I find honey has a little tang to it, almost a bittersweetness. I put sliced almonds all over, just completely covering, the top of mine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You also shared a recipe I\u2019m really excited to try, Baked-in-a-Skillet Gingerbread<\/a>. I love any recipe in a skillet. I can\u2019t explain it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gardenandgun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/dorie-cakes-1085x1100.jpeg\")
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