Coupe Cakes

Yes I came up with the pun before the recipe!

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It has been impossible, if you exist on the internet even just a little bit, to have escaped the arrival of the dot cake. With everything that has gone viral recently, the dot cake was the one I found slightly confusing. Was it really just because the cake was dipped in sprinkles? Is that what made it desirable? Is that what caused the endless queues? I guess a little bit of colourful whimsy resonated with people, especially considering the world right now? Ironically, the sprinkles were the part of this viral creation I liked the least; I don’t want a mouthful of tasteless sprinkles, thank you very much. After the cakes went viral, everyone else on the internet jumped on the trend and made their own versions. This sort of virality has become completely fascinating to me; seeing my chocolate and whipped caramel cake go viral showed me the realities of this process, and it is incredibly interesting. My main takeaway is that when something goes viral, most people jumping on the bandwagon are very quick to erase the creation's origin immediately; they just want a little bit of the success, some of the clicks, some of the sales. To them, it is just another viral moment. Most people never refer to the place that created the dot cake and instead just call it another ‘viral’ cake. For the record, it was created by a bakery called Dotcakes based in Roslyn, New York and is sold at Butterfield Market in Manhattan. The cake, if you have managed to escape it, is a mini version of a larger sprinkles-covered cake they sell; assembled inside a small cardboard pot, the sort you get ice cream in instead of a cone. The top of the cake is carpeted in a layer of sprinkles. Whilst everyone else seems to be mainly concentrating on the sprinkles, the assembly of the layer cake inside a container is what got my attention. So yes, today's recipe is inspired by the dot cake, but a dot cake it is not; no, these are coupe cakes.

Coupe cakes. Yes, I came up with the name before any idea of what the recipe would actually be like (I am also sure that I won’t have been the first person who came up with the wonderful pun of a name). In the end, I decided to lean into the fact that the cake could be much lighter than a traditional layer cake, since it could use the lightest of fillings; no need to worry about whether it holds together as a layer cake. I settled on the following as my basic components for the coupe cake. The cake should be light and delicate, layered with at least two different fillings: something light and creamy, and something saucy. The first idea I had, a sticky toffee coupe cake, didn’t feel too summery (I’ll make it when autumn hits, don’t worry), so instead I pivoted to a classic summertime dessert, the peach melba. A glorious pairing of peach and raspberry: this cake is a simple olive oil sponge cake layered with a raspberry puree to soak the layers, a peach compote, and a light-as-air vanilla crème diplomat. This particular coupe cake, because it uses both fruit and custard, is undeniably trifle-like, and I think that is part of what I like about them. When your spoon descends into the coupe, it meets little resistance; the cake is soft and creamy, and ultimately it is a comfort-food delight.

My fiancé, anytime I make desserts like this, likes to say they’re Edd-sized portions. That is to say, a BIG dessert. What can I say, I like to make people happy with a generous dessert. However, if you prefer to stretch these to serve more than 6 people, you could easily make these into smaller portions in smaller coupes or even in small water glasses.

If you want a much more classical version of Peach Melba, then make sure you check out this week's free newsletter, which has my take on the classic dessert. It also includes what may be my absolute favourite vanilla ice cream recipe.