This is the second recipe I’ve made out of this cookbook. I made these little twice-baked potatoes as a post-work snack for Larry and I, and the cake is for sharing with friends. The potatoes are excellent. I made them because I love twice-baked potatoes, but also because I still had some cashew cream left in the refrigerator. And if you’re wondering, Dulse is a sea vegetable that’s kind of gross and chewy right out of the package, but nice when it’s crisped up in a little oil or added to a miso soup.

This cake is kind of special to me. It’s a fairly simple, unadorned cake, but it’s very similar to a cake I used to make with abandon, one of two desserts I could make well. Times have changed and I’m a prolific baker now, but back then I made this cake from a recipe of unknown origin. It also had sour cream and poppy seeds, but used cake mix as the base. I can’t remember the last time there was a cake mix in the house. Anyway, the cake is baked then slathered with a lemon syrup, and it’s really delicious.

• Twice-Baked Fingerling Potatoes with Crisped Dulse (The Conscious Cook, p. 30)
  
• Lemon Poppy Seed-Sour Cream Cake (Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, p. 40)