Joy The Baker

The best summer desserts are the ones that keep the oven off or barely on: no-bake icebox cakes, popsicles, and ice cream, plus easy fruit cobblers and one-pan sheet cakes for a crowd. Summer baking has its own rules, and the big one is to let the fruit do the heavy lifting. This is my running list of everything I want to make between June and September, sorted by how you’re feeling. No-bake treats for the hottest days, berry desserts for market season, and easy cakes for feeding a crowd.

A good summer cake should feel easy. Nobody wants to fuss with fancy layers and buttercream when it’s warm out and the people demand dessert post barbecue! The cakes I make all summer are the simple ones. A one-bowl sheet cake, a snacking cake you slice right from the pan, a no-bake icebox cake that sets while you’re at the pool. So here are my easiest summer cakes, sorted by how much oven time they actually need. Preheat if you must, and let’s get into it.

When I was a kid, I loved to play house, though I was never especially interested in the husband-and-child portion of the game. Funny now, considering I have both and am pleased as punch with the arrangement. What I wanted was the house. I wanted a room that belonged to me. I wanted to move the furniture around, decide what pretend cakes we were serving, and choose who was invited. Very middle-child behavior: Please come to my party. I have made everything as nice as possible on a budget of nothing.

Berry season is short and glorious. For a few weeks the blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are all so good that the hardest part is deciding what to bake first. I love a berry dessert because the fruit does all of the work for us A little sugar, a little heat, maybe a buttery crumble on top, and we’ve got something that tastes like the best part of summer. These are my favorite ways to use every kind of berry (minus strawberries, they earned their own roundup).

This Honey Raspberry Chantilly Cake is a soft, dreamy celebration cake made with three tender vanilla cake layers, a honeyed milk soak, raspberry preserves, fresh raspberries, and clouds of mascarpone cream cheese frosting. It’s sweet without being cloying and just tart enough from the berries to keep every bite interesting.

Okay, if you only make one lemon dessert this summer, make a classic lemon bar. Buttery shortbread, a thick and tart lemon layer, done. It’s easy, you can make it ahead, and it feeds a crowd. But lemon doesn’t stop at bars, and I’ve got a favorite in every direction: cakes, pies, puddings, and no-bake. Here’s the thing about lemon. It tastes like summer in a bowl. It’s bright, it’s a little tart, and it wakes up everything it touches.

Somewhere around mid-June, I start side-eyeing my oven like it owes me something. It’s hot. The days are long. And there are approximately one hundred things I’d rather do than stand in front of a 350 degree situation waiting for a cake to set. This is where no-bake desserts come in, and friends, they are not a consolation prize. A great no-bake summer dessert is one of the most satisfying things you can put on a table. Cool, creamy, layered, chilled.

Friends, hi! I’m back! Welcome back to The Bakehouse Almanac, our monthly ritual that’s part vibe check, part note taped to the fridge. Consider it a mug of coffee slid across the counter, from me  to you. It’s a mix of good intentions, short lists, and whatever’s actually on my mind this month.

Friends, it’s time – and we are suspiciously on time for this year’s Summer Bucket List! My timeliness likely has everything to do with the fact that I’m writing this in the very wee hours of the morning. I’m up out of habit from the last 12 weeks postpartum, but here’s the thing: my baby seems to be sleeping through the night!? What is this!? What is this gift of quiet and dark and time: all-mine time?

There is a very short window every year when strawberries are so good you almost don’t want to do anything but eat them over the sink fresh from the colander. And then, standing there thinking, I can’t help but think about swoopy hipped cream in strawberry shortcake, and the way baked strawberries taste with a buttery oat crumble in a strawberry pie. Friends, strawberry desserts are one of summer’s great gifts.