My Vanilla Bean Passionfruit Birthday Cake

Plus: Candied Oranges, Lunch at Doubting Thomas, and Dinner at Bacetti.

Hey Amateur Gourmet readers,

If you feel a tingle as you’re reading this, that’s me transferring all the love that I felt this weekend on my 43rd birthday. I was a bit bummed because Craig’s in Concord, Massachusetts working on a movie (I’m going to visit him next week) so this was one of my first birthdays away from him and I had to rely on friends for merriment and birthday cheer.

And wow, did they pull through. Starting with my friend and new hero, Ben Mims. Ben and I have become fast friends considering that we’ve only known each other a few years — he moved to L.A. right before the pandemic — and he’s now my BEST friend because he made me a birthday cake that I’m certain will be the greatest cake anyone will ever make for me for the rest of my life.

It all started as a lark: I jokingly (okay, maybe not so jokingly) told Ben that I wanted him to make me a birthday cake and that my favorite flavors were vanilla and passionfruit. I was being bratty and obnoxious and I was mostly kidding but Ben responded: “I’d love to make you a birthday cake.”

Then he showed up at our friend Jonathan’s house with the cake you see above, based on the Russian Punchcake (Russische Punschtorte) from the Demel bakery in Vienna, which Ben once made while working on a Nick Malgieri story for Saveur. All I know is that it was jaw-droppingly beautiful and tasted as good as it looked.

I asked Ben for the recipe and he linked to the Saveur article and said, “The only changes I made were to use passionfruit juice in place of the milk, and then soak the cake layers in pineapple brandy instead of rum. Oh, and I add vanilla beans to the cake and meringue frosting.”

So there you go! (Lol.) Maybe some day Ben can do a video with me and we can make it together so you can see how he did it. In any case, I’ve never been more grateful for a birthday cake in my life. Thank you, Ben!

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The Recipe: Cold Candied Oranges

In other dessert news, I had some friends over on Saturday and, because my oven’s still not working (now it’s a gas issue… ugh!), I needed another stovetop dessert, like last week’s chocolate pot de creme, only this one couldn’t have dairy because one of my friends is lactose intolerant.

Enter Gabrielle Hamilton’s Cold Candied Oranges from the Prune cookbook. I first encountered this dessert at — you guessed it — Ben Mims’ apartment (why does he have to be the best at everything?). There was something so shocking and surprising about it, but also so refreshing and perfect at the end of a heavy meal. It’s almost like edible Amaro: you get a little bitterness, a little sweetness, a little acidity.

The hardest part about making these is carving out the channels in each of the oranges. You need to do this so the sugar syrup gets all the way through. I used the channeling side of my zester (see picture above, on the right) and did pretty well. Ben says you can also just stab the oranges all over with a knife. Be sure you use seedless oranges; I used Cara Cara oranges, my favorite oranges, which are pink and orange on the inside.

The other tricky part is keeping them submerged as they cook in two stages (first boiled in just water to get rid of the bitterness, then in sugar syrup to candy); the key is to cover with parchment and a little plate. Voila.

The resulting dessert will shock your guests and put a smile on their faces as you serve them, in their entirety, in wide bowls with a knife and a fork. As a bonus, I made Negronis earlier that evening with the candied orange peel as a garnish and a splash of the syrup.

Ingredients:

• 6 firm seedless oranges, about the size of a baseball (I really like Cara Cara and so does Gabrielle Hamilton, but any orange should work)

• 6 cups granulated sugar

Instructions:

1. Wash your oranges well, scrubbing them with a coarse sponge to get off any waxy coating (unless you get them from a farmer’s market, in which case, no need to scrub). Using the channeling tool in your citrus zester, channel vertical channels from the top to bottom of your oranges, leaving about 1/2-inch between each channel. (See images above to get the idea.) You don’t want to go too deep, or your oranges might split apart in the water: try to get mostly the peel with a little bit of pith.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (a big enough pot to hold the six oranges comfortably). Carefully lower in the oranges and cover with a small lid or plate directly on the oranges (don’t cover the pot) to keep them submerged. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer — you don’t want them to burst open — and cook the oranges like that for 25 minutes or until they look soft and have swelled a bit. (If you’re not sure, let it go another 5 to 10 minutes.)

3. Lift the oranges out with a spider tool, dump out the liquid, then add the 6 cups of sugar to the pot. Add 6 cups of water, bring to a boil, whisking the sugar in to dissolve, and let the mixture boil for ten minutes to reduce a bit. Then very, very carefully lower the oranges back in (careful because hot sugar water can stick and burn). This time, cover with a large circle of parchment and put the plate or lid smaller than the pot on top of the oranges, to really ensure the oranges stay submerged. Lower the heat to the lowest setting — you should barely see a bubble or two (I used a thermometer and kept it between 170 and 180, like Gabrielle Hamilton says) and cook like this for 45 minutes, until the oranges look saturated with the sugar syrup and give off a jewel-like glow.

4. Turn off the heat, remove the parchment and the plate, put the lid on the pot, and allow to cool on the stove for four hours. Then place in the refrigerator for 24 hours (or longer) to allow the oranges to cure. Serve on small plates with a fork and sharp knife and tell everyone to eat the whole thing. Save the leftover syrup for making cocktails.

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The Restaurants: Doubting Thomas and Bacetti

It wouldn’t be my birthday without a birthday lunch AND a birthday dinner. (I’m one of those people who loves my birthday. Sue me!)

Chelsea Peretti, who became my friend via Instagram, invited me out to lunch at Doubting Thomas in Filipinotown.

The place is utterly charming — on a cozy corner, with lots of glass and pastries and little tables — it feels like what All Time was before it became an institution. You know a place is still young when every single thing that you eat there is fire emoji. I mean check out this breakfast burrito with braised pork shoulder.

I swore off superlatives when I restarted this newsletter, but screw that: this was easily the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had in my life. No question. The grilled tortilla? The spicy salsa inside? That meat? That perfectly cooked egg? It’s no contest.

But if you’re a superlative police person (defund the superlative police!) boy are you going to be riled: because the carrot cake that we had for dessert? That was also the best carrot cake that I’ve ever had in my life.

It was light and fluffy and had pineapple in it and the cream cheese frosting was thick and luscious. Just to prove that I’m not an unreliable narrator, that blondie sitting next to the carrot cake was just okay. But the carrot cake! I’m no longer a doubting Thomas about Doubting Thomas: I’m a full believer.

Now let’s go to Bacetti in Echo Park with my friends Carey and Simon and Jonathan (not pictured).

Not to brag, but the first time that I went to Bacetti was with Bill Addison who was reviewing it for the LA Times. Now that his rave review has dropped I can confirm that it’s one of the best new restaurants in L.A. and a dreamy place to spend your birthday (I’m glad I made the reservation weeks in advance).

The focaccia is not to be missed. No, I won’t say it was the best of my life — see! I don’t say that about everything — but imagine a warm, rich, savory olive oil saturated doughnut and you’ll get the idea.

The little gem Caesar was a gem.

And we loved our suppli (fried rice balls): one with vegetables, one with steak (not pictured), and these girasole — sunchokes — were excellent.

My pasta — campanelle with chanterelle, crimini, shimiji, maitake, and ricotta salata — was out of this world.

If you live in L.A. and haven’t been to Bacetti, make your reservation now. You won’t regret it, I promise.

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The Rest: New Podcast Rollout and Links

So in case you’re one of my die-hard podcast listeners and wondering where today’s episode is, sit tight!

I recently migrated Lunch Therapy over to Substack and as part of the migration, I’ve decided to release new episodes every Wednesday. They’ll appear wherever you listen to podcasts, but they’ll also appear in your inbox as a Wednesday e-mail with pictures, recipes, etc.

If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll get a Thursday podcast email with BONUS CONTENT! For example, last week’s guest, Rebecca Metz (Better Things, Shameless), did an extra 20 minute with me where she answered ten hilarious food questions, including which cookie she’d marry, eff, or kill (oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and peanut butter).

CLICK HERE to listen to that by becoming a paid subscriber. Not only will you have access to the bonus material, you’ll get to read essays like the one I wrote on Thursday about abuse in fine dining restaurants: “Is All Fine Dining Abusive?” AND I’m going to start threads about things like Top Chef where paid subscribers will get to watch it with me live.

Here’s a discount code that gets you instant access with 20% off forever:

Just go ahead and do it. You know you want to.

Now for this week’s links:

• Speaking of becoming a paid subscriber, I just paid for a subscription to Eat Your Books, which lets you enter your entire cookbook collection and search it… I love it! (Eat Your Books);

• “I dreamed of moving to Rome. Here’s how I made it a reality.” (The Washington Post);

• Not food, but this essay by Jason Zinoman — “Is It Funny for the Jews?” — is well worth your time, especially if you’re Jewish and like comedy (NYT);

• No-knead Gatorade bread. Why?! (Food is Stupid);

• Ruth Reichl’s eating well in L.A. (La Briffe).

Okay, folks, that’s it for today!

I’ll see you back here on Wednesday for this week’s podcast guest, Matt Rodbard, editor of Taste and co-author of Food IQ and Koreatown.

Until next time….

Your (older) friend,

Adam