Fresh Pear and Plum Cake

On September 24, 2026September 24, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

Earlier this month, I set out to develop recipes that use fall fruit. I wanted to make the most of the produce ripening in my mudroom: pears and Italian plums. Pears ripen best off of the tree, so I’d picked them early and been checking them frequently for signs of softening. Then extensive rain split open nearly ripe plums and yellowjackets moved in with the returning sun and heat. I spent a dusky evening when they’d vacated the trees harvesting the remaining undamaged fruit. Suddenly, I had a tens of pounds of perfectly ripe plums and pears.

The new recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon piles in both fruits. In testing, this surprisingly light cake, considering the density of its fruity topping, was an instant hit. Some of the plums and pears landed in new recipes I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks in my column. Others I canned as preserves. Still more are stashed in my freezer for pie and cookie workshops I’m planning for November. And the boxes in my mudroom are empty, ready for the next fall fruit harvest: apples.
Learn to make Fresh Pear and Plum Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

On September 10, 2026September 10, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

When it comes to a prolific crop like zucchini, you can’t have too many ways to use it. My first choices are always savory: gratings for Zucchini–Basil Pancakes, slices for a fresh Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry, or cubes to fold into Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce, toss with pasta, or skewer onto Veggie Shish Kebabs with Garlicy Marinade. I pickle plenty of zucchini too, especially as a grilled side dish of Zucchini Escabeche and jars of Double-Spiced Zucchini for my refrigerator, two of several zucchini recipes I included in my pickling cookbook.

Zucchini also bakes beautifully into sweets, such as Zucchini Bread with Sesame Seeds and the cake recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I usually fold other homegrown and homemade ingredients into these bakes for truly Twice as Tasty treats.
Learn to make Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Smoked Cherry Clafouti (Pudding Cake)

On July 17, 2026July 17, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

I harvested another 7 pounds of sour cherries from my lone tree yesterday. I’ve plucked 18 pounds so far, and it looks like I’ve barely started. This seems likely to be another bumper crop year for cherries.

I’m down to my last small jar of Bourbon-Infused Smoked Cherries from last year, so I smoked my first cherry harvest and now have a new half-gallon jar infusing in my unheated mudroom. When I plan to use freshly smoked cherries without infusing them in alcohol, I let them chill in the refrigerator for a couple of days first so that their flavor becomes more even. I also have a few bags of unsmoked sour cherries left from 2025 in the freezer. All of these cherries, whether raw and fresh or frozen, recently smoked, or in bourbon, taste delicious in clafouti, the easy French pudding cake I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.
Learn to make Smoked Cherry Clafouti

Buttery Jam-Filled Cupcakes

On June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

I generally prefer pies, galettes, and other fruity desserts to cake, partly because of the fruit but mostly because I attended too many childhood parties with dry cake and overly sweet frosting. The handful of cake and cupcake recipes that I do bake, including the one in my most recent Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, emphasize custardy or buttery batter that bakes up moist and light.

With a full-size, single-layer cake, you don’t have to worry about evenly dividing the batter: simply pour the entire bowlful into a loaf, sheet, or bundt pan and bake. For layered cakes, I find it’s worth weighing the batter to ensure an even portion in each pan. You can be less particular about cupcakes and just eyeball their equal fullness. Their second advantage, for the baker, lies in your ability to vary the flavors as you fill and decorate a single batch of batter.
Learn to make Buttery Jam-Filled Cupcakes

Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza

On March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn baked, ColumnLeave a comment

I developed a cauliflower pizza crust when my mom was limiting her gluten intake, not because I expected to add it to my personal meal plan. But every time I make this recipe for others, whether they have issues with gluten or not, I get such positive feedback that it’s worth pulling out. Even those I’ve previously impressed with my Sourdough Pizza Dough, whether baked for a pizza party, grilled on a sailing night, or taught in a sourdough workshop, comment on how the grain-free cauliflower crust has an unexpected and appealing lightness.

Along with the cauliflower pizza crust recipe that I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I offer a few tips to set you up for success. In my own oven and favorite cast-iron skillet, I have no problem creating a crisp crust—as long as I break down the cauliflower until it has a fine texture, squeeze out excess moisture, and preheat the pan before baking. But I sometimes get softer results in an unfamiliar oven or pan. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix, as I explain here.
Learn to make Gluten-Free Cauliflower-Crust Pizza

Basic and Flavored Shortbread Cookies

On February 27, 2026February 27, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

I love to cook and experiment with flavors in the kitchen, so I don’t choose a minimal-ingredient recipe because it’s short and likely quick. I choose it as a blank canvas, primed for whatever I want to throw at it. That’s how I feel about the shortbread cookie recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Along with the basic recipe, I share an array of ideas for how to vary the three primary ingredients and add other flavors. Many of my suggested add-ins complement one another, so I often divide a single batch of dough into three or four rectangles and flavor each one specifically. I encourage you to expand on my ideas even further to make these cookies your own.
Learn to make Basic and Flavored Shortbread Cookies

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

On December 11, 2025December 11, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookiesLeave a comment

It’s hard to imagine celebrating the winter holidays without a little gingerbread in the mix. The combination of molasses, ginger, and other spices creates cookies and loaf cake that seem made for cozying up next to the woodstove and watching the snow come down.

The gingerbread cookie recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is an old one that I’ve made bolder with extra spices. When I want an even stronger ginger flavor—any time of year—I make Triple Gingersnaps or Triple Ginger Cake. But expanding just the ground spices gives traditional cookies a little kick yet keeps them smooth and ideal for decorating.
Learn to make Old-Fashioned Gingerbread Cookies

Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies

On December 5, 2025December 5, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, cookies2 Comments

I usually make more sweet treats in November and December than I do all the rest of the year, mostly because I’m sharing them widely. Last month I was using homegrown fruit in Crumble-Top Deep-Dish Apple Pie and cherry pie. This month is all about cookies, as I share this week and next in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

These cookies will travel with me across three states when I visit family over Christmas. Some will find their way to gatherings and parties. Others will become my favorite chairlift snack in our just-opened local ski area. So the cookies I make each holiday season vary widely, from aged family favorites, to eye-catching sweets for party trays, to sturdy treats that tuck into a ski jacket pocket.
Learn to make Smoky Oatmeal–Cranberry Cookies

Double Apple Muffins

On October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

One of my favorite baked goods tricks is to replace some of the fat in the recipe with homemade applesauce. It works well with all sorts of muffins and quick breads, but it’s particularly delicious when you’re already featuring apples, like in the muffin recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

I make two types of applesauce: Frozen Chunky Applesauce and Canned Smooth-Style Applesauce. Both work as replacements for up to half of the oil, butter or other fat in many baked goods that get their rising power from baking soda or baking powder, especially when that fat is liquid rather than solid. Use canned smooth applesauce if you want the substitution to blend in seamlessly. Chunky applesauce does the job when you don’t mind bites of apple in the mix or when pureed before measuring to make it smooth.
Learn to make Double Apple Muffins

Fresh Pear, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary Galette

On October 11, 2025October 11, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn baked, ColumnLeave a comment

I’ve baked more galettes than usual in the last few months, and not because I harvested more fruit or went to more parties. What inspired me to create more of these freeform tarts was a new-to-me technique that kept their filling from becoming a runny mess that oozed out the sides of the folded pastry. It even improved the galette made with sturdy pears that I share this week my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

The technique is simple: sprinkle absorptive cornmeal or breadcrumbs over the pastry before you spread out the fruit. The result is marvelous. I first used a cornmeal layer in one of my juiciest galettes, filled with fresh tart cherries and raspberries. In the past, I would pull a pan holding a berry-heavy galette from the oven to find the pasty sitting soggily in a pool of juice, leaving a sunken filling—and quite the mess to clean up. This time, the pan and parchment it rested on were bone dry, and the tart looked beautiful.

Credit goes to Clair Saffitz for this fabulous technique, which I learned from her Plum Galette with Polenta and Pistachios recipe in her Dessert Person cookbook and saw put to good use in recipes for apple and for apricot and strawberry galettes in her latest book, What’s For Dessert. Even her simplest recipes have highly detailed instructions and loads of tricks to improve your dessert making.
Learn to make Fresh Pear, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary Galette