Strawberry Clafouti (Pudding Cake)

On June 19, 2025June 19, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

When the name of a recipe tempts you to try it, a delicious result feels like a bonus. That was the case for me and clafouti, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The pudding cake, with its uneven edges and layer of fruit that it arranges itself naturally as it rises to the top, isn’t as fancy as ganache-glazed cakes, precisely arranged tarts and neatly rounded scoops of sorbet that you might make for a special occasion (like, say, Twice as Tasty’s 9th anniversary). But boy, does clafouti taste good.

Claflouti (pronounced “claw-foo-tee”) reminds me of other sweet treats that are fun to say. Snickerdoodles have been a favorite since childhood. I’ve written about several others for Taste of Home, including Melomakarona and Apple Pandowdy.
Learn to make Strawberry Clafouti

Chocolate Pudding Cake, Snack or Stacked

On June 29, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

Seven years! Seven years ago, I started writing the Twice as Tasty blog. What started as a personal project led to workshops and house concerts, a cookbook and a column, and the launchpad for so much of the other food writing I do today. I’m especially appreciative of those of you who have been following my journey from the beginning, and I’m thrilled that so many more of you have joined in over the years.

To celebrate, I share my favorite chocolate cake recipe this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. When I say “my favorite,” really I mean that unless I have a surplus of zucchini, this is the only chocolate cake I make. My mom discovered the original recipe when I was still a teenager. I’ve made a few tweaks but I’ve never needed another technique because this one is that good.
Learn to make Chocolate Pudding Cake, Snack or Stacked

Baking with Zucchini

On August 26, 2021August 26, 2021 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic3 Comments

I’ve improved on one of Mom’s staples for feeding zucchini to kids: chocolate cake. Get zucchini recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
I lost all sense of theme in this month’s blog posts, which ranged from grilling tofu, to induction cooking and canning, to pickling eggs. So I might as well round it out with another random topic: baking with zucchini.

People rarely plant zucchini seeds without later bemoaning the endless crop. It’s hard to plant just the two or three hills recommended for a family and even harder to thin each zucchini hill to a single plant. I watched my dad make this mistake every season and then watched my mom as she stared at a kitchen counter hidden under baseball bat-sized zukes, wondering what to do with them all. Yet year after year, I make the same planting mistake, and although I’m diligent about plucking zucchini when they’re about the thickness of an empty paper towel roll, some always get away.

So every year I eat, process, and give away lots of zucchini. But only recently have I returned to, and improved on, one of my mom’s staples for feeding zucchini to kids: Chocolate Zucchini Cake.
Learn to bake with zucchini and make Chocolate Zucchini Cake

A Little Sweetness

On September 3, 2020January 4, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Topic, UsingLeave a comment

Recipes with a little sweetness use what’s in season and in your pantry. Learn more at TwiceasTasty.com.
I’m going to keep this post short, because my mind is still buried in pickles and my forthcoming cookbook. You’ve been hearing about it vaguely for months, and official announcements, giveaways, launch party invites, and more are on their way to newsletter subscribers and blog followers in the coming weeks. (But since you’re reading this, you may want to check out the preorder page on Amazon.) And next month, I’ll be sharing recipes directly from the book.

In the meantime, I thought a break from pickles might be good for me—and you. So this month, I’ll be sharing some sweeter recipes that use what’s in season and in your pantry.
Read more about a little sweetness

Strawberries

On June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Baking, Event, Ingredient1 Comment

This month I’m drinking my dessert and eating it too. Get cocktail and dessert recipes at TwiceasTasty.com.
If you follow Twice as Tasty on Instagram or Facebook, you won’t be surprised by the topic for this week’s blog post. That photo I shared of Monday’s strawberry harvest from the garden surpassed 12 pounds. No wonder I was tired of picking them by the time I was finished.

Most of those berries will end up as syrup, because it tops my sister’s Christmas wish list every year. As a bonus, I get to keep the roasted fruit solids, turning some into jam and simply freezing the rest in ice-cube trays to drop into smoothies and hot cereal next winter. Some of the fresh ones have already been gobbled up on my morning granola with Fresh Yogurt and my daily salads. But I couldn’t resist baking some into a Twice as Tasty birthday dessert.

I must admit: my fruit-syrup-loving sibling is also the dessert fiend, and I tend to drink my “special treats.” So last week’s post featuring Bourbon-Infused Smoked Cherries appears more often on the “dessert” menu from my kitchen than cakes and cookies. But for birthday month, you can have all the dessert you want, right? So this month I’m drinking my dessert and eating it too—as a simple yet delicious strawberry pudding cake, or clafouti.
Learn to make clafouti with strawberries and other fruit