Vive le Gâteau Français

Dorie Greenspan, the author of reliably luscious cookbooks, tells of the first dinner party she put on in her Paris apartment years ago. Pulling out all the stops, at the end of the meal she brought forth a tall cake laced with fresh raspberries and a rich chocolate ganache. As her guests marveled over it, Greenspan casually boasted that she'd made the cake herself. The reaction of her dinner companions surprised her. "Why?" they exclaimed. "Cakes like this are the reason pastry shops were invented."

The experience was an eye-opener for Greenspan. She now boldly proclaims, "Real French people don't bake!" She doesn't mean they never slip a cake or pie into the oven or whip up a simple mousse or batch of cookies, but that they rarely, if ever, prepare desserts that are elaborate, fussy, or difficult. Instead, they leave that to the pros. And who can blame them? Most live in a town or city where on nearly every corner there is a patisserie offering items which are the very definition of fancy.

Accordingly, I remember on my first trip to Paris while wandering around cookware shops, which I am wont to do, how startled I was at the sky-high price of KitchenAid mixers — until I realized that in the City of Light such an appliance is not really much needed. Since the French typically wouldn't think of making their own croissants or macarons or Napoleons, seldom do they need an implement more complicated than a whisk when they bake at home.

With the holiday baking season upon us, I've decided to follow the French example this year, having in the past done my share of extravagant baking. And I've found the perfect guide to that enterprise, a charmingly exquisite book by Aleksandra Crapanzano entitled "Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes." I'll be astonished if it doesn't win a James Beard award this year.

The book begins with the same premise that animated Greenspan and debunks the misconception that when they bake at home the French toil at length to create the glorious creations we have come to associate with Gallic baking. Moreover, it further reveals that the secret to French baking is mastering classic recipes which can be improvised and varied with flair.

For example, simple French yogurt cake is so easy to make, French children, using little yogurt jars as measuring cups, master it in nursery school. But lace it with liqueur, fresh raspberries and maybe some chocolate and you have a grown-up dessert indeed.

This revelation will have me donning a beret along with my apron as I do my holiday baking this season.

Gâteau au Yaourt

(Yogurt Cake)

The simplest of French cakes, as this recipe adapted from Aleksandra Crapanzano demonstrates, can be modified to produce sophisticated results that are the essence of French home baking.

• 1/2 cup whole yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup canola oil

Combine yogurt and eggs. Whisk in sugar. Whisk in flour and baking powder, then add oil. Bake in a greased and floured 9-inch round cake pan at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before removing from pan.

Variation: Gâteau au Yaourt pour le Dîner (Dinner Party Yogurt Cake)

Rub together grated zest of one orange and the sugar before whisking into yogurt, add one teaspoon vanilla, and fold 1/4 cup candied orange peel into finished batter. Bake as directed. Heat 2 tablespoons each Grand Marnier and orange juice and 1/4 cup sugar until dissolved and drizzle over warm cake. Glaze cooled cake with a ganache made of 2/3 cup chopped chocolate, 1/2 cup cream, and 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier.

Variation: Gâteau au Yaourt et aux Poires (Yogurt Cake with Pears)

Use springform pan. Prepare as directed, substituting powdered sugar for granulated sugar and adding one tablespoon, reducing eggs to two, and adding one tablespoon to flour. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon Poire Williams liqueur, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Top batter with 2 to 3 peel, cored, and sliced pears arranged in concentric circles and bake 50 to 55 minutes until cake tests done. Glaze with 3 tablespoons melted and strained apricot jam.