I don’t know whether you’ve yet seen the lovely Oscar-winning animated short film called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse. (Here’s a trailer if you haven’t.) It’s based on the book by British artist Charlie Mackesy, and in it the character of the little mole is fond of cake. Actually, rather obsessed with cake. His favorite saying is, “If at first you don’t succeed, eat some cake.” To him, cake can cheer up the dreariest day.

I agree whole-heartedly with the mole. So when spring arrived on Monday and yet it was 44° F on the Vineyard (with a 17 mph wind so it felt like 36°F), I thought to myself, the only way to deal with this is to have some cake. Luckily, Abby Dodge came to the rescue with a new cake recipe: Coffee-Coffee Cake.

Susie Middleton

The cake gets a hit of coffee flavor from a bit of espresso powder. The topping is a boatload of buttery, cinnamon-sugar crumbles that go on the cake halfway through baking so that they don’t weigh down the batter. Served warm, this cake is a seriously comforting snack. But with Easter and Mother’s Day coming up, you might want to bookmark it for later, too.

Susie Middleton

Snack cakes, pound cakes, upside-down cakes. What would the world be like without cake? You might need a Glazed Lemon Pound Cake or a Cream Cheese Pound Cake to take to a pot luck.

Susie Middleton

These recipes are part of Abby Dodge’s Baking Together series, so you know there are variations and substitutions to try. (And we’d love it if you’d leave us comments on how you varied the recipe!)

Susie Middleton

Maybe (no, surely) you’d like to pretend it’s summer and make a Blueberry-Lemon Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake or a Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake.

Susie Middleton

With Passover a couple weeks away, you might be looking for a flourless cake recipe like Abby’s Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake...

Susie Middleton

...or Kathy Gunst’s Passover Meringue Cake with Whipped Cream and Berries (aka pavlova).

Susie Middleton

If you’re sticking with seasonal inspiration, you could make the Pollan Family’s West Tisbury Carrot Cake...

Nicole Franzen

or Abby’s Pumpkin Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting. My favorite snack cake just may be the Coconut Cinnamon Tea Cake, though.

Susie Middleton

If you insist on eating something other than cake this week, I feel like a nice winter-into-spring light supper would be this Avocado Toast with Baby Kale, Blue Cheese, Pecans, Quick-Pickled Radishes, and Honey. Morning Glory has lovely baby kale, mizuna, and baby mustard right now.

Randi Baird

Chicken, Kale, Parmigiano and Ricotta Meatballs would make a nice supper too. As would Tortellini Soup.

Susie Middleton

Here's to having our cake and eating it too! We’ll see you on Instagram @cookthevineyard. Be sure to follow us if you haven't already.

Susie Middleton


What's Open, What's Happening

If you're looking to make a dinner reservation or wondering which farm stands and markets are open, visit What's Open on Martha's Vineyard for regularly updated listings.


CSA ALERT

• Morning Glory Farm has announced that registration for their seasonal CSAs is now open. This year they’re offering four different CSAs: a flower share, a bread share, and a cheese share in addition to the vegetable (farm) share.

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