Welcome to Bon Appétit Bake Club, a community of curious bakers. Each month senior test kitchen editors Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic share a must-make recipe and dive deep on why it works. Come bake and learn with us—ask questions, share pics, listen to our podcast, and lots more here. And don’t forget to join the Bake Club Group chat over on Substack.
Karpatka, a.k.a. Carpathian Mountain cake, is a grand Polish cake that lives up to its name. Traditionally, two disks of tender, billowing pâte à choux house a layer of pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. In our creative riff, we ditched the pastry cream for a no-bake cheesecake filling. Homemade plum compote stains the filling with a vibrant red ribbon. If all you can find is less-than-ideal unripe plums, don’t fret: As they cook, their skins soften and turn the compote a saturated red hue while the added sugar and lemon juice heighten their flavors. You can make the compote a couple of days in advance and store it in the fridge, or, if you’re feeling a bit more casual, you can opt for store-bought jam in its place. A single packet of gelatin gives the filling enough structure to be sliceable but still soft enough to submit to a spoon. It’s a dramatic cake, and one that is sure to take center stage at any gathering.
