The Fudgy Snacking Cake That Won Your Hearts (& Our Recipe Contest)

Our latest recipe contest, Your Best Snacking Cake, invited a huge wave of absolutely delicious-looking recipes from our community of talented cake bakers. With so many delicious entries, we really had our work cut out for us. We tested, tasted, tasted a little more (it’s cake!) whittled it down, and finally decided on two finalists: Clintonhillbilly’s Cinnamon-Anise Snack Cake and Jessie Sheehan’s Chocolate-Carrot Snacking Cake.

© Provided by Food52

© Provided by Food52

How did we pick a winner? Staring down these two outstanding confections was no solution at all, but thankfully we received an huge volume of votes. It was a very close race, but a winner has been chosen. Cue the drumroll…

Jessie Sheehan’s Chocolate-Carrot Snacking Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Congratulations Jessie, your cake was loved by all! We also want to congratulate our runner-up. Clintonhillbilly, your cinnamon anise cake is absolutely delicious (and everyone should make it).

Jessie is a cookbook author and longtime dessert-crafter, so we inquired a little further about what fuels her sweet creations.

What’s your least favorite food? Beets. I basically love all food, but I definitely draw the lines at beets. I’ll eat beets in borscht (with a large dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche, please…) but that’s about it.

What’s the best thing you’ve made so far this year? I think I’ll go with my world’s best Rice Krispie Treats with a secret ingredient: sweetened condensed milk. Rice Krispie treats are kind of my everything, and these ones are off-the-charts delish.

Tell us about your most spectacular kitchen disaster: They happen all the time, but one that sticks out is when I attempted to make Cooks Illustrated’s yellow cake with chocolate frosting for my son’s 8th birthday, and I added cornstarch instead of cake flour. I was flummoxed as to why the cake was so dry and cornbread-like.

What is your idea of comfort food? Mac and cheese followed by chocolate cake.

Apron or no apron? Apron!

What is your favorite food-related scene in a movie? I don’t remember the exact scene, but so much delicious food is consumed in the movie Tampopo.

Who is someone you would love to cook for, and why? I’m really a baker, and not so much a cook. I would like to bake for my paternal grandmother who died many years ago. She too was a baker, but when she was alive I had not yet discovered my passion for making sweets. She always made a lemon velvet sheet cake when I visited her which I adored (despite the fact that I am team chocolate). I have developed my own version of her cake—hers came from a box—and I would love to enjoy a slice (or many) with her.

Did you get a chance to try out Jessie’s cake? Please let us know in the comments, and join us in congratulating her!