Last Sunday my friend James had a large, casual gathering of friends to his place in San Francisco for cake. he baked several:

a delectable and perfectly moist carrot cake,
an orange pound cake,
cardamom coffee cake,
peanut butter pound cake,
New York cheesecake with strawberry sauce,
walnut-chocolate bundt cake.

It was a mix of great people and great food, good coffee & port. I meant to bring a bottle of Jurancon from France, but stupidly left it in the refrigerator. James will have to enjoy it another time.

My favorites were the carrot cake and the chocolate bundt cake; my friend said the secret to the carrot cake is soaking the shredded carrot in sugar for a few hours (overnight?) to remove water and improve texture. I’ll try to get a few recipes to accompany the picture of cake below!