High altitudes make cookies spread in the pan, cakes fall, and few baked goods turn out as they do at sea level. This twice-monthly column presents recipes and tips that make baking at lofty elevations successful. 

Rich tastes, great looking, and easy to make — this cake has it all. You can’t go wrong when you combine fresh raspberries and whipped cream with a rich, fudgy brownie-like cake. And, if that’s not enough to pique your interest, the cake comes together in one bowl, can be made ahead and travels well. No wonder I treasure this recipe!

Maryann pans have short, fluted sides and an indented top that serves as a well to hold fillings and frostings. The pan comes in a variety of sizes and capacities. Check the size of your pan and adjust the recipe, if needed. Don’t have one? Make the cake in a 9-inch tart pan with 2-inch sides or in a 7-inch round cake pan. 

I stabilized the whipped cream by adding cream cheese to the recipe. If you plan to serve the cake immediately after completing it, you don’t need to stabilize it. 

Chocolate raspberry Maryann cake

Adjusted for altitude. Make in a shiny metal Maryann pan with 1 1/2-inch sides, a 10-inch diameter bottom and a 4-cup capacity.

Active time: 40 minutes Total time: 90 minutes

Cake

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (one stick)
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups superfine granulated sugar, preferably Baker’s
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon bleached all-purpose flour (spoon and level)

Stabilized Whipped Cream

• 1 tablespoon cream cheese (1/2 ounce), softened
• 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
• 1-2 cups fresh raspberries 

Get ready: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees if your pan is dark metal), with a rack in the center position. Grease the pan with a baking spray that contains flour. Line the indented middle of the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper. 

Melt chocolate and butter: Cut the butter and chocolate into small pieces and place them in a large saucepan or microwave-safe bowl. On the stovetop, melt them over very low heat, stirring, until smooth and liquid and then remove from the heat. Make sure not to boil the mixture. In the microwave, heat at low temperature for about 1 minute, check, then continue at 15 second intervals until almost melted. Remove and stir until fully melted and smooth. If the butter-chocolate mixture is very hot, let it cool until it is slightly warm.

Make batter: Add the sugar to the chocolate-butter mixture and stir until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring until incorporated into the batter after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour in two additions, mixing gently after each until it is absorbed into the batter. Don’t overbeat.

Move to pan and bake: Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing and leveling the top. Bake until the top is set and feels firm but soft and a toothpick inserted in the deepest part of the pan comes out clean. Start checking when the cake has been in the oven for about 20 minutes. The baking time will depend on the size and color of your pan. Overbaking will ruin this beauty, so remove it from the oven as soon as it’s baked through.

Cool and store: Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rack or a plate, lift off the pan and gently remove the parchment paper circle. If made a day ahead, cover airtight with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Wrapped well, the cake can be frozen for a month.

Make stabilized whipped cream: Whisk or beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the whipping cream and beat a low speed to blend, then increase speed until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and beat to stiff peaks. 

Assemble the cake: Pipe or spread the whipped cream around the border of the cake’s indented center. Dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar and mound the remaining raspberries in its center and spaced around the edges of the circle of whipped cream. If you want to glaze the berries (like the ones in the photo), stir about 3 tablespoons of seedless raspberry preserves until smooth and soft. Thin it with a teaspoon or two of water or crème de cassis and brush it over the mounded berries. If not serving the cake immediately, store, covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours. 

Serve: Cut the cake into wedges, cleaning the knife after each cut, and serve with some of the berries. 

Vera Dawson’s column “High Country Baking” publishes biweekly in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she’s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.