Posts by Friday Baking Project
Crumb Topping
This crumb topping works very well as a delicious covering for muffins, coffeecakes, and tarts. The recipe may be divided in half, which is quite easy to do when measuring by weight. The procedure differs from other crumb toppings and streusels in that room temperature butter is called for. PRINT Crumb Topping Yield: 1 ½…
Read MoreCelebration Ivoire
Celebration Ivoire is a wonderful example of taking a recipe and using its components to create a new dessert with a completely different appearance. Starting with the Ivoire et Chocolat recipe from October 22, 2021, I add fresh raspberries to the inside and top of the cake. The chocolate band is replaced by ladyfingers and…
Read MoreLadyfingers
Ladyfingers are used mostly to encircle mousse cakes and the classic charlotte russe. They are also a lovely accompaniment to a simple dessert of fresh berries. The key to ladyfinger success is a batter stiff enough to prevent the piped-out ladyfingers to from spreading while baking. In the recipe below, all the sugar is used…
Read MoreFresh Berry Shortcakes
In my mind, a July 4th party dessert must meet a few requirements; easy to serve outdoors, include patriotic colors, and make guests smile. Strawberry shortcakes expanded to include blueberries meets those requirements. Set up with all the components for guests to assemble their own shortcake dessert is definitely smile inducing and eliminates slicing and…
Read MoreSeven-Minute Coconut Frosting
This is a classic Seven-Minute Frosting flavored with coconut. The timing of the sugar syrup and the whipping egg whites is critical, so have everything ready before starting the recipe. PRINT Seven-Minute Coconut Frosting Yield: 3 cups # of Servings: As needed Ingredients: ¾ cup + 2 tbl (6.2 oz / 176 g) sugar2 tbl…
Read MoreChocolate Cupcakes
The bakery in the small Queens, New York community where I grew up was an important part of my family’s shopping and food life. The Cake Box was the source of rye bread, corn rye, our weekly Challah, black and white cookies, birthday cakes, Danish pastries, and cupcakes. As with all bakery treats, my mother…
Read MoreCoconut Cupcakes
This wonderful cupcake and frosting combination is adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe for coconut cake. The moist yellow cake uses unsweetened coconut milk as the liquid, which makes for a beautifully smooth cake batter. See the recipe note on coconut milk as all brands are not the same. I cut down on the sugar…
Read MoreCheesecake
When I opened my Martha’s Vineyard baking business in 1982, the first restaurant client requested, among other desserts, a cheesecake. I tested a few recipes to no great enthusiasm, until I came upon one in Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts, which itself was adapted from a Craig Claiborne recipe published in the New York…
Read MoreReine de Saba
It’s appropriate that we end this tour through the world of French-style chocolate cakes with a version of Julia Child’s Reine de Saba from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1. Published in 1961, this may be the earliest American cookbook recipe for this type of rich, slightly underdone, single layer gâteau. Many recipes…
Read MoreDiabolo
The first two entries in the great French-style chocolate cake search, G¢teau au Chocolat and Bête Noire, are room temperature cakes, best eaten within several hours of baking. For this week, we test a cake that is served cold, with either an adornment of whipped cream on top, or plain with the whipped cream in…
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