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…
For the second installment of the French-style chocolate cake search I returned to my baking book library and came upon one with an eye-catching title – Growing up on the Chocolate Diet by Lora Brody. It’s been on the shelf for years with one page bookmarked, the recipe for Bête…
For the month of May, we will be exploring French-style chocolate cakes. By this I am referring to single-layer, rich, moist, intensely chocolate cakes. The type that might require a simple chocolate glaze, or just a light dusting of powdered sugar. The type that is sliced into small pieces, and…
I love everything about this cake. I love the thin, flavorful sheets of Marjolaine cake, the unique shape, the unadorned sides that reveal the multiple layers, the whipped crème fraiche mellowing the rich ganache and buttercream, and the ease with which one can cut small slices. I even love the…
One of the keys to Passover Seder desserts is to focus on recipes that don’t require a major substitution for flour. For The Friday Baking Project’s inaugural Passover blog, I present two recipes that fit that requirement. The first, the subject of this blog, is a simple, yet delightful Nut…
My interest in pastry baking had just begun in December 1979 when I came across an article in Gourmet Magazine from the previous year on German Christmas baking. Among the many enticing recipes, one stood out – Bavarian Walnut Stollen. Totally different from Dresden Stollen, with its raisins and candied…
This wonderful cake came to life as I was working on a chocolate roulade based on the delicious and versatile flourless chocolate souffl© sheet, from Paula Peck’s The Art of Fine Baking. The roulade is not a thing of beauty (it tends to crack) but the flavor contrast of the…
I was cleaning out my freezer when I came across a Ziploc bag of oatmeal crisp topping, a leftover from a late September Blueberry Crisp. Several summers ago, in search of a good way to use beautiful farmers market blueberries I came across a Williams-Sonoma Blueberry Crisp recipe. It is…
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