File this under “posts where Shannon makes something you can easily purchase at the store and subsequently gets underwear-bunchy trying to figure out why you would ever want the store-bought version when the scratch version is so much better.” What; you don’t have a folder for that? You should. Let’s talk about angel cake. Why, as a human race, are we so willing to grab store-bought angel cake when the homemade variety is incredibly delicious? I blame our current relationship with egg whites. Continue reading →
Pin ItAll posts tagged cake
blueberry cheesecake + macadamia nut crust.
Shavuot, congratulations: you are the first Jewish holiday I am on time for! I was late for Purim and Passover, but you; you I managed to not be tardy for. I think it’s because you’re about dairy; all sorts of dairy, evidently, so it’s easy to both love you as a holiday and also find you easy to make food for. I can see why people look forward to celebrating you. Continue reading →
Pin Itlemon almond cake. (flourless)
Admittedly, this is not my best photo. Simple cakes get a raw deal in that they are so elegant and beautiful in real life, but often difficult (for me) to capture on film. I promise you, it is gorgeous in real life.
In my quest to learn more about Jewish holidays and the foods associated with them, I committed myself to making something for each (major? I’m a non-Jewish person, so I don’t know how to classify these) holiday. Since I am new to this, all of my offerings have been after the actual holiday has occurred. First, there was the great hamantaschen experiment for Purim; I got so caught up in oil-based versus butter-based hamantaschen and homemade jam fillings that those didn’t show up until the week after Purim. Now, here we are at my contribution for Passover, which has come and gone, and evidently we’re just days away from the holiday which falls 7 weeks after Passover, so it’s safe to say that I’m tardy in posting this one too. Please forgive me: I’ve decided to expand my Jewish food exploration to two years in the hopes that next year I’ll be ahead of schedule. Continue reading →
Pin Itsableuse (french butter cake.)
I posted so many things for National Library week last week; I thought I’d give you all a little breather to catch up. A week has passed, you’ve cleared out your Google Reader (Feedly?) by now, so I’ll resume my post-Easter 2013 food recap, since we still have the desserts to go.
It’s been a little while, but do you remember that yellow sunshine cake I made for the Easter festivities? That was a french butter cake called a “sableuse,” pronounced – so far as I can tell – “sableeeuuuussse.” You know you want to say it like that too, so don’t deny yourself that one tiny pleasure. The sableuse was a very different cake recipe than I’ve ever tried by the manner in which you put it together, so I thought it safe to go about it on a holiday where there would be another cake in place, were this one to fail. Thankfully, it didn’t fail, and what resulted was pretty magical.
I’ve never met a cake that’s this light in weight yet so dense and rich on the tongue. It’s almost impossible to experience, because cakes that are this rich generally have quite a bit of heft to them; you could have flung this one into the air like a Frisbee. Because of this, it’s a great warm weather cake; just throw some fresh whipped cream and berries alongside of it, and you have a lovely dessert that doesn’t seem overdone. It’s sunshine yellow due to a massive amount of egg yolks inside it, and comes out in much the way that a sturdy pound cake would, which means nothing will fall apart on you in the heat. Continue reading →
Pin Itclassic chocolate bundt + chocolate honey glaze.
So I just got finished with a luncheon event with Deb Perelman. Yes, that Deb Perelman. I say “with” because for a few ticks of the clock, I want to imply that I was her opening act.
*moment*
I wasn’t. Maybe someday, but today I just bought tickets like everyone else, lunched on three lovely offerings from her cookbook, and realized she would probably be the most fun ever to hang out with. This last bit is great news, because I have been invited to attend a meet and greet this evening with Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen fame. So we’re clear about which Deb Perelman we’re talking about, I wrote that out. Currently the thing which weighs heaviest on my mind is if I should wear the same thing as I did (thus upping the chances that she recognizes me) or if I should go for something different (thus making it seem like I have many outfits.) Needless to say, complete sentences aren’t coming easily to me at the moment. Forgiveness requested in advance, and in return, I’ll tell you all about Deb in my next post. I took so many notes too, between the eating and the happy tears. Continue reading →
Pin Itapple pie layer cake.
You know it, I know it, we all know it: we have discussed these stack-happy little Momofuku cakes before. I love making them, you love telling me how much work it would be to even attempt one of these. Is it work? Yes. But have I said that it’s not as hard as you may believe it is? Also, yes. Do you think I’m lying? Perhaps. So I decided for this cake, I would take you behind the scenes a little and show you exactly what goes in to making one of these things. Shall we? Continue reading →
Pin Itmonday bites: holiday cake truffles (the momofuku birthday cake in a ball)
That’s right, people. This is your holiday gift from me to you. Much in the way that Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and Perry Como gifted the world with timeless christmas albums.
Many of you have told me that you love looking at all the Momofuku Milk Bar cakes I’ve made on the blog this past year, but many of you seem to echo the same sentiment. You don’t want to buy cake rings or acetate strips. You don’t want to spend tons of time cutting and stacking cake layers. You sure as heck don’t want to waste freezer space for a half a day while it gets all melded together. And I understand that. Normal people with things to do may not feel the urge to spend hours on a cake. The whole idea of a layer cake is to make it for something special, too. So what if it’s just Tuesday and you want cake? It seems impractical to go to this much effort just for yourself, right? Even if it’s enormously delicious. Even if you really, really want to taste one of these cakes. Continue reading →
Pin Ittriple chocolate mousse cake.
Now seems like a good time for a little pre-holiday baking story. A story about trying to do something for someone else, failing miserably, and then sucking it up and kicking defeat to the curb. It’s almost December, which means it’s almost time for large quantities of cookie-burning, pie-dropping, and the sort of hurried multitasking that results in not just one thing done poorly, but many things, all at once. Something you do will be a failure this month. It’s okay; we all do it. This is my story of disaster and subsequent triumph. Continue reading →
Pin Itchocolate espresso guinness mini-cakes.
I hesitate to call these ‘cupcakes,’ for fear it would imply some whimsey-ish kid-party thing. Mostly, I don’t want you thinking that I’m making beer cupcakes for toddlers. Because I’m not: these are clearly adult cakes. They don’t even look young child-appropriate, unless your little one adores swanky dinner parties and Irish pubs from time to time. Hopefully, they don’t.
This is the small version of my Chocolate Espresso Guinness Cake from last week; as it turns out, I was still miffed I didn’t get a proper piece. So miffed, in fact, that I was bound and determined to find a way to make these in a smaller format more appropriate for every day use. Why? Because I want to eat them more often, and baking cupcakes to share with others and accidentally keeping a few for yourself is so much less obvious than baking a giant cake and not sharing. Continue reading →
Pin Itchocolate espresso Guinness cake.
Doesn’t look very much like a traditional birthday cake, right? Certainly it’s not the mile-high, multi-layered numbers I like to push here, but this was indeed someone’s birthday cake. Someone who really. likes. drinks. because they tend bar, people, don’t worry; I didn’t make a beer-infused cake for a recovering alcoholic. No one fell off the wagon on my watch. I have it on good authority, however (Mr. Table), that if you were going to get addicted to a cake, this one would be it. I hear this was maybe the best chocolate cake a bunch of coworkers have ever laid waste to; if you knew this bunch, you would know they’ve probably demolished some food in their day. Continue reading →
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stalking = so much fun.