In 1927, an Ohio-born insurance salesman named Harry Baker, having moved to Los Angeles seeking a change, came up with a revolutionary cake recipe. Folding whipped egg whites into a batter enriched with yolks and vegetable oil, he discovered, yielded a sponge that was springy, extravagantly tall and remarkably moist — a striking contrast to…
On my first day as a line cook in a pastry kitchen, I was tasked with turning lemons into little bowls for housemade sorbet. I angled a sharp paring knife from the edge of a lemon half toward its center, then circled the knife to slice out a cone of seedy yellow flesh. Cupping that…
Good morning. The rhubarb’s beginning to pop by the fence where it always grows, but it’s still a few weeks from its delicious adolescence. That’s OK. I know there are farmers who force it, and I’m happy to pay them for their labor. I’ve been dreaming of rhubarb pound cake (above) for months, astringency against…
Gluten-free is the Kevin Bacon of the food world: We’re all within six degrees of separation from someone who avoids gluten. That’s why, as we approach graduation party, bridal shower, picnic and barbecue season, it’s good to have a really good gluten-free cake up your sleeve. Brian Levy’s gluten-free yellow sheet cake is built on…
Some places across the country are still getting frost in the morning; other climes are sunny and warm already. No matter. Let’s move on to springtime in the kitchen. We need renewal and the green promises. And if it means cheating a little — asparagus from elsewhere, peas from the freezer — so be it….
It’s something of a family joke that if there’s ever a flourless chocolate cake (or torte) on the menu, my brother will order it, regardless of whatever seasonal treats or house specialties may be on offer. And I get it: Flourless chocolate cake always feels extra special, elegant but not precious, the appropriate ending for…
In the past, I’ve been known to rail against restaurants that don’t commit to dessert. I’m sorry, but if I could make it at home — looking at you olive oil cake — then it’s not worth my time. (Though how expensive is olive oil cake about to become with these tariffs?) But I do…
In 2013, I baked 400 dried-apple hand pies, with a touch of cream and black pepper, per my nearly 200-year-old Appalachian family recipe, and boxed them individually with a hearty slice of coconut cake. This was for the now-infamous cake-vs.-pie debate at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium in Oxford, Miss. I was not part of…
Eating malva pudding for the first time feels like meeting a soul mate, its swirl of butter and sugar instantly familiar to the deep heart’s core, its softness, somehow simultaneously fluffy and dense, thrilling and intimate. With each bite of the cream-soaked cake, there’s a sense of wonder: I already know you so well, have…
I consider myself a pretty good cook. I can neatly break down a chicken, and make mayonnaise from scratch. I can pleat dumplings, roll futomaki, fry doughnuts and, on one occasion, have turned carrots into roses. But I cannot, for the life of me, take butter out of the fridge to soften. This is why,…
