Proud of My San Francisco Values: San Francisco Pastry Crawl (Part 1)
When I travel, most of the time my first thought is, “Oooh, where are the bakeries??” I have spent many gluttonous weekends (or weeks… don’t judge me) trolling for the most delicious pastries in cities such as New York City, Boston, Portland, and Paris… I recall with much fondness the decadent Sweet & Salty Cupcake […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Mississippi Mud Pie (aka Muddy Mississippi Cake)
I’ve had over a month of pretty successful baking (no disasters!), including three awesome baking jobs– even a wedding! However, I felt like something was missing in my baking life… Was it my imperfect lemon curd? Was it the marshmallows that oozed out of my Cornflake-Marshmallow Cookies? Or was it just my Walking Dead Season […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Malted Madeleines
“And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and […]
A Sweet, Delicious Death: Killed By Dessert
So, I’m just going to come out and say it: I have a problem. The San Francisco pastry scene, which I’ve only recently begun to discover in all its splendor, is far too enticing. I can’t stay away. I can’t not shovel pastries into my mouth. I can’t resist seeking out a new bakery. I […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Alfajores
Alpha-what, now?! I speak 3 languages and consider myself pretty worldly, and I definitely make a point of investigating pastries any time I travel; and yet, I didn’t know what Alfajores were before embarking on this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings recipe. Pronounced ‘alfa-HOR-es’, these South American “caramel”-filled sandwich cookies are featured in the Caramel chapter […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake
99 bottles of rum on the wall, 99 bottles of rum…. Oh wait, that’s not how the song goes, is it. Perhaps it’s time to brush up on my pirate tunes? Despite my shoddy maritime musical repertoire, one thing I can say about pirates with a good deal of certainty is that Captain Jack Sparrow […]
The Bee’s Knees: Pull-Apart Honey-Cola Cake with Lemon-Vanilla Bean Crème Anglaise
I live in California. What we call “winter” is a pathetic shadow of what the rest of the country endures for several months of the year, and it seems that this year’s cold season has been particularly long in many regions. I have reveled in our 70°+ March and April days, weeks-long stretches of brilliant […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Sunrise Key Lime Tarts
This has been a very busy week of pastry research for me– simultaneously glorious and oh-so-gluttonous… As I was on Spring Break from work, I had the opportunity to play in San Francisco to my heart’s content, and play I did. I’m working on a separate blog post about my “Pastry Crawl“, so why do […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Aunt Sassy Cake
Updated photo from Spring 2013 remake– update at the bottom! Pistachios are such curious little nuts. I don’t think I’ve ever really examined them before– I generally just crack them open and pop ’em in my mouth without a whole lot of thought. For this week’s Baked Sunday Mornings assignment, I got up close and personal […]
Baked Sunday Mornings: Cheddar Corn Soufflé
In preparing for this Cheddar Corn Soufflé recipe, I was a little nervous–all those wives-tales about soufflés falling if you make too much noise or turn on the light or look at it the wrong way… Were they true?? The recipe is housed in the Cheese chapter of Baked Elements, and so far BAKED’s cheese […]