The génoise cake layer is the most challenging part of a tres leches cake. Once that’s in hand, you can pretty much just relax and have fun. I find the best finished cakes happen when you have the layers and any time-consuming condiments completed at least a day ahead of time. If you can arrange […]
READ ONI thought about just referring all you prospective tres leches cake makers to the basic génoise tutorial and saying: just add nuts! However the process for tres leches génoise is slightly more involved than that. My solution: to create a new tutorial that mixes old and new photographs. What? It’s not like my lighting or […]
READ ONThe main layer is the basic génoise recipe from the site, only with some toasted almonds added. It also has a little orange zest mixed in, a great idea that I stole from Rick Bayless. Why a génoise for a Latin American cake? First, because spongecake is Latin American (by way of Europe, of course). […]
READ ONI was waiting for someone to ask that question. Thanks, reader Emily! Dulce de leche recipes call for baking soda for one simple reason: to help the mixture brown. Those of you who’ve stuck with me through past posts about caramel know that it takes a fair amount of heat for sugars to start caramelizing […]
READ ONBecause nobody else is going to save you any, that’s for sure. It’s just too sweet and buttery. Tender on the inside and crispy around the edges like a croissant, it has a crackly caramel top that adds just the right je-ne-sais-quois (I wrote that in French because I don’t know how to say it […]
READ ONFor all those who’ve put off getting their hands dirty with laminated doughs, kouign amann is a great place to start. Somewhere between a bread and a Danish, it only requires a couple of “turns” of the dough, and they need not be perfect. This is a rustic pastry, so your standards need not be […]
READ ONThis obviously isn’t the New York version, but rather the more classic version filled with Bavarian cream and topped with fruit. New Yorkers, I promise I’ll get to your eventually. Though a charlotte is a great choice any time of year, it’s especially good in the hot summer months. For one, it’s a no-bake dessert. […]
READ ONCharlotte Russe sounds like a fancy Continental dessert, and it is. So how improbable is it that for a time — from about 1900 to 1960 — Charlotte Russe was one of the most popular street foods in New York. Of course it differed quite a bit from the classic version. “Charla droosh”, as interpreted […]
READ ONThat’s right, and it was invented by a Frenchman. At least, so it’s said, by Antonin Carême himself. So the story goes, Carême created his own charlotte after seeing the baked version in England, where he worked for a time starting in 1815. On his return to Paris he produced an unbaked version he called Charlotte à la Parisienne. But that shortly changed when he accepted a position on the staff of Tsar Alexander and relocated to St. Petersburg, and it’s been charlotte russe ever since.
Is it true? Who knows? But it makes for a good story.
READ ONIt may not be traditional, but I can tell you how it tastes: phenomenal. The assembly goes like this: roll out your puff pastry to about 1/4″ thickness and cut out your crusts. You want the circles to be as big around as the outside lip of the ramekin molds. Once they’re cut, store them […]
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