Rose Levy Beranbaum has done a great deal to popularize the so-called “one bowl” mixing method. She employs it in virtually all her cake recipes, and these chocolate layers are no different. Start by combining the boiling water and cocoa powder: Whisk until smooth and set aside to cool completely. Once that’s done, prepare your […]
READ ON…asks Theresa R.. Yes I did know that, Theresa. Duncan Hines was from right here in Kentucky as a matter of fact, a small city by the name of Bowling Green, about two hours south of where I live in Louisville. Most of us today only know Duncan Hines from cake mix boxes (and, occasionally, […]
READ ONThe heat went out at stately Pastry manor. I’ve been shopping for furnaces.
READ ONThis very funny little diatribe comes to us by way of reader Lee in San Francisco: Help us, Joe! Help save chocolate from certain death at the hands of the FPs….the Food Pedants who turn simple physical pleasures into ostentatious vocabulary exercises. You can’t go two days in some parts of the foodie world without […]
READ ONSince we’re back in Rose Levy Berenbaum land again this week, it bears mentioning that ever since I first started making chocolate layer cakes out of the Cake Bible, I’ve wondered about the rationale for combining cocoa powder with boiling water. I mean, cocoa powder disperses just as easily in warm water. What’s the big […]
READ ONThis is a variation on Rose Levy Beranbaum’s a classic chocolate butter cake: 2.25 ounces (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa (Dutch process) 8 ounces (1 cup) boiling water 3 large eggs (at room temperature) 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract 8.25 ounces (1 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) sifted cake flour 10.5 ounces (1 1/2 cups) granulated […]
READ ONI’d been wondering why I’ve been receiving so many comments and questions from India recently (an unusually high number of people made a point to tell me you can’t get cream cheese there). Happily over the weekend a helpful reader by the name of Rishika cleared that up for me. It seems I recently received […]
READ ONSo OK, it’s not straight-up New York. I added a cookie crumb crust at the last minute. But it looks pretty good, n’est-ce pas? It tastes good too. And that’s coming from a guy who really isn’t wild about cheesecake. This is a very simple thing to prepare and it goes like this… Preheat your […]
READ ONReader Laura suggests that the original inspirations for New York cheesecakes weren’t Italian cheesecakes: Since Leo Linderman (Lindy’s) and Arnold Reuben were both German immigrants, and since Reuben claimed that Lindy’s stole his German chef with the cheesecake recipe, it is more likely that the inspiration was German kaesekuchen (or some Eastern European cheesecake) than […]
READ ONNew Yorkers have a habit of claiming credit for pretty much everything. However in the case of cheesecake, they’re pretty much right. For it was upstate New York dairymen who invented “Philadelphia” cream cheese in the 1880’s, and it was the Jewish deli owners of Manhattan who subsequently used that cheese to make the thing […]
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