This is a common question, and for me the answer is always the same: a sieve. I never much liked nor trusted those little hand-held sifting machines (how much of my baking powder is still stuck in there?) . To me they just seem like a hassle. A fine-mesh sieve is not only easy, it […]
READ ONThis butter cake is made via the “one bowl” or “reverse creaming” method which delivers a very moist and tender layer indeed. If you’re on the hunt not for a box-mix-style cake (that would be one of the “high ratio” cake layer recipes in the cake layer section) but rather a classic old-school yellow cake […]
READ ONWarm — not merely room temperature — eggs and dairy are critical to the success of many baking projects, but particularly cakes. Warm (85-degree) eggs let yolk emulsifiers flow, keeping batters smooth and uniform. Soft butter evenly coats flour granules, and warm milk, well…that doesn’t do much other than help keep everything else warm (but […]
READ ONNo, it’s not a vision of one of the Catholic faithful, like the famous Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich, it’s a common problem that cake bakers like reader Nancy A. suffer from: Dear Joe, is there anything you know that can be done about weeping cake batter? I swear it happens to me every time […]
READ ONA couple of you wrote in asking what I intend to give up for Lent this year. The answer is, the consumable that I look forward to most at the end of a long, hard day of blogging: a glass of wine. So no alcohol for me for 40 days. I did the same thing […]
READ ONIf you’ve ever wondered why so many of the cakes of the Old World are so chock-full of spices and rich, sweet ingredients, Fat Tuesday provides a little insight. It precedes Ash Wednesday, which, in addition to its significance as a holy day of repentance, kicks off the longest period of fasting in the Catholic […]
READ ONAnd I haven’t even mentioned it, much less made a king cake or pączek. I get so wrapped up in my little projects. He’s wishing you all very full bellies this evening — and far too much of whatever it is you may be considering giving up for Lent.
READ ONThe primary advantage is the one I mentioned: tenderness. A layer cake made via the two-stage method simply melts in the mouth. The trade-off that’s made in the interest of that tenderness is height, and to some extent, lightness. Less activated gluten may mean a rich, fall-apart mouthfeel, but it also means the cake has […]
READ ONI mean, it doesn’t appear under your “mixing methods” links, Joe! That’s true, and maybe it should, since it’s a perfectly viable alternative to the creaming method, even superior to it in some ways. What exactly does it involve? Unlike the standard creaming method — whereby the sugar and fat are beaten together, then the […]
READ ONYesterday’s post on cake and television really seemed to pop the cap on a lot of pent-up frustration with the Food Network. I received a variety of complaints, about everything from their seeming lack of interest in teaching people about how to cook anymore, to what some see as pervasive testing problems with their recipes. […]
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