My post about Warren Brown and the Food Network from last week attracted the attention of some publicists for the Maryland Home & Garden Show, where it seems Mr. Brown will be appearing this coming Saturday. Amazing, this blogging medium, isn’t it? You do it in your living room, but you never know who might […]
READ ONIf you haven’t seen or heard about it yet, go read the essay over at Policy Review entitled Is Food the New Sex? by Mary Eberstadt. It’s long, you’ll need to dedicate a full half hour to it, but it’s well worth the time for all those who’ve ever wondered how people nowadays have become […]
READ ONIndeed yes (to answer a great many more questions that came my way this weekend). The general rule of thumb, as I wrote before, is to combine all the dry ingredients plus the sugar at the outset, add the softened fat, then about 50-75% of the liquid, whatever it takes to make a smooth batter. […]
READ ONThe response to my fortnight-long cake-a-thon has been tremendous. I have so many people asking me for cake decorating tips, I can’t possibly answer them all — mostly because I’m a very poor cake decorator. I’d refer those who are more interested in cake decorating resources to head to PastryWiz to see what they might […]
READ ONThe patriotism, you mean? Oh, no. The fondant. I should have rolled it a good deal thinner before I cut out my stars and stripes. Oh well, little Josephine was delighted by her flag cake just the same. She put in the request and daddy delivered…more or less. I’m glad she didn’t ask where the […]
READ ONThis 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 […]
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