professional tips to make your baking fabulous
These fruit tea cakes are a delicious way to take advantage of all the wonderful fruit, particularly stone fruit, that is in markets everywhere at this time of year. Get some deliciously ripe peaches or cherries and these light, tender cakes are sure to please!
I have the good fortune this week to be a guest chocolatier at a fabulous chocolate shop here in Manhattan, Tache Chocolate. Owned by Aditi Malhotra, Tache Chocolate offers online orders of their fabulous creations as well as chocolate making classes. In my classes this week, students made mendiants, a traditional chocolate disk with different toppings. Simple and delicious, they are a great introduction to working with tempered chocolate.
German chocolate cake is one of my mother’s favorite desserts. The rich coconut pecan icing paired with moist Devil’s food cake is an unbeatable combination! To make this cake more polished, I put the icing on the inside and cover the cake with creamy, bittersweet chocolate ganache.
We’ve been doing a bit of entertaining this week and, since the weather has been beautiful, we’ve been on the roof with drinks and snacks. These homemade crackers always make it onto the tray! They are simple to make and pair perfectly with cheeses, charcuterie, olives, and dips and spreads.
Bread pudding is a traditional British dessert and one of my very favorite “comfort food” endings for a meal. Many, many variations abound and I love them all! Let’s start, however, with the classic at it’s simple best.
This simple, delicious bourbon sauce is very quick to make and can be made ahead because it keeps very well. It is delicious with bread pudding, over ice cream, or drizzled on fresh fruit ( particularly peaches!) Whip up this quick topping for a delightful addition to your desserts.
Pavlova is a meringue based dessert named for a Russian ballerina. The crisp meringue shell is usually filled with whipped cream and fruit. This strawberry lemon pavlovas are filled with lightened lemon curd and sliced strawberries – a perfect summer dessert that uses the delicious berries at the market right now!
Pie crust seems to be a difficult skill for many people to master — including me! It took a long time and many doughy, tough pie crusts before I managed to make a passable pie crust. If you are new to pie baking or simply struggle to make a good crust, start here with this butter pie pastry. Butter makes the dough a bit easier to handle than either lard or shortening and, if you follow my suggestions here, you will be on the way to improved pie pastry!
These chocolate creams with crushed praline are wonderful mousse like desserts that are simple to make and delicious to eat! Crunchy praline adds textural contrast to the rich chocolate. Make this the same day you want to serve it so that the praline remains crisp in the chocolate!
All kinds of berries are appearing in the market and this mixed berry pie is a great way to take advantage of all the delicious fruits summer has to offer. Serve this pie by itself or with some lightly whipped cream for a wonderful summer dessert!
