Look at those cakes...so beautiful!
To see more shots of the new location, check out the original post on DesignSponge
12.17.2008
It's all about the cake.
Sure I'm happy that the new Baked is opening up in Charleston. But what makes me ever happier? This shot of the interior:
Look at those cakes...so beautiful!
To see more shots of the new location, check out the original post on DesignSponge
Look at those cakes...so beautiful!
To see more shots of the new location, check out the original post on DesignSponge
12.11.2008
I am so behind with posting that I have no idea where to begin...
Somehow, I just plain forgot to take any pictures of last week's Cake Thursday cake. Though it did look like any old chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting, it was not—it contained a secret ingredient.
This was the invite I sent out:
I watched as everyone ate and tried to guess. After everything from beets and sweet potatoes to cyanide (?!) were called out, I paused, as the small crowd circled around me, and said...
"Sauerkraut."
A simultaneous gasp was emitted, followed by puzzled looks and laughter. You could absolutely not taste the sauerkraut, though it did add a little texture to the cake. And a very good cake it was: richly chocolaty, moist, and dense. Though the recipe I used came from Maida Heater's wonderful book, Cakes (now out-of-print, though available used online), a basic Google search reveals plenty of others to choose from should you be interested.
______________________________________________
My co-worker, Amy, recently celebrated a birthday. In honor of the occasion, I baked a Hummingbird Cake, one of her favorites. As a pretty spur-of-the-moment decorator, I used a color printout of a hummingbird taped to a coffee stirrer to personalize it for her.
_______________________________________________
Last, but not least, I finally made it to the Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar.
The pastry chef, Christina Tosi (whom I recognized from reading this New York magazine interview), kindly let me take an action shot of her at work:
After fawning over her for a moment, (I'm a sucker for pastry chefs—they're like movie stars to me.) I bought a cereal milk and a slice of the Pistachio Cake. The milk was consumed on the spot. It tasted, well, exactly like its name. As a fan of such tastes, I loved it.
The cake was packed up in a box...
for the subway ride home with me. I finally dug into it later that evening.
It was quite good, moist and bright, though I will admit to it tasting a little like Fruity Pebbles...
Maybe cereal milk is her secret ingredient?
This was the invite I sent out:
I watched as everyone ate and tried to guess. After everything from beets and sweet potatoes to cyanide (?!) were called out, I paused, as the small crowd circled around me, and said...
"Sauerkraut."
A simultaneous gasp was emitted, followed by puzzled looks and laughter. You could absolutely not taste the sauerkraut, though it did add a little texture to the cake. And a very good cake it was: richly chocolaty, moist, and dense. Though the recipe I used came from Maida Heater's wonderful book, Cakes (now out-of-print, though available used online), a basic Google search reveals plenty of others to choose from should you be interested.
______________________________________________
My co-worker, Amy, recently celebrated a birthday. In honor of the occasion, I baked a Hummingbird Cake, one of her favorites. As a pretty spur-of-the-moment decorator, I used a color printout of a hummingbird taped to a coffee stirrer to personalize it for her.
_______________________________________________
Last, but not least, I finally made it to the Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar.
The pastry chef, Christina Tosi (whom I recognized from reading this New York magazine interview), kindly let me take an action shot of her at work:
After fawning over her for a moment, (I'm a sucker for pastry chefs—they're like movie stars to me.) I bought a cereal milk and a slice of the Pistachio Cake. The milk was consumed on the spot. It tasted, well, exactly like its name. As a fan of such tastes, I loved it.
The cake was packed up in a box...
for the subway ride home with me. I finally dug into it later that evening.
It was quite good, moist and bright, though I will admit to it tasting a little like Fruity Pebbles...
Maybe cereal milk is her secret ingredient?
12.02.2008
Cake Thursday: November 20th
THE INVITATION:
click to enlarge
*THE CAKE:
(Hint: Work-appropriate images of whips are hard to find on the web.)
*Whipped Cream Layer Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting
click to enlarge
*THE CAKE:
(Hint: Work-appropriate images of whips are hard to find on the web.)
*Whipped Cream Layer Cake with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting
11.20.2008
Making Up for 22 Missed Birthdays
I recently had the pleasure of re-connecting with my childhood best friend, Kate. We lived across the street from each other until we were ten and my family moved away.
Fast forward to a few months ago when, overcome with nostalgia, I decided to do a good old google search. Though it took a bit of calculated digging, I found someone who seemed to fit the bill.
So I wrote.
Not only was it her, but it turns out she's been in NY the entire time I have. Crazy.
Since then, we've gotten together a few times and found that we still get along brilliantly. This past weekend Kate and her husband, Aaron, held a joint birthday party (they share the same birthday—even crazier) at a wacky downtown Bulgarian Disco. Though that's normally not the type of place I drag a cake to, having over two decades of missed birthdays to make up for, there was no way I couldn't.
Aaron and Kate blowing out the candles on a Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Silk Frosting (both recipes from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread).
Kate, count me in for the next 22 (at least)!
Fast forward to a few months ago when, overcome with nostalgia, I decided to do a good old google search. Though it took a bit of calculated digging, I found someone who seemed to fit the bill.
So I wrote.
Not only was it her, but it turns out she's been in NY the entire time I have. Crazy.
Since then, we've gotten together a few times and found that we still get along brilliantly. This past weekend Kate and her husband, Aaron, held a joint birthday party (they share the same birthday—even crazier) at a wacky downtown Bulgarian Disco. Though that's normally not the type of place I drag a cake to, having over two decades of missed birthdays to make up for, there was no way I couldn't.
Aaron and Kate blowing out the candles on a Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Silk Frosting (both recipes from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread).
Kate, count me in for the next 22 (at least)!
11.14.2008
11.13.2008
Cake Thursday: November 6th
PS: I cheated and used the updated recipe for this cake in Greg Patents wonderful book, Baking in America
11.06.2008
What a week.
Between Halloween and the election, I've been going cake-crazy. Tonight I'll be baking my fourth cake since Oct. 30th...
when I baked and decorated the above as my entry to our company Halloween party's"Deadly and Delicious Dessert Contest."
An homage to the classic Hitchcock film, The Birds, it was a red velvet cake (from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread) with Swiss Meringue Buttercream tinted what I called "Technicolor® Pink."
Though it failed to nab a prize from corporate (maybe the bird cutout pecking at the cake highlighted by extra red food coloring was too much for them?), I did manage to snag the coveted, much-better-than-any-other-prize...
a Peoples Choice Award! (Thank you must be given to my wonderful co-workers for their unending support, good looks, and smarts. Love to Evan and our cat. This is for you, Mom!)
But onto the more exciting event of the past nine days...
The election and the outcome that has given me a feeling of excitement and possibility for the future of this country that I have not felt, well, since Clinton—and I was too young and broke to be excited about much more than a 20 cent raise. Seriously.
We had some friends over that night to watch the results come in. Along with snacks and bottles of bubbly waiting patiently in the fridge to come out and accompany cheering or crying, there was a cake.
An Election Cake, to be specific.
This tasty, yeast-risen cake is estimated to date back to Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1700's where, though specifics vary, it was eaten on election days. There are numerous recipes out there, but the one I ended up going with is from a November 2006 Washington Post piece.
The resulting cake was tender with an anticipated bready texture and a taste similar to a cinnamon roll or, according to one friend, a cinnamon raisin bagel.
It goes very well with Prosecco and loud, happy cheering.
when I baked and decorated the above as my entry to our company Halloween party's"Deadly and Delicious Dessert Contest."
An homage to the classic Hitchcock film, The Birds, it was a red velvet cake (from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread) with Swiss Meringue Buttercream tinted what I called "Technicolor® Pink."
Though it failed to nab a prize from corporate (maybe the bird cutout pecking at the cake highlighted by extra red food coloring was too much for them?), I did manage to snag the coveted, much-better-than-any-other-prize...
a Peoples Choice Award! (Thank you must be given to my wonderful co-workers for their unending support, good looks, and smarts. Love to Evan and our cat. This is for you, Mom!)
But onto the more exciting event of the past nine days...
The election and the outcome that has given me a feeling of excitement and possibility for the future of this country that I have not felt, well, since Clinton—and I was too young and broke to be excited about much more than a 20 cent raise. Seriously.
We had some friends over that night to watch the results come in. Along with snacks and bottles of bubbly waiting patiently in the fridge to come out and accompany cheering or crying, there was a cake.
An Election Cake, to be specific.
This tasty, yeast-risen cake is estimated to date back to Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1700's where, though specifics vary, it was eaten on election days. There are numerous recipes out there, but the one I ended up going with is from a November 2006 Washington Post piece.
The resulting cake was tender with an anticipated bready texture and a taste similar to a cinnamon roll or, according to one friend, a cinnamon raisin bagel.
It goes very well with Prosecco and loud, happy cheering.
10.28.2008
Cake Thursday: October23rd
THE INVITATION:
Adjective
Function:
noun
Date:
14th century
A word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else.
Example sentence usage:
Today's Cake Thursday cake is a creamy, tangy, intense yet plain-as-day cheesecake on top of a gooey, sticky ginger base.
____________________
Taste the adjectives today at 4 PM, the Pit.
THE CAKE:
CLOSE-UP:
Recipe from dependable Dorrie, Baking from My Home to Yours
Adjective
Function:
noun
Date:
14th century
A word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else.
Example sentence usage:
Today's Cake Thursday cake is a creamy, tangy, intense yet plain-as-day cheesecake on top of a gooey, sticky ginger base.
____________________
Taste the adjectives today at 4 PM, the Pit.
THE CAKE:
CLOSE-UP:
Recipe from dependable Dorrie, Baking from My Home to Yours
10.23.2008
Q: What's highly addictive, snowy white, and mind-numbing?
A: The Coconut Cake I made to celebrate my lovely boss Lynn's birthday.
What, were you thinking of something else?
10.21.2008
Halloween
...is the one and only holiday that my company holds a party for. A little weird, right? Even weirder is the fact that it's a really crazy party during the work day with costumes, decorations, and kegs of beer.
This year they are having a "Deadly and Delicious Dessert Contest" which I, for one, am far more excited about than anything else.
Anyway, I mention all this because I saw a cake up on marthastewart.com:
I wish I had the time to do such a thing as, it is, without a doubt, an ass-kicking cake.
This year they are having a "Deadly and Delicious Dessert Contest" which I, for one, am far more excited about than anything else.
Anyway, I mention all this because I saw a cake up on marthastewart.com:
I wish I had the time to do such a thing as, it is, without a doubt, an ass-kicking cake.
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