I agree the recipes seem very approachable (one of my favorite qualities in a recipe). I see at least eight recipes in there I’m very likely to make. Including the three tart doughs, also of interest are:
Mediterrenean Lemon Cake
Blueberry Oatmeal Scones
Rustic Apple Tart (+variations)
Chocolate Sables
Chocolate Biscotti
Our library doesn’t carry it, and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of used copies available (always a good sign, in my book). This is probably enough to warrant purchase of the hard-copy, which I have in my cart - just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
ETA: Although if it’s of interest to anyone, original source versions of the sable and biscotti recipes are available on-line (Guardian and Epicurious respectively).
Yes on all your choices! That apple tart looks so appealing, I think pears would also be a good choice. The Mediterranean lemon cake has been on my list to try as well. If you end up purchasing it, it’s at least a small size book although plenty of recipes.
In the meanwhile, this plum pistachio torte is cooling and waiting to be cut for breakfast. Mostly pistachio flour, this 6” cake has 1 1/2 thinly sliced plums on top and a sprinkling of Amaretti crumbs, it was very fragrant baking.
BF cake is my favorite! Most recipes I’ve seen use dark cherries, I use my frozen sour ones. I prefer the sourness to offset the richness of the cream and chocolate.
I’m sure yours was appreciated and has you thinking of the next BFC.
Tiny little Russian Napoleon cake. The first time I made one I only let it sit for a couple of hours and it was still crispy. This time I left it overnight. I’m definitely team crispy. I’m not a huge fan of the softened layers. It is really delicious when the layers are still crisp!
The next way I have to try this is with mousseline/German buttercream, which is how a lot of people make it. So far I’ve only done the pastry cream version. Mousseline filling helps to keep layers crisp since it doesn’t hydrate the way pastry cream does.
Chef Dinara Kasko and Esbieta are both on team crispy. I have to try their fillings. I made Esbieta’s layers a with sour cream and honestly, I’ll always go with the sour cream pastry. It’s just super simple and the results taste awesome. I add 1.5% salt when I make them. My mom and I kept eating all the scraps, but thankfully you only need a few to decorate the cake. Esbieta’s recipes have proven to be consistently great, so I trust her filling is delicious.
I just turned on my oven in my Brooklyn apartment for the first time in three years. It works! So I’ll be baking something in here today Man, I never used to think my oven was small until I baked in the suburbs for three years. Now… whoa.
I’m going back and forth at intervals as I get my bk apartment back into fighting shape. I also have a lot of stuff to move back - too much to bring in little increments on the train- so I have to arrange some sort of big move with help. That part is challenging.
Maple crumble cheesecake squares. The crumble for these is made with no butter, but rather maple butter, which I made myself. It is indeed a bit punishing on the arms, but fun to make. These are a good level of sweetness, which was my only concern.
You heat to 235° and then cool down to 100° and start stirring. Then it takes maybe 10-15 minutes. I didn’t want to use a mixer since that’s a long time, but considering it’s low speed it would probably be fine. The syrup does get pretty thick, though, so I don’t know if that would be tough on the mixer.
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BarneyGrubble
(Beethoven and Latina singer fan in Ottawa)
134
Your Napoleon is beautiful. This was my grandpa’s standard celebration cake. He made it with crisp pastry layers, pastry cream in between, and covered it the same way - with pastry shards. It was always beautiful and delicious. Brings me back a little.
Thanks! You should make one sometime. It really is surprisingly easy and quick. I know you can’t get your husband into pastry cream, but maybe using the mousseline filling might win him over. Both fillings seem to be equally popular and overall I think the majority of recipes I’ve seen are actually mousseline by a slight margin.
Of course you can just make yourself a tiny one with pastry cream like I did here all for yourself.
Thank you for the vote of confidence. He is currently giving lip service to being more open minded. I put sour cream into the black forest cake layers. I’ve never made a crunchy pastry so that seems a bit intimidating. But it would be a good skill to learn, since I strongly prefer desserts with crunchy or laminated pastry over the mushy smoosh that is american cakes.
2 Likes
BarneyGrubble
(Beethoven and Latina singer fan in Ottawa)
140
Man, I never used to think my oven was small until I baked in the suburbs for three years. Now… whoa.
Both fillings seem to be equally popular and overall I think the majority of recipes I’ve seen are actually mousseline by a slight margin.