Cake Flour

When the talk is about biscuits I always think of Leah Chase, chef and owner of Dookie Chase’s in New Orleans, and those she baked for us on one of our Master Chef TV programs. They were the tenderest, the lightest, and really the best I ever remember eating. This is our interpretation of her method. The key to tender biscuits is using light, rapid movements, so that you activate the gluten in the flour as little as possible, and the flour itself plays a role. Southerners make their famous biscuits with soft wheat (low gluten) flour, and to approach its equivalent use part regular all-purpose and part cake flour as indicated here.

You will note the mixture of flours and fats here. Without them, our general American all-purpose flour, which is relatively high in gluten, can give you a brittle rather than a tender crust. But if you have “pastry flour,” you can use that alone, along with all butter rather than a mixture of butter and vegetable shortening.

Tortes are common throughout central Europe, and Dobos is a popular one, named for the Hungarian chef who invented it in 1887.

Using only cake flour produces a cupcake that has a pure-white crumb.

This rustic cake has the flavor and texture of an old-fashioned Eastern European dessert. Use either a nut grinder or food processor to grind pecans.

Sifting together the flour and sugar four times is essential to achieve the light, airy texture of this cake. You should also be very gentle when folding and transferring the batter so that the egg whites do not deflate. If your tube pan doesn’t have legs, invert it over the neck of a wine, or similarly shaped, bottle to cool.

The combination of fresh fruit and whipped cream used to fill this cake, typically found in British desserts, is known as “fool.” You can substitute raspberries or boysenberries for the blackberries in this recipe.

This versatile cobbler can be baked in ramekins, for single servings, or prepared in a larger dish to feed a wide range of appetites.

Half of the ganache is used for the glaze, which should be cool to the touch but pourable. If necessary, warm it over a pan of simmering water.

This is the kind of classic, all-American layer cake that birthday memories are made of. It’s guaranteed to please a crowd.

You might want to throw a woodland-themed celebration just to have an excuse to make cupcakes topped with chocolate faux-bois rounds. Faux bois, or imitation woodgrain, is a favorite Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia motif; it can be applied to chocolate using a wood-graining rocker, found at paint-supply stores (see Sources, page 342, for the tool and for acetate sheets). Made with ground almonds and hazelnuts and covered with dark chocolate frosting, the cupcakes are also worth serving on their own, without any other embellishments.

Anyone allergic to nuts, eggs, or dairy shouldn’t miss out on all the fun. Whether someone in your family has dietary restrictions or you’re making treats for a whole classroom of kids, these chocolate cupcakes should suit most needs. Divvies Bakery, which specializes in allergen-free sweets, kindly shared this recipe on The Martha Stewart Show.

Dramatic peaks of coffee-flavored seven-minute frosting and a single coffee bean crown mocha cupcakes; the coffee variation of Swiss meringue buttercream (page 305) and chocolate-covered espresso beans would be delicious substitutions.

Although you might think these cakes have a German pedigree, they’re actually named for German’s chocolate, a sweet baking chocolate developed in the nineteenth century for an American company called Baker’s Chocolate. Modern versions call for semisweet chocolate instead, which gives the cupcakes a well-rounded flavor, perfectly complemented by the traditional sticky-sweet coconut-pecan filling and frosting.

The summery combination of blueberries and whipped cream tops berry-filled cupcakes. The muffin-like cakes, which can also be served for breakfast or brunch, are delightful as standard or mini cupcakes.

Baking a batch of these ultra-moist cupcakes is a great way to use overripe bananas; keep a bunch in your freezer (unpeeled) and thaw when you’re ready to use. You can substitute walnuts for pecans, or leave the nuts out entirely. Caramel buttercream makes a satisfyingly sweet topping; cream-cheese frosting (page 303) and chocolate–sour cream frosting (page 311) are also good choices. Left unfrosted, the cupcakes can be enjoyed any time of day.

Ethereal mascarpone frosting blankets sponge cake in this adaptation of a famous Italian dessert. Extra yolks in the batter make the cake sturdy enough to hold a generous dose of coffee-liqueur syrup without becoming too soggy. Freshly brewed coffee or espresso would be a natural accompaniment, as would little glasses of marsala, a fortified Italian wine used in the soaking syrup.

Capped with “kisses” of seven-minute frosting and dusted with cinnamon-sugar, these cupcakes are a play on the cookie of the same name, also finished with cinnamon-sugar. The crackled cookies are thought to be of German origin, and their whimsical name a mispronunciation of schneckennudeln (crinkly noodles).

Roasting the fruit before folding it into the batter gives these cupcakes a pronounced banana flavor and keeps them very moist. Honey, often paired with bananas, is added to the frosting.