Cake Flour

Food historians may differ about the origin of red velvet cake, but one thing is certain: The cupcakes have gained widespread popularity in recent years. Many believe the name comes from the naturally reddish hue of cocoa powder, which is enhanced by a chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda. Today, most versions rely on food color (although some bakers use beet juice) to achieve a vivid shade. Gel-paste food color is much more concentrated than the supermarket liquid variety; if you substitute the liquid, you may need to add an entire bottle (1.5 ounces) to achieve the desired shade. Cream-cheese frosting is the classic choice.

You will likely make these cupcakes again and again, varying the frosting (say, dark chocolate, page 302) and sprinkles (sparkly, multicolored, or otherwise) to suit your whim or fancy. Two types of flour contribute to the cupcakes’ singular texture: Cake flour makes for a delicate crumb, while all-purpose flour keeps them from being too tender.

Fanciful peaks in a spectrum of shades crown cupcakes with a motif inspired by a vintage Russian cookbook. You could also opt to use just one color of frosting, or leave it untinted. White cupcakes, made with egg whites only (instead of whole eggs), are very light and delicate. For a stronger vanilla flavor, scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean (halved lengthwise) into the milk in step one, and omit vanilla extract.

Kids of all ages are bound to adore white cupcakes studded with chocolate morsels. Whipped egg whites folded into the batter produce a light and airy crumb. Tossing the chocolate chips with a bit of flour helps ensure they will be distributed throughout, rather than sink to the bottoms as they bake. The chocolate frosting is so rich and satiny, you’ll want to pair it with other cupcakes in this book, especially yellow buttermilk (page 26) and devil’s food (page 34).

Like little cakes with a citrus perfume, these shell-shape treats are equally delightful as a light dessert with fresh fruit or as an accompaniment to a cup of tea. Madeleines are most often associated with the French author Marcel Proust, who immortalized them in the opening scene of the novel Remembrance of Things Past.

While they’re warm, these tuiles are draped over a cannoli mold or a narrow rolling pin to give them their shape. To make edible bowls for serving scoops of ice cream or sorbet, shape the warm cookie rounds over inverted muffin tins or ramekins instead.

Every February, when Garth’s birthday rolls around, I make this beautiful and delicious cake for him. Last fall, he made some sad statement like, “Only three more months until you make me that awesome German chocolate cake again!” I made the cake the next day. (I know, I’m a sucker.) I double the frosting recipe to frost the entire cake, because my husband likes extra frosting, but one recipe will frost the tops of the layers and do the trick just fine—unless you’re Garth, of course! If you have some left over, the frosting is also good spread on a graham cracker or on brownies (page 198). Okay, it’s also good right off a spoon!

Our good friends Dyan Solomon and Éric Girard own Olive + Gourmando, a perfect luncheonette on Saint Paul West in Montreal’s Old Port. Their little shop is what we expect the coffee shop in the afterlife to be like: they’re detail fanatics and it’s no contest the best place for lunch in the city. When they first opened, they were bakers, and the place was a bakery with a few seats. They still make bread, but mostly to use in delicious sandwiches. The front counter is displayed with brioches, croissants, brownies, and fruit pastries, and they’re all killer. We thought they were insane when they decided to open in Old Port a decade ago. It was a barren ghost town of bombed-out buildings, seedy bars, and grow-ops. There were no people, much less hotels and tourist shops selling maple-sugar products and “raccoon” Daniel Boone hats actually made from Chinese skunks. Like us, Éric and Dyan don’t take anything too seriously (Dyan can tell you many stories of Fred’s practical jokes when they used to work together: her showing up at 6:00 A.M. to a fake “dead man” at the bottom of the stairs; Fred putting a scraped lamb shank in his shirt, saying he may have hurt his hand. . . .) They’re Montreal classics and were kind enough to hand over one of their most beloved recipes.

The basic cake of the French pastry repertoire is génoise, used as the foundation for dozens of cakes and other desserts. While it is essentially sponge cake made with butter, it’s rarely eaten plain or on its own. Rather, it might be moistened with liqueur or sweet or fortified wine (Grand Marnier, Sauternes, or Oloroso sherry, for example) and served with a little whipped cream or used as a building block for other desserts like Trifle (page 651).

To make these classic steamed rolls at home, you might pick up char siu—barbecued pork—in one of the myriad of Chinatown restaurants that have roast meats hanging in the window. Or you can make the Barbecued Pork (page 373) and the buns a day or two later. Fortunately, the buns themselves are easy to make, and they can be made as much as a month in advance: let them cool to room temperature after they’ve steamed (which should only take 15 minutes or so), then line them up on a baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and freeze. Once they are frozen you can transfer them to a freezer bag or other airtight container. To serve, reheat the dumplings in a steamer over an inch of boiling water for 5 minutes. Serve these as a starter or a snack.

This is another cake that I developed when I worked at Rosa Mexicano, and it quickly became one of the most popular desserts. We used to serve it with caramelized bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, all on the side. I have since tweaked the recipe a bit, by adding some chocolate to the tres leches mixture itself, instead of having a separate sauce, and by layering the cake with whipped cream.

This recipe makes a home-baked cracker similar to the famous, wonderfully buttery tasting Ritz brand crackers. Recipe tester Pamela Schmidt, who worked long and hard on this one, determined that a little garlic powder in the dough made these taste even more like Ritz crackers. I don’t know if Ritz actually puts garlic powder in their version, but it does add a nice flavor, so I’m going with Pamela on this one.

Meme called this “lemon cheese cake,” which is somewhat confusing since people more often use that name for a New York–style cheesecake. This is one of the recipes that “got away.” Meme often recorded a recipe on a card or on the previously mentioned interior of her cabinets. Trouble is, she only wrote down the ingredients and rarely included instructions. She used to actually cover her version of the cake in lemon curd. Normally, lemon curd is soft and not firm enough to frost a cake. I have tried to make the curd with her ingredients list every way but Sunday with no success. I’m afraid now I will never know. Instead, I fill between the layers with curd and flavor the frosting with it as well. The cake itself is an excellent rich, moist, cake that would also be delicious with chocolate frosting or served with strawberries and cream.

Meme most often made rolled biscuits. For large biscuits, she had a special aluminum cutter with a small wooden handle that fit in the palm of her hand. She cut out small biscuits with an empty apple juice can open at both ends. Some purists use lard instead of butter. Although I like biscuits made with lard and understand the tradition and history, Meme and Mama had started using butter by the time I was born. The perfect biscuit should be golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, with a light, airy interior. For a flaky, tender biscuit, don’t overwork the dough: gently combine the ingredients until just blended. A very hot oven is essential. The steam interacts with the baking powder to create the biscuit’s ideal textures inside and out.

Il Fornaio bakery in Los Angeles made a recipe for almond cake that I fell in love with many years ago. I’ve changed their recipe a bit to create a different texture, but the pronounced almond flavor remains the same. It’s very important to cream the butter and almond paste until it becomes thoroughly smooth.

Imagine the best corn muffin you’ve ever tasted, but richer and sweeter. The rosemary adds a subtle flavor and aroma that is reminiscent of the holidays. It’s equally nice with a cup of tea or a glass of dessert wine. Balsamic syrup is mellow and intense with an almost chocolatey flavor that complements the rosemary.

Pound cakes are perennially popular because they are such good keepers; this one will keep in the freezer for up to six months if it’s tightly wrapped. Pull it out and dress it up or dress it down; it’s great either way.

This is a moist, fragrant cake with a soft, strong crumb. Its flavors hold up well with chocolate. Use it with Cocoa Chantilly Cream (page 117) for subtle chocolate flavor, or use Sugar Islands Chocolate Buttercream (page 119) for the big bang of chocolate and vanilla together.

This moist cake combines the fruits, nuts, and spices from the New World that the Spanish conquistadores discovered in 1508. Chocolate was part of this Mesoamerican tableau. Brown sugar and ginger arrived much later, but this cake pays homage to the riches of the original jungles and river valleys.

Pat: Cupcakes bring out the kid in everyone. They certainly bring out the kid in me, and my girls will tell you that I love these cupcakes as much as they do. Who can blame me? They are impossible to resist. The combination of cake flour and buttermilk gives them a tender crumb and a slightly tangy flavor, and the thick, rich cream-cheese frosting—made with melted chocolate chips—puts them over the top. These cupcakes starred in the “If Pat’s a Good Boy” episode of our show. Talk about inspiration to behave! Gina often doubles this recipe so we have enough around to feed a crowd for a party or picnic, because even when folks are on their best behavior these have a way of vanishing. . . .

Gina: This is Momma Neely’s calling card (and when Momma Neely comes calling, people answer). It’s a traditional Southern butter cake filled with pecans and cinnamon and finished with a light sugar glaze. At the restaurant, this dessert rules the house! You can serve it with ice cream at the end of a meal, or for breakfast with coffee to start your day. When Patrick gets to the restaurant early in the morning, it’s the first thing he reaches for. Our recipe yields an extremely moist and delicious yellow cake. It will knock your socks off!