This blog celebrates desserts and what fun it is to write about them. Somehow, the adventure of discovering sweet and savory baking classics in their homelands has become the story of my life and now, a book: A Baker's Passport: Recipes for Breads, Savory Pies, Vegetarian Dishes, Tarts, Cakes, and Cookie Classics. A Baker's Passport is available for ...
In December, much of the world sees things the way I do. Artistic cakes, cookies, snow globes, chocolates, and vividly wrapped confections fill shop windows, screens, and billboards. They are everywhere. For over 17 years, I have explored the pastry arts, sometimes as a chef and sometimes as a gypsy traveler hoping to capture in ...
In case you missed The Los Angeles Times writer/author/ethnic-eats guru Jonathan Gold's recent article about dumplings in Chinatown, read. The Lunar New Year begins February 8. While you may or may never achieve the delicate balance of soup inside a handmade dumpling made famous by the restaurant Din Tai Fung that Gold profiles, you can ...
I know, I know...Vienna has always been a cosmopolitan city. But we approached it as a dessert capital - a singular exemplar; a province of old-world excellence. If other discoveries awaited us in this city, we didn't care. While Vienna delivered on its culinary promise, we could not ignore how it asserted itself as a ...
Seriously, this was a business trip. We HAD to find a quality slice of Black Forest Cake even though it was sought only by old-fashioned, German-language-less tourists like me. Most people seemed oblivious to the fact that this cake was born in Berlin. Where was its memorial? Where was its shrine? Susie@Berlin Wall We got distracted ...
The Hollywood Hills, among which I have lived for most of the last 25 years, are full of secrets. My favorite trail winds through sandy knolls and meadows down to a reservoir. It is the equivalent of a secret surf spot - we don't discuss it much. Beyond it is the jungle of LA, then ...
Can a person be in love with a cake? I think I am in love with the Dobos Torte - a rich, multi-layer stack of brandy-drizzled almond cake filled with chocolate buttercream and topped with distinctive caramel wedges. Dobos Torte (or "Dobos Torta") and I have a long relationship. I have made it for my birthday ...
Just a few miles from Hollywood's red carpet bonanza is the other side: my neighborhood of Silver Lake where you can eat fried food, wear shorts and be certain that no one cares about taking your photograph. Is it a beautiful city, this Hollywood - east side or west? Nope. But it has pockets of ...
Toy soldiers, trains, presents, chocolate, bows - all fine stuff of childhood. Mass-marketers understand this and often sell us charmingly quaint packaging with nothing but chalk-like chocolate inside. In Quebec, roadsigns led me up a steep hill to a mini-chocolate factory guarded by this guy: I feared the worst. Chunky sentry like these are cherished by ...
This little white cake and its chocolate cousins helped me out at photo shoot in NYC www.rosalieoconnor.com @swmssweets
Vienna is on the list for the dessert tour in June. We're looking for kaffeehauses, Linzertorte, gugelhupf & Sachertorte. Yes, it is a pilgrimage.
WWW.HANDCRAFTEDCANDYBARS.COM bit.ly/BarnesandNobleCandyBars #Hand-craftedCandyBars #BarnesandNoble
