This is the easiest no fail recipe for classic buttercream with no thermometer needed. But it's no fail only if you watch this video! Note how the entire surface of the syrup is bubbling which means it is hot enough to cook the egg yolks without over-cooking them and how the butter is added only when the yolk/syrup mixture is cool to the touch!
I promise you will adore the Brownie Puddle Tart. It will appear as individual brownies in the upcoming book. THE RECIPES
When my friend Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnon (who introduced foie gras from her native Gascony to America) invited me to be the judge at a fun contest during the James Beard Awards in May I wrote back telling her how much I would love to have participated but that I would be in Paris at the time and asked her instead for a restaurant recommendation. She suggested her friend Hélène Darroze’s restaurant (of the same name).
It was only my second night in Paris but despite jet lag and fatigue I enjoyed every moment of it and did not for a moment fall asleep at the table ( I have been know to do so when really tired).
Zach invited his Parisian friend Stépane and the three of us were all in agreement to order the eight course dégustation dinner with accompanying wines (Vouvray Clos du Bourg 2007, Meursault Les Tillets 2006, Château Brown Pessac-Léognan 2003 and Jurançon Uroulat 2007.
To sum it up, we walked out of the restaurant best friends forever! Here are some of the details of our delight (I was far too smitten with everything to remember to photographs some of the courses):
Foie gras de canard des Landes with rhubarb chutney, fraises des bois (wild strawberries), and beet juice (what an exquisite dish)
Elliott’s family is here from the west coast and we all (including east coast immediate family) got together in Hope for the weekend.
In order to maximize this rare time together I did no cooking or baking. Making pancakes for 9 would have taken me the whole morning—I’m not a quantity type cook/baker. So we had this sad experience at a local diner. Lesson learned—order carefully and simply at diners. We often go to this diner for great angus beef burgers but when I ordered biscuits and sausages I assumed they would be lovely flakey biscuits with little sausage patties, not sweet English muffins with sausage cut into little cubes and sludgy gravy covering it. (Though somehow, my stepson Michael suspected this is what it would be—I can’t imagine why because there was no indication what-so-ever about gravy of any sort.) I pictured the home fries as crisp and golden brown. Not!
One of the great things about a large family gathering is that there is always someone else who regrets his or her choice once it arrives and is happy to trade. Granddaughter Elyse was displeased (justifiably) with her cinnamon toast, which I found more edible than my ‘biscuits.’ She managed to work her way through some of it, picking out most of the sausage and leaving this wreckage.
As the original welcome posting has become the longest thread on the blog, and is wearing out some people's browsers when trying to post, I have started this new posting. Please feel free to post questions of comments here if you can't find another suitable place.
It’s been two years since I attended the annual NY Fancy Food Show, as I’ve been so busy with “the book.” It was reported to me that the show had been much quieter and not as well attended but this year things seemed to have picked up.
In the past I have always spent one entire day walking every isle of the huge Jacob Javits convention center. I love to see the new products and revisit/taste some of the favorite old ones. But this year it was impossible to cover all the isles because I kept bumping into old friends. Of course part of the benefit of this is we gave each other advice as to what we should be sure to see.
It was a great joy to see my old friend Ariane Daquin of D’Artagnon and I hung out at her huge booth for about an hour as other old friends stopped by. When I asked after her daughter Alixe whom I’ve known since she was about 2 years old but haven’t seen for years the lovely young woman dressed in Three Musketeers garb complete with sword (with grilling tip at end) said “I’m Alixe!” Now 21 she is helping her mother at the booth with the same charm and out-going personality as the rest of her extraordinary family.
I also visited Harold Imports, my distributor (for my roselevybakeware), Crossings, my favorite Eurovanille, John Boyagian of the wonderful oils including citrus oils, Vermont Butter (owner Allison Hooper just wrote her first book In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen), Fran’s Chocolate (I agree with Obama—my favorite chocolate caramels topped with sea salt) and met her delightful daughter and son who are now working with her. I discovered that her son had studied with Bill Yosses, who is now the White House pastry chef and had studied under me many years ago! I also chatted with Gretchen Goehrend of India Tree—my baking wouldn’t be the same without her Muscavado sugar, and of course Sarah Leah Chase and Nigel Dyche of Coastal Goods.
I tasted an amazing Buffalo mozzarella, which reminded me of the one I adored in Naples. The importer told me it was indeed from Caserta, near Naples. It’s called Ponte Reale organic and I’m hoping to find it in NY in the near future.
The most interesting new product was a lead from Gillian Duffy of NY Magazine. It was Sechuan Buttons, edible flowers from Africa/China, carried by Koppert Cress USA micro-vegetables. When a tiny bit of this fuzzy yellow ‘button’ is put in your mouth it explodes like pop rocks candy and the sensation lasts about 10 minutes. But the most amazing thing is that not only does it not distort the flavor of other food eaten at the same time or afterwards, it actually intensifies it. Recommended use is in drinks, dessert, ice cream, and sorbet. I think it especially would be fun to experience the electric sensation along with the cold creaminess of ice cream. I can’t wait to experiment with it.
This is IT! When I say this is my favorite I mean that if I were left with just one sweet it would be the Sticky Buns. I make mine with a rich buttery brioche dough. Brioche rides the borderline of cake, pastry, and bread so I have used this as an excuse to include it in all three of my bibles! Now you will see how easy they are to make. Yes--they do take time--but boy are they worth it. THE RECIPES
Have you ever seen a garlic scape? Every July I make my pilgrimage to the Union Square Farmer's Market to pick up several of these exotic looking tops of the garlic plant. You can buy them already cut or attached to the fresh green garlic bulb which I also adore to use in cooking. It is milder and has a lovely texture. Later on in August they sell them as what I call garlic pearls when the little seeds inside grow into tiny buds that if planted would form new garlic bulbs. They are a nuisance to peel but worth it for their lovely crisp texture and little bursts of flavor. I sometimes poach them for a minute or so in boiling water to make the skins easier to remove and then add them to pasta and pesto or ratatouille.
The fresh scapes are great sautéed lightly in a little olive oil or even steamed just until the stems are tender--about 5 minutes (insert a thin metal or wooden skewer to judge this).
Until I'm ready to cook the scapes I put them in a vase as table decoration.
Jul 10, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Announcements
What luck that my beloved friend and colleague Lisa Yockelson (of Chocolate Chocolate, Baking by Flavor, and many other wonderful books) happened upon this review and informed me that it was on the PW site.
Could I ask for better affirmation of what I hoped to accomplish?! Here it is for you to decide:
Rose's Heavenly Cakes Rose Levy Beranbaum. Wiley, $39.95 (512p) ISBN 978-0-471-78173-8
Beranbaum, specialist of baked goods that make people's eyes light up, tops her renowned The Cake Bible with an updated, modern collection of delicious confections. Bakers who have already dog-eared every page of that earlier book need not worry: this is far from a duplicate, with only the occasional repeat or adaptation. The recipes range from towering creations for weddings and other special events to baby cakes for bite-size indulgence, and from the simplest apple upside-down cake and yellow butter cupcakes to the elegant rose-shaped genoise and the stunning holiday pinecone cake. Beranbaum goes into great detail in her recipe instructions, yet still manages to keep the lengthy guidelines friendly, accessible and unintimidating, whether she is describing how to make a whipped ganache topping or beurre noisette, an integral part of her delicate array of financiers. Chocolate, fruit, cream, spun sugar: Beranbaum enlists the best ingredients (which she reviews in a helpful glossary) to create knockout cakes, and with her patient, meticulous description of the measurements and process, anyone with a good mixer and spatula, some time and determination will be able to turn out impressive sweet sensations. (Sept.)
About a month before my trip to Paris, my friend Marko Gnann, who gives where to eat advice I always take, recommended the Sunday brunch at Le Crillon. He described the amazing buffet, the excellent price, and promised it would be the only meal we would eat for the rest of the day. He was right about all three except that we almost didn’t find out because when Zach called a month ahead he was told that there were no reservations to be had and that it had been filled a whole month before then!
Since Zach was arriving in Paris several days before my arrival I suggested that he go in person and explain how my bloggers all over the world would love to share this experience. They most graciously made a place for us without his having had to get down on his knees and beg which would have been worth it but I’m not sure he would have been willing to go that far!
I had never been to Le Crillon before and it was like stepping into a fairy tale palace. Despite the formality, one was immediately put at ease by the professional but friendly staff.
I thought I had reached my final posting of book production with Phase 17 but lo and behold it was not over! Yesterday I received a great surprise: the “folded pages”!
I’ve written eight books before and never received the unbound book pages so this was totally unexpected. These pages come from the printer and are exactly what is in the book minus the end papers, box (the hard cover) and book jacket.
I am stunned by the beauty of this production. Tears come to my eyes as I page through the book and remember all the hard work and decisions made by so many people of the team that created it. They have done it proud.
I can just imagine what it will be like for all of you to turn each page—surprise after surprise. I remember feeling this way with other’s books for example Maida Heatter’s (putting sticky notes on all the many things I HAD to try, and I’ll never forget experiencing this with Lisa Yockelson’s Chocolate Chocolate as our editor Pam Chirls was visiting me the day before Lisa (who lives in D.C.) received her book and brought me a copy. I called Lisa and described everything I could about the beauty of her book production. Getting to present her with the best book in the baking category at IACP was a moment we both will always remember. (Neither of us knew beforehand.)
So now that I’ve seen the actual pages of Heavenly Cakes I can be a lot more patient until September.
Book production editor, Ava Wilder, is going to have the last word on this, the very last book production posting. Her eloquent words speak for themselves but I can't resist adding that she is an extraordinary person, professional, and writer in her own right (as you will see); and I think it is important for everyone, but especially for all book writers present and future, to hear her views on book production.
The first paragraph are the words of praise that were music to my ears but which I was planning to keep private until Ava encouraged me to share them. The second paragraph is what she wrote specifically for all of you.
This chocolate cake, dedicated to tenor Placido Domingo, will probably always be my favorite chocolate layer cake. I framed the telegram he sent me saying: After tasting your cake, I am proud to have it named the Chocolate Domingo. Bravo! Placido Domingo
The White Velvet Cake (dedicated to no one in particular) continues to be one of the most popular cakes for weddings and special celebrations. THE RECIPES
This is one of my (and Elliott's) favorite desserts of all time but this year, the New Jersey blueberries are the most flavorful they've been since my childhood which reminded me to make the tart.
It's really quite simple: flaky pie crust or flaky cream cheese pie crust, lemon curd, and uncooked blueberry topping but it does take a while to make all three comonents though all but the topping can be made ahead.
Jul 16, 2009 | From the kitchen of Rose
in Announcements
i'll be celebrating my dad's 95th for the next 10 days and rarely will be on the computer as once a year i like to give him my undivided attention. will be back at your full disposal july 27. and the usual postings will be wednesday and saturday.
Kate and Oliver Coldrick Cooking Together in Devon
It all began with flour--Kate Flour. Kate Coldrick of Devon, England started posting the results of her research and experiments (that are on her blog amerrierworld.wordpress.com and on this one as well). She found a way to heat treat unbleached flour so that it would perform more like the bleached flour available in the US. As we began to correspond and get to know each other we were determined that one-day we should meet. Since Kate has three children now under the age of 7 but at the time under the age of 5, she suggested that I come to Devon. Never having been there but having been intrigued by the renowned clotted cream, and visions of green rolling hills, I responded that ‘some day’ I would love to come and meet some of the other UK bloggers as well. I didn’t realize that someday would come so soon.
Rarely in life does every thing one plans plus more happen just the way one hoped. It did this time. Zach Townsend (see prior posting) was planning a stage at La Petite Rose in Paris (and we had planned to meet ‘someday’ in Paris. Kate’s mother-in-law’s one-week time-share in a chateau in Normandy was three days later. So we started planning. We each had an ambitious list of what we wanted to bake/cook/see/ and do. There were many e-mails with maps and phone numbers and backup plans and change of plans.
In the end, it worked out just perfectly. Kate and family decided to join us in Paris for three days and rented an apartment fairly near mine. Then Zach continued his visit at La Petite Rose and the five Coldricks and I piled into one car and drove to Normandy for five glorious days of touring and cooking.
We took the Ferry across the English Channel and drove to Devon where we spent almost a week cooking, baking and seeing all the special places that Kate had described over the past two years.
The memories of this trip will last a lifetime so it is difficult to do them full justice without sharing several of the huge number of photos Kate and I took. I’ve divided them into six separate postings and, for a change, will let the photos do most of the talking. Part 1 will post next Saturday. Here is the breakdown:
Normandy part 1: meet the family and life at the Château.
Normandy part 2: visit to the market at Sainte Mère Église, and what we cooked as a result.
Normandy part 3: visiting the Utah D-Day beaches and museum and the famous Tapestry of Bayeux that depicts in stunning detail the battle of Hastings from 1066.
Devon part 1: myriad special places and experiences including bell ringing at the town church on Sunday, climbing the Dartmoor Tors, and meeting fellow UK bloggers Jeanette and Melinda at Dart’s Farm.
Devon part 2: cooking with Kate and Oliver and finally
Devon part 3: baking with Kate and what we learned from the experience!
This is, quite possibly--no! probably, the creamiest cheesecake ever. A substantial amount of sourcream gives it a wonderfully mellow tang and topping it with lemon curd is my favorite way to eat it. Another terrific way to enjoy lemon curd and/or lemon curd lightened with whipped cream is in a gossamer golden cake roll also on this segment.
This is the last segment of my PBS series. There will be two more PBS appearances and then in mid August stay tune for the upcoming DVD, produced by General Mills/Gold Medal Flour to demonstrate more special tips and techniques from the new book Rose's Heavenly Cakes.They will start to air on YouTube with a link from the blog, thanks to the dedication of Hector Wong, who will also make them available in hard copy if there is an adequate demand. They will also be available on the John Wiley site in a higher resolution than on YouTube. THE RECIPES
For purposes of privacy, I will refer to the three kids by their first initials.
This is 2 year old T and this is his typical expression which gave me great joy every morning when I first saw him. He is a delightfully joyful little boy and the highlight of my trip came toward the end when he reached over from his mother's arms to kiss me goodnight and the day he called me Mum!
M just turned 4 but looks more like 6 or 7. She also looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth! I loved when she invited me to sit next to her on the couch after 8 days!
L: you wil see more of her later but this is how I think of her as she cartwheeled her way through Paris, Normandy, and back home in Devon. I was so touched when she invited me into the living room to hear her play the cello.
This is the last day of my vacation with my now 95 year old dad. He has gained 8 pounds and I have lost 5. There have been breads, and cakes, and cherry pie, and roasts (prime ribs and duck)...photos to come at a later time. I have learned that cooking and baking burn a lot more calories than blogging! But I had to turn on the computer just to share this terrific surprise experience: The Book arrived!
It was "born" on my Dad's birthday, July 23, as it arrived at the publishers (Wiley) two weeks early, and was sent overnight to me in Hope where it arrived on July 24. I have gone through it page by page at least 4 times and have taken it from room to room so it is always there to gaze at and stroke as I pass it by. (I love feeling the raised spot lamination of the title.) Of course I even took it to bed to look at one more time before placing it on the night stand on top of The Cake Bible.
As an amusing aside, when my friend Randy Johnson came to visit with his wife Cathy a few years ago, he looked at the lineup of my then 8 books on the kitchen shelf and said: "a foot of books"! to which I responded: "quite a feat"!
My Dad, whose vision sadly is quite poor, also leafed through the entire book and had major compliments for Ben Fink, the photographer. My Dad was a big time amateur photographer, even developing his own photos. When he returns to upstate NY he will be receiving a magnifier from the VA. When his copy of the book arrives he'll be able to see the photos much better!
The book is so exquisitely beautiful, so true to my vision of what I had hoped for it to be, that it takes my breath away, defying adequate description. Everyone at Wiley is astonished by its beauty and my dear editor Pam Chirls sent the loveliest e-card which I shall always treasure.
This really is my last production posting as the book doesn't get more produced than this! Soon you'll be able to hold the book in your hards and see for yourself. I so look forward to your feedback. Meantime, I'll be sure to bring this advance copy to the Epicurean Event in Michigan end of August for anyone who is coming and would like a preview. If another miracle of earlier than expected shipment occurs, we may even have some copies for sale at the event.
Be sure to check out Marie Wolf's blog http://www.heavenlycakeplace.blogspot.comfor more sneak previews of the cakes she is baking from the book and next Saturday Hector's wedding cake from the wedding cake chapter will be posted on this blog.
What a blessing to have a show devoted to this rare technique! You won't believe how a ball of dough the size of a small fist can be stretched to translucent thinness and the size of a coffee table. Amy Coleman, who was host of the show Home Cooking, produced by Marjorie Poore, had become a good friend after several appearances on her show and it shows! we had a ball together (and not just a ball of dough!)
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