West Coast Book Events Voyage: Part 2
Jun 05, 2010 | From the kitchen of Rose
Bake Napa Valley
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Bake Napa is a spin off group from Baker's Dozen organized by Annie Baker (yes that's really her name) for those who live in the Napa area. The meeting is hosted by Susie and Ken Pope at their magnificent B & B Cedar Gables Inn. The concept of this group of bakers, both professional and avocational, is to bake from the the guest author's book and to be as true as possible to the recipe.
Sharon Beck made a fun video of the event .
All the participants did an excellent job and here is a sampling of the photos that Woody took that came out the best:
Cedar Gables Inn
Annie Baker, Rose, Woody, & Susie
Susie Pope's Grand Marnier Cake
Kevin Pope's Sicilian Pistachio Cake
Sharon Beck's Barcelona Brownie Bars
Jodi Konig's Saint Honoré Trifle
Debbie Yee Hene's Gâteau Breton
Gina Romano's Cradle Cake
The Bakers
Susie's Famous Donuts
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Antonia Cacace
06/11/2010 01:40 PM
Hi! I live in Italy and I am very passionate about baking!All these ones are really the most tempting treats I ever saw!!I would be very happy for receiving the donuts recipe!Unfortunately in Italy there is not anyone who can make a goodness like these!
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Laura in reply to comment from Rose Levy Beranbaum
06/07/2010 12:25 AM
Thanks for the reply, Rose. It must be the parchment...it's the only possible answer.
Laura
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Rose in reply to comment from Laura
06/06/2010 10:58 PM
laura, in france they place parchment under ramekins set in water baths to make the baking more even so evidently parchment does have an effect on the baking. i almost always use it for layer cakes where it hasn't been noticeable but your experience is proof that in some recipes it will make a difference!
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Julie
06/06/2010 02:34 PM
What a fabulous group! Those are all such wonderful renditions of RHC cakes- I especially love the chocolate leaves as a cake topper.
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Hector
06/06/2010 12:28 PM
So awesome and so much talent in Napa!
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Zach Townsend
06/05/2010 11:01 PM
Wow! What a great event and awesome looking results they had!
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Emilie
06/05/2010 07:45 PM
Great post! What a wonderful place to visit. Those doughnuts look absolutely divine. Does Susie share the recipe? Thanks!
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Laura
06/05/2010 06:46 PM
Hi Rose,
Hope all is well with you.
Wondering - can baking with parchment ever work against you? I recently made a batch of blondies in my nonstick 8 x 8 metal pan with great success. Although they did not stick to the pan at all, I did manage to scratch the nonstick surface just a bit. Not wanting to have that happen again, I lined the next batch with parchment. Following the same simple recipe and using the same ingredients I had a terrible result; despite extra time in the oven the middle did not set as well as it should have and the bars were super greasy. The parchment had a fair amount of grease on it as well. The blondies did not rise as they should, but pulled away from the sides and sunk in the middle. Thinking I must have made a mistake, I tried it all again, using parchment. Once again it was a huge fail, with the exact same results. I do use a high-quality parchment paper and have had terrific success with brownies and cookies, etc.
Any ideas? Here are the ingredients:
# 1/2 cup of butter, melted
# 1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
# 1 egg, lightly beaten
# 1 teaspoon of vanilla
# 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
# 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda
# Pinch of salt
# 1 cup of all-purpose flour
Many thanks! Naturally, I am tempted to try again without parchment, but I am not excited at the thought of wasting more ingredients. I've never had anything like this happen before; the only difference is the parchment.
Best,
Laura
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Sweet Springtime
Time for Burger Buns Again!