Mouthing Off

In our December issue, baker Matt Lewis, co-owner of Brooklyn’s amazing Baked, talks about his Bundt cake obsession, and why the dessert is an excellent fit for the holidays. Bundts are versatile, essentially self-decorating (they require little adornment other than a dusting of confectioners’ sugar) and much easier to transport than frosting-covered cakes. They are also incredibly forgiving, something we learned in the F&W Test Kitchen while trying to troubleshoot a cake recipe for a different story. When we attempted to bake a Bundt recipe using loaf pans, the results—while delicious—had sunken tops that were just too sad-looking to serve.

But why would the different shape affect the final result? For guidance, we turned to Shirley O. Corriher’s indispensible and brilliant baking reference, BakeWise. Corriher writes, “With cakes, many times an overleavened recipe is baked in a Bundt or tube pan.… It doesn’t matter if the top of the [cake] in a Bundt or tube pan is slightly sunken, you’re going to turn it upside down. No one will ever know!”

Of course: Cakes baked in Bundt pans are served bottom-up, with the decorative molding from the pan on display. In our case, the recipe in question had too much baking soda, causing the cake to rise too quickly in the hot oven and then deflate as the fast-rising bubbles popped. We corrected the leavening to produce lovely little loaf cakes, but we also gained some admiration for the humble Bundt: From now on it’s our go-to pan for any delicious-but-cosmetically-challenged cake recipes.

Related: The Beauty of Bundt Cakes
Best Cake Recipes
Gorgeous Christmas Desserts

F&W’s Seton Rossini applies her graphic design talents to the gorgeous dessert blog Pixel Whisk. Some of her entertaining showstoppers include cupcakes that so closely resemble adorable potted succulent plants that recipients might be tempted to water them, and DIY cake stands made from vintage plates and goblets. Here, she explains how to create clever edible gift tags using a delicious Food & Wine sugar cookie recipe flecked with lemon zest. As Seton says "These tasty Christmas cookies can double as gift tags, place settings or even ornaments! (Just keep your dogs and toddlers away from the tree or your ornaments will go missing.)"

To see how to transform cookies in just a few steps click through the slideshow

Related: Beautiful Gifts to Make or Buy
Gift Picks from Star Chefs
Holiday Inspiration Served Daily

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

The funny thing about crêpes is that I always forget just how easy they are to make until I have to test or develop a recipe for them. Then, I remind myself to make them more often (which I never do). I have started tearing out, bookmarking and flagging old recipes that I’ve either developed or tested and loved and have forgotten about. (I may have to try get a Pinterest account.)

It’s hard to remember what happened last week, let alone in 2001 (unless, of course, you’re Tina Ujlaki, whose memory is positively elephant-like), so forcing myself to look back has been supercomforting. There are dozens and dozens of recipes that I’d always wanted to make again, but then I had to move on to the next thing and poof, they disappeared. I’m going to try this chocolate and dulce de leche torte again—I know my kids will go crazy for it. SEE RECIPE »

Related: More Beautiful Desserts
Mexican Desserts
F&W's Ultimate Holiday Guide

At Chicago’s Hoosier Mama Pie Company, former Trio pastry chef Paula Haney and her team make up to 600 pies a week, kneading dough nonstop for as much as an hour per day, and burning through literally a ton of flour in as little as eight weeks. But practice does make perfect, as Haney’s pies—like her Cherry-Berry Pie—come out superbly flaky and intensely flavorful. Here, Haney tips off home bakers to the many mistakes that can get in the way of pie perfection. 10 pitfalls to avoid when baking pie. »

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

Strawberries and cream is such a trite, hackneyed combination, but one I will unapologetically never grow tired of. It just needs a little help from some well-conceived ingredients. Here, I've made a quick syrup of mild honey, fresh lime juice and a hint of cardamom, brought it to a boil and poured it over sliced strawberries. Thirty minutes later, cooled and juicy, the compote is poured over tart lemon sorbet and topped with honey-spiked whipped cream. A little bit of lime zest makes this refreshing, quick dessert even brighter. SEE RECIPE »

Related: More Fantastic Strawberry Recipes
F&W's Ultimate Summer Fruit Recipes
Healthy Fruit Desserts

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

After years of struggling with soggy fruit crumbles, I stumbled upon a clever method while testing a chef's recipe (huh, imagine that?). Cook the filling and crumble separately, and then bake them together for a few minutes to marry the flavors. Ta-da! The fruit is tender and jammy, and the crumble is crisp and perky. It's completely equal to the sum of its delicious and perfectly cooked parts! SEE RECIPE »

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

How can anyone not love ice cream sundaes? And the same goes for German chocolate cake. It just "goggles the mind" as a friend of mine says. For those who fall into the above category, skip ahead to tomorrow's post about tofu and millet. But for those of you who do love cake and ice cream, I urge you to try this deconstructed German chocolate cake sundae. A good sundae has three crucial components: ice cream, a gooey sauce and a crunchy topping. This one has coconut ice cream, a pecan-coconut caramel sauce (like the classic cake filling) and crumbled chocolate wafers. Feel free to try different ice creams and nuts—it's a template waiting to be played with. SEE RECIPE »

Related: More Delicious Ice Cream Sundaes
Chilled Chocolate Desserts
Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S.

Food & Wine's senior recipe developer, Grace Parisi, is a Test Kitchen superstar. In this series, she shares some of her favorite recipes to make right now.

When it's hot, it's just too easy to polish off a pint of ice cream. Several thousand calories later, it's no wonder why I'm spilling out of my bathing suit. Here are three reasons why these popsicles are better for you than Häagen-Dazs. One, immediate portion control—it's a single pop; two, they're only about 100 calories, way less than half a serving of ice cream; and three, since buttermilk is very low in fat, each pop has less than 1/2 gram of it. SEE RECIPE »

Related: More Frozen Desserts
Fruit Desserts
Best Popsicles in the U.S.

The best stone fruits arrive in the summer, and although it’s not quite time to take out the swimsuits, our Test Kitchen is fully immersed in developing recipes that will honor the bounty of the warmer months.

Read more about this week's sweet Test Kitchen Tease >

Last week, the confectionery geniuses at New York City’s Magnolia Bakery started offering their Sex and the City–approved cupcakes for national delivery. The company spent nearly two years testing out packaging before adding cupcakes to its lineup of cookies, brownies and bars already available online. (The cupcakes had a tendency to become less than pristine during the shipment process.)

 “I think my mother’s sick of me sending her cupcakes,” says Magnolia Bakery president Bobbie Lloyd. That’s not to say Lloyd will ever tire of America’s enduring dessert obsession. She served cupcakes at her wedding long before they became trendy. While Magnolia’s cupcakes can arrive literally overnight, Lloyd is happy to encourage baking at home. Here, she shares six mistakes that home bakers make when trying to create the perfect cupcake.

1. Skimming the recipe. Thoroughly reading the full recipe before getting started will help you avoid unwanted surprises midway through. Even as a professional baker, Lloyd admits to skipping this step: “There have been times where I’ve run out of vanilla extract, or sometimes my brown sugar will be as hard as a rock because I haven’t baked in a while.”

2. Using warm butter. Cupcake recipes often call for room-temperature butter, but what is room temperature? “For all intents and purposes, it should be 70 degrees,” says Lloyd, “but most people's home kitchens are too warm.” This is a problem if you want to make cupcakes from scratch, since butter is the leavening in those recipes. “When the butter is warmer than it needs to be,” she says, “you can’t whip it into the ingredients long enough, meaning the end result doesn’t come out as it should.” Her quick tip: If you take butter straight out of the fridge, then put it in the microwave on defrost for 10 seconds, it should reach the correct texture.

3. Forgetting to check the oven temperature. “Most home cooks never think to check this,” says Lloyd. It’s especially important when you’re working in a new or unfamiliar kitchen. “The first time I tried baking something in my new apartment, I burned a cupcake recipe I’ve been making for years. I went out and bought a thermometer, and guess what? The oven temperature was actually 75 degrees hotter than what I’d set it to!”

4. Substituting ingredients. Be careful how you alter a recipe. “A friend of mine once added cake mix instead of cake flour to a mixture of flour and baking soda, and her cupcakes ended up exploding in the oven!” says Lloyd. 

5. Watching TV instead of your cupcakes. It’s extremely easy to overbake cupcakes, so don’t lose track of the time. “If the recipe says 25 minutes,” says Lloyd, “go and test them in 20.” If the tester comes out clean at that point, go ahead and take them out to cool, since they’ll continue to bake for a few minutes outside of the oven.

6. Letting your cupcakes cool completely in the pan. After taking your cupcakes out of the oven, Lloyd suggests removing them from the pan after about 10 or 15 minutes. “The cupcakes will absorb too much moisture if you leave them in any longer,” she says. And soggy cupcake paper is never pretty.

Related: F&W's Best Cupcake Recipes
Beautiful Desserts
How to Make Layer Cakes
Best Pie Spots in the U.S.