Carrot cake has a tendency to veer into maximalist territory. If you let it, it can become a multi-layer affair with not just shredded carrots, but pineapple and raisins and even shredded coconut. But this simple carrot loaf cake is not like that. It is carrot cake stripped down to its essentials. This minimalist carrot …
Dessert
When you’re stuck at home, there’s little that’s more soothing and rewarding than engaging in some stress baking. Baking is predictable. If you follow the instructions things turn out pretty well. There’s nothing scary about it. The stakes are low. No one will die if you screw this up. And, unless you have a major …
This chocolate orange olive oil cake is a winner. It’s a spin on a cake that appeared in chocolate-guru Alice Medrich’s book Bittersweet (still totally worthwhile for anyone serious about baking with chocolate). That version, which she called her tiger cake, was a marbled olive oil cake with chocolate and white pepper. And I made …
It’s tough to beat a classic brownie for sheer chocolate pleasure. At least as long as it is a fudgy brownie rather than a cakey one (and who are those mysterious people who prefer cakey brownies?) and is sufficiently bold with chocolate flavor. There are about eleventy-billion brownie recipes out there, many of them good-to-great …
I found myself with a craving for a gingerbread Bundt cake. I had never actually made one before, but I had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted it to be. It needed to be fierce with the spices with enough ginger that you could feel the heat. But the ginger had …
This peanut butter brittle is a delightful treat. It’s light and crisp, a bit like the inside of a Butterfinger. That lightness is the result of a dash of baking soda that introduces about a zillion air bubbles and transforms brittle into a delicate, crunchable candy. The peanut butter and absence of mix-ins make it …