Tiramisu cupcakes

The Martha Stewart team sent out the recipe for these tiramisu cupcakes in the days leading up to the launch of their "Cupcakes" book and also featured this recipe on the flagship show during Martha Stewart's "Cupcake Week."
Homemade tiramisu, lady finger biscuits topped in espresso, topped with a whipped mixture of mascarpone, egg yolks, and sugar, and topped with cocoa, is a light, airy confection that should fall apart in your mouth with every bite.
I had high hopes for this recipe, especially after the chocolate-spice cupcakes I made from the same book, but it fell flat.

Chocolate-spice cupcakes

These spiced cupcakes are an adult version of a childhood treat.
The cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger elevate the simple taste of the familiar flavours of a a chocolate cupcake into something much more sophisticated and complex.

Children may wrinkle their nose at the addition of the candied ginger but adults will let it linger on their tongue.

This recipe is the first one I attempted from "Martha Stewart's Cupcakes," a book I purchased within days of its release, and I can already say it was worth every penny.

Pear and chocolate cake-tart

I came across this recipe in food blogger extraordinaire Clotilde Dusoulier's book "Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris."
Dusoulier, the blogger behind Chocolate & Zucchini, a delectable compendium of recipes and anecdotes has never steered me wrong before.
Be it the chocolate-dipped hazelnut marbles; tarte tomate a la tatin or pistachio and chorizo cake; or the mini-financiers au miel, I often refer to this French foodie's cookbook for some inspiration.

So when I saw her recipe for this cake-tart hybrid, I was smitten. I love poached pears, and I love deep, dark chocolate, and a marriage between the two seemed like fate.

If you can't find Dusoulier's book at your local library or bookstore, you can find the recipe for this tarte-gateau here on the MSNBC website.

Substitutions:

I didn't make any.

Would I make this again?

Indeed I would, but for the right crowd. If your guests don't have a sweet tooth or delight in the rich, gooey texture of a molten chocolate cake or bread pudding, then this is not for them.

Next time, however, I will poach the pears for longer, and I will also cut them into more narrow pieces to ensure they are completely submerged under the liquid when it is simmering to avoid any inconsistencies in texture.

I felt a bit as though the presentation of this tarte was drab, and that it needed a bit more colour, perhaps.

I'm not sure yet how I could improve it's appearance but I am open to suggestions!

Grade:

Four stars out of five. The crust was light in texture and the dense chocolate filling was not overly sweet. This is one of those cakes, pardon me, cake-tarts that will sate your sweet tooth after just one slice. Serve it with a strong, bitter espresso or port to bring out the right notes.

Still, I wasn't so impressed by its appearance as I mentioned above. The fact that it is not a typical chocolate ganache -- and that the surface is mottled in texture -- subtracted marks from what could have been five stars out of five.

My birthday cake

My birthday cake this year was from Rahier Patisserie in Toronto's Leaside community, my favourite neighbourhood in the city.
Not only does Rahier (pronounced Ra-yeh, the H is silent) produce the city's best croissants in my opinion, but they also gave me my start in journalism.
I wrote a feature about this pastry shop during university when Belgian-born owners Sonia and Francois Rahier gave me access to the shop and also the kitchen where the magic happens. I pitched the piece to the Toronto Star and it was published in the Food section, my first freelance piece. From there I kept freelancing for the Food section, then the Life section until I got my own column and ended up working at the Globe and Mail. The rest is history but I will always feel like I owe Rahier for my first break.
This cake is called Balzac, it is a caramel mousse with cognac-sauteed pears and cognac-soaked sponge cake.
Divine.

Picture-perfect palmiers

Palmiers are elegant, delicious and surprisingly easy to make. Named in French for their resemblance to palm fronds, they are also known as elephant ears or butterfly wings. I made classic palmiers, and also cinnamon-flavoured ones, from one box of puff pastry.

I used the recipe from "The Art and Soul of Baking" for the first of three batches, but when I pulled the palmiers from the oven, they were too pale in colour, too thick and the flavour of the caramelized sugar had not infused the cookies. I was partly to blame of course as I hadn't quite figured out the timing of the oven yet and I was overly afraid to burn these.

So I adapted the recipe using the picture-by-picture instructions from Joy the Baker's baking blog for the next two batches. Sure enough, while the first batch was too pale and thick, the second was too dark and burnt, and the third was just right. Below you will find a simplified version of how to make palmiers based on my own error and trial. I hope your palmiers will turn out just right, too.

Makes about four dozen palmiers.

Ingredients:
One box puff pastry (two rolls inside)
2 cups sugar
Spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, ground cardamom should you wish to spice up your palmiers

Directions:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and place the oven rack in the centre.

Using about half a cup of sugar, dust your work surface. Place one roll of puff pastry atop the sugar. Make sure it is thawed, but cool to the touch.

Roll out the puff pastry until it is about 12 by 10 inches. Sprinkle more sugar all over the surface, until it is covered. When I made the cinnamon palmiers, this was the point at which I sprinkled the cinnamon atop the sugar.
Using a sharp knife, carefully mark a line dividing the dough in half vertically. Make sure you do not actually cut through the line.

Starting at one end, begin rolling from the outside toward the centre seam. Make it as tight as you possibly can. Now do the other side. Gently press the two sides together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour to an hour, until the roll is cold and firm.

Remove the cylinder from the fridge (one at a time, so that the other cylinder does not thaw while you are preparing your first batch) and then cut 1/4-inch thick slices from the chilled cylinder. Dip each side in the leftover sugar, being careful not to let the slices unravel, and place them two inches apart on a lined baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Do NOT pull them out before you see the edges browning. Using a spatula (or your fingers, like I did), turn them over and return the sheet back to the oven, baking another 9 to 12 minutes, until they are a beautiful caramelized golden brown. Keep a close eye on the palmiers as they can burn easily.

Now repeat with the other roll from the puff pastry box.

Substitutions:
I can say that I took tips and ideas from several palmiers recipes until I came up with one that worked for my oven and my tastebuds. The key thing is that this recipe is so easy that you should feel free to experiment. I used cinnamon, but you can also make savoury palmiers with Parmesan cheese and smoked paprika, or fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil, or how about using vanilla sugar rather than regular granulated sugar?

Would I make this again?
I shouldn't be admitting this, but every time I passed the plate of cookies, I ate one. They are that addictive. If you prefer to make a smaller batch of cookies in one go, you can also freeze the dough, double-wrap it and place in a freezer bag for up to six weeks. Before using the frozen dough, thaw it on the counter for about 15 minutes until it is still cold but soft enough to slice safely.

Grade:
Eighteen stars out of five. No, really. I loved these buttery, flaky cookies and will make them a staple at my house. And at about $4-5 for ingredients that yielded more than four dozen delightfully delicious cookies, there is nothing to complain about.

Spinach-feta turnovers

If you've eaten these at Greek bakeries, you know them as spanakopita. In Armenian, we call them beoregs, in Bulgarian banitza.
Needless to say I have had several variations on the theme and some of the best spinach pies I've eaten have been my mom's or those still piping hot from vendors in Bulgaria, where the local sirene (known as feta to the rest of the world) is to die for.
Most of the Armenian moms and grandmoms you'll speak to have their own recipe and will defend it to the death.
So when I saw a recipe for these ones in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, I was hesitant. How could Martha Stewart improve on a recipe honed and perfected by centuries of women?
She did it again. The end result was amazing. My husband told me they are the best he's ever eaten, and his mom is a fabulous cook.

Adapted ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 boxes (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (the recipe calls for four, but I used two and still had a lot of leftover filling)
2 cups crumbled feta
2 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and ground pepper
1 large egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons of water for egg wash
All-purpose flour for work surface
1 box of frozen puff pastry (17.3 ounces), thawed but still cold

Adapted directions:
Heat oil over medium, add onions and garlic. Stir occasionally until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer to a large bowl and add the spinach, feta, lemon juice and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper - don't forget to taste - and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in upper and lower thirds. Roll out each portion of dough, still folded in thirds, on a lightly floured work surface, into a 12-inch square. Some puff pastries are already rolled out into this square. Cut each into quarters to form total of 8 equal squares.

Dividing the filling evenly, spoon it into the centre of each square. Brush the two adjoining edges of each square with some egg wash. Fold edges over filling to form a triangle. Press firmly to seal and then using a floured fork, crimp the edges.

Transfer them to two baking sheets, brush the tops with the egg wash and bake until golden and puffy. The recipe says 35-40 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. However, when I have made a smaller batch, it has taken me as little as 20 minutes. Best to keep an eye on the oven.

To freeze the unbaked turnovers, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place the turnovers on top and put them in the freezer until frozen. Once they are hard, wrap them individually in plastic wrap or store them in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer for up to two months.

Substitutions:
I played around with the seasonings as per my taste, adding more cayenne and black pepper than most people may prefer.

Would I make this again?
I plan to as soon as this weekend to freeze them for when the baby arrives and the last thing I want to do is make food. The first couple of times I made these I made extra and froze them, and they were just as tasty as when baked fresh.

Grade:
Five stars out of five. These buttery spinach-feta turnovers have just the right tang and bite with the lemon juice and cayenne pepper. And after decades of eating beoregs and spanakopita, I know my spinach pies and these are divine.

Glittering lemon sandwich cookies

Never judge a book by its cover, right? Wrong. Of course I do, and I am a voracious reader at that. So it's without any qualms whatsoever that I admit I made these cookies purely for shallow reasons. They look pretty and I wanted to see if I could replicate this recipe from Gourmet magazine.

I even read the reviews from readers who warned the taste of cornstarch might be too strong. (I don't think I've ever seen a cookie recipe calling for 2/3 cup of cornstarch.) But I wanted to make them anyway.

So how'd they turn out? I made these for my sister's graduation party and some of the adults were put off by the amount of sugar coating these cookies even before they took a bite. But my husband couldn't get enough, and asked me to save some to have with his morning espresso.

His review? He sent me an email telling me "That cookie with an espresso is truly orgasmic." His employee had one, too, and remarked that the cookie made him happy going down his throat.

Substitutions:
I added a few drops of lemon oil to the dough and also to the icing in the hopes that the extra lemon flavour would mask the cornstarch, which indeed was quite strong when I tasted the dough. I also did not use a pastry bag to pipe the icing onto the cookie halves, I just used a small spreader. I find it more convenient to do so, but you may find otherwise.

Would I make this again?
Certainly, these cookies were stunning and make a beautiful addition to a sweet table, perhaps for a baby or bridal shower, or even using red and green sanding sugars during the holidays. They were a bit time consuming, but that was to be expected. Truth be told, it was greatly amusing to dunk the balls of dough into the different coloured sanding sugars -- took me back to kindergarten or something.

Grade:
Five stars out of five. I am always on the lookout for beautiful cookies and this recipe fit the bill. This isn't a stand-alone dessert. You'll have to serve it alongside coffee, tea, or some other sort of cake. But it's sure to impress your guests. Be warned, the recipe says the yield is 50 sandwich cookies but I got 30 at a stretch, and I'm not sure I could have made them any smaller without burning them.

Inside-out German chocolate cake

This is the best cake I've ever made. Now, I'm not one to exaggerate just for the sake of a story. But how can you go wrong with a coconut-pecan-vanilla-caramel filling nestled between chocolate cake layers, and topped with ganache?

The truth is, there is plenty to go wrong with this cake. You must be precise with this recipe and give yourself lots of time or risk failure. But it's so delicious that you have to try anyway.

A true testament of this cake's immense appeal is the fact that I have made it several times even though it takes me a full four-and-a-half hours. That's right, four-and-a-half hours from start to finish.

In fact, now that I have this cake down to a science, I know to start some of the steps a day early, and I recommend that you do the same.
The first time I ever made this cake, I started at 8 p.m. and realized within minutes that I wouldn't be going to bed at my usual time that night.

That was my fault. And that's why I now read recipes from start to finish before I actually start to make something.

I first discovered this recipe when I searched for "chocolate and coconut and cake" in Epicurious.com via the Bridge Street Bakery in Vermont after Gourmet magazine used this cake to grace one of its covers in 2000.

You can find this recipe at either of the links above, or below for your own convenience. Don't say I didn't warn you -- this cake is not for the faint of heart. You need to be confident before embarking on this one.

Ingredients:

For cake layers
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup boiling-hot water

For filling
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
4 ounces coarsely chopped pecans (1 cup)
14-ounces can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

For glaze
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
10 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Special equipment: 3 (9-inch) round cake pans

Preparation:
Make cake layers:
Preheat oven to 350°F and oil cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with rounds of parchment or wax paper. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk together whole milk, butter, whole egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond extract in another large bowl until just combined. Beat egg mixture into flour mixture with an electric mixer on low speed, then beat on high speed 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in water until just combined (batter will be thin). Divide batter among cake pans (about 1 1/2 cups per pan) and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans and rotating them 180 degrees halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes total.

Cool layers in pans on racks 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove parchment or wax paper and cool layers completely.

Make filling:
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Spread coconut in a large shallow baking pan and pecans in another. Bake pecans in upper third of oven and coconut in lower third, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 18 minutes. Remove pans from oven.

Increase oven temperature to 425°F.

Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover tightly with foil. Bake milk in a water bath in middle of oven 45 minutes. Refill baking pan with water to reach halfway up pie plate and bake milk until thick and brown, about 45 minutes more. Remove pie plate from water bath.

Stir in coconut, pecans, and vanilla and keep warm, covered with foil.

Make glaze while milk is baking:
Melt butter in a 3-quart saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate and corn syrup, whisking until chocolate is melted. Transfer 1 cup glaze to a bowl, reserving remaining glaze at room temperature in pan. Chill glaze in bowl, stirring occasionally, until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Assemble cake:
Put 1 cake layer on a rack set over a baking pan (to catch excess glaze). Drop half of coconut filling by spoonfuls evenly over layer and gently spread with a wet spatula. Top with another cake layer and spread with remaining filling in same manner. Top with remaining cake layer and spread chilled glaze evenly over top and side of cake. Heat reserved glaze in pan over low heat, stirring, until glossy and pourable, about 1 minute. Pour glaze evenly over top of cake, making sure it coats sides. Shake rack gently to smooth glaze.

Chill cake until firm, about 1 hour. Transfer cake to a plate.

Cooks' notes:
Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
For easier handling when assembling cake, place bottom layer on a cardboard round or the removable bottom of a tart or cake pan.

Substitutions:
None, however the icing sugar and raspberries atop the cake were my idea. Other times I've used orchids, or sugar rosettes - depending on the occasion.

Would I make this again?
Yes, likely many more times. I've finally worked out a procedure that works for me. Make the cake layers the day before, and wrap them tightly before chilling. You can also toast the coconut and pecans the day before. This will cut down considerably on your prep time.

One thing I wish I had done was to use a large sharp knife -- after placing the cake layers on top of each other -- to even out the layers. This would prevent the ganache from rippling down the sides of the slightly uneven layers, I think. The great thing about this cake is that even if your ganache doesn't look picture perfect, you can camouflage any imperfections with fruit, or icing sugar, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Grade:
Five stars out of five. Yes, it is time-consuming. Yes, the ingredient list is long, and can get expensive too. But the cake is moist and delicate, the filling is rich and indulgent, the ganache topping is silky smooth and decadent, and it is a striking cake to pull out at coffee time. And it even tastes great the next day.