Category: equipment

Happy Blog-iversary Cake

Zoë François 123 Comments

This month I am celebrating so many things I felt it necessary to make myself a cake and have a party, with you! As you all know by now it is my blog-iversary, but it is also my birthday in a couple of weeks, the first anniversary of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (75,000 in print, oh my!), the election is FINALLY here and this just happens to be my 100th post! To say the least November is a BIG month for me!

The very talented and generous folks at Crooked Brook, where I get all of my chef jackets, sent me a wonderful apron (see picture below) to give away! Leave a comment and I’ll pick the winner next Sunday and send it off, just in time for Thanksgiving!

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Milk Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse Cake

Zoë François 24 Comments
Milk Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse Cake | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

Last week I made a Génoise, the classic ethereal cake that is the perfect base for so many desserts. It is a cake just begging to be flavored with a syrup. If left all alone it can be a bit on the dry side. In fact, it is also known as a sponge cake, because it soaks up the flavors you add and holds them perfectly. The trick is knowing how to add the flavors so the cake is moist but not soggy. I decided to go with a simple syrup flavored with cinnamon, I layered the whole thing with milk chocolate mousse, enrobed it in a cinnamon buttercream and covered it in rolled fondant for my much hyped blog-iversary cake. 😉 Here’s how I made the cake and all its layers.  Next I will decorate it, I promise!:

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Dark vs Light Sticky Buns

Zoë François 4 Comments

Last night Jeff and I taught a class based on Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day at Cooks of Crocus Hill. It was a tremendously fun evening, made all the more so by the curiosity of the people who came out to watch us bake a frenzy of breads. There were a number of great questions and one in particular that stumped me. I was baking the sticky pecan caramel rolls from the book. Because there were so many people in the class I had to bake them in two batches. One in a light cake pan, the other in a dark one. Other than the color of the pans the process and baking times were identical, in fact they sat side by side in the oven. When the time came to invert the sticky buns onto the serving platter we were shocked to see that they were entirely different colors. One was a very pale (I’d say insipid) caramel and the other was rich and deeply colored. I knew that it was because of the color of the pans, but when pressed by this curious crowd as to exactly WHY this happens I couldn’t answer. So I did a little investigating and this is what I found out… Read More