National Historical Baking Society

[Ed Note: The cake referenced in this post, The Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake, is from our third cookbook, Baked Elements. It's a pretty cool book if I do say so myself.] While pursuing my undergraduate degree at university, I spent a semester studying abroad in Paris.  From mid-January to June, the end of my [...]

If you want to view a market trend in real-life and in real-time, I might suggest you park yourself at a Whole Foods (particularly one in NYC) Greek yogurt aisle. It is a supply/demand cartoon come to life. The yogurt shelves are almost always in constant disarray – as if there was a daily “Black [...]

[Ed Note: Many months ago, when I was still dreaming up ideas for our third book, Baked Elements, I became obsessed with the idea of making a perfect Pumpkin Kugel (whatever that embodies). A recipe was written, tweaked, and deployed...but it never made the cut. Renato was less than enthused (would someone please make Renato [...]

In some ways, we (Renato/myself) are typical (er, stereotypical) New Yorkers. We have both lived in the city (specifically, Brooklyn) a very long time and it would be untrue if I said the daily influences and environs did not affect us. I mention this because when the Beekman Boys were kind enough to invite us [...]

If you unleash me in a vast football-field sized supermarket (the kind you find in prosperous suburbia) between the hours of 11PM and 2AM (post-dinner, post-wine), I will most likely gravitate towards some of my trashy supermarket obsessions. I probably won’t buy them. But I might pick up two boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese [...]

Seeing that it’s now mid-February I’m assuming your no-carb diet aspirations of January have started to mellow.   And why shouldn’t they?  You’ve been strict for long enough and really, how bad is a piece or two of toast?  Especially if it’s homemade! Ahh, making bread is so therapeutic and the result is so so delicious.  [...]

My dear egg, I don’t know what it is about you.  I love you.  Yes, I think I do. Without you, I wouldn’t and couldn’t be what I am today.  What’s a pastry cook without her eggs?  She’s nothing.  A nobody.  Zilch. In most recipes I can replace flour, I can vary sweeteners, and substitute [...]

Good news folks: The Baked Kitchen Staff (thank you Molly and Veronika) and our wunderkind manager (thanks Jordan) are on a mission to bring a whole lot more love to your life.  They have been working tirelessly on a big box of magic cookies (and a lovely marshmallow of course) that is sure to make [...]

My personal cake making timeline is a filled with all sorts of peaks and bumps and long stretches of dry desert ultimately (usually, hopefully) followed by rolling green hills and lush valleys. Boxes of cake mix (and yes, even canned “frosting”) dominated my high school years. Mom and I became unusually adept at doctoring the [...]

There is, at once, a lot to say and not very much to say about Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She is the rare bird that leapt from reality TV stardom (via Survivor: The Australian Outback) to hold a permanent position on morning television. I could tell you how she is the conservative counterpoint to the rest of [...]