National Historical Baking Society

I am having a moment with Black Cocoa powder. I am using it carelessly and I am using it often. I am abusing it with glee. And I am ignoring all of the hushed tones and stern caveats that accompany the use of Black Cocoa powder (see the Debbie Downer precautions below), because they all [...]

My love for Bundt cakes is well known and well documented. And Renato and I obviously have a thing for peppermint as evidenced below: [btw, we highly suggest you make these cookies if only because one ingredient is Andes mints and OMG...Andes mints...] So, it is perhaps not all that surprising that I was craving [...]

Oh, I did some unspeakable things to this cake. Horrible, horrible things. This Twinkie Cake (via the incredible Shauna Sever) was both my salvation and my undoing. It was the kind of cake that would wake me from a deep slumber at 2am and demand attention. It inspired several bouts of sleep eating – hastily [...]

We fell hard for Terrain. Real hard. Maybe it was the ubiquitous pumpkins, or the adorable cafe, or the terrarium delirium - but whatever it was, our first outing to the original store near Philly induced shopping blackout (i.e. we woke up the following morning covered in Terrain shopping bags and hazy half-remembered memories). image courtesy Terrain [...]

  I have never been fond of cake — most likely because I had one too many birthday party/birthday cake-induced sugar tummy aches at a young age.  The root of the problem, I believe, is that these celebratory cakes that I ate were rarely homemade.  As opposed to being moist, fresh, well-balanced cakes,  they were [...]

I’m guilty. I sing, I sing a lot, and I sing in public. Often. I let loose in the shower, on my walk to the subway, and always (ALWAYS) while I cook and bake.  Music is a constant in my kitchen. Always has been. And most of the time it was Patti LaBelle-centric. I have [...]

[Ed Note: As mentioned before, our fearless blogger - Diana - is making and photographing all of the un-photographed recipes in our third cookbook, Baked Elements, so you can see what they look like. And you should absolutely make this cake. Often.] Sugar is fussy stuff.  I am no confectioner — nor do I ever [...]

I found a cure for hoarding: move into a new apartment every few years. Better yet, move into progressively smaller apartments and don’t spend too much time planning for the move. That’s exactly what I did (two moves since 2010) and I can assure you, it is the fastest and easiest way to destroy your [...]

I’d like to introduce you to a few people.  Actually, I’d like to introduce you to a lot of people, but first I should probably explain to you exactly what the hell is going on. First, though it is not Renato’s birthday, we made him a birthday cake (above) because we like Renato, but love [...]