FAIL.

This is what being stuck on the L train under the East River for 40 minutes with no AC and no lights in the middle of summer will do to a red velvet cake.

Thanks, MTA, for this megafail.

Sorry, Jeff!

Busy busy up here in Greenpoint these days. I've had an average of about two cakes per week for about 4 weeks straight now, and this week is no exception. Why is it that everyone wants cake when it's (literally) 100 degrees outside? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but Loretta is spending her days as far from my kitchen as possible lately.

I was recently given total creative freedom to invent a cake. Given the hot summer weather (which I love), I was inspired by the abundance of blueberries and peaches in the markets. Martha Stewart has a pretty decent peach cake recipe on her site, but it sounded a little boring. I decided to roast the peaches and make a mash to put in the batter. Dense, yes, but also hopefully delicious.





I would also like to point out that, as a Southerner who grew up eating Georgia peaches, these New Jersey peaches from the farmer's market were admittedly some of the best I've had since moving up here - sweet and juicy but not overly ripe. They lacked that extra megapunch of flavor that Georgia peaches have, but they were truly delicious, and they smelled amazing as they roasted.

I folded in a pint of blueberries and baked as usual.





The cake was, as I expected, dense and moist. But the peach flavor was not as pronounced as I wanted it to be. I wanted this cake to lay the peach smack down on your taste buds. I had some of the roasted peach mash left, so I pureed it with a bit of sugar and a pinch of salt and spread it over each layer of the cake. After cutting and tasting it, the peach syrup really helped out substantially. It still tasted a little flour-y, but the berries were sweet and tart and went well with the sweet peach. The frosting was a simple cream cheese.



I'd make this one again (while these fruits are in season), but I'd definitely rev up the peachiness, and I'd maybe dust the top with powdered sugar instead of glazing the berries with pectin.

Up later this week is a banana cake of some sort. Trying to think of something different to do with this one. Maybe a Bananas Foster cake? With a flaming shot of Bacardi 151 on top? We'll see.

Here's a cake I invented recently. It's got Key Lime curd in between the layers as a filling. The frosting is white chocolate. It's a pretty delicious cake - tart inside and sweet and creamy outside. Very delicious. I'm proud of this one!

The Times has a great article today about local food producers in Greenpoint. I read the entire thing from start to finish three times.


Check it out!

To do (on a frustratingly beautiful, sunny, warm afternoon):

Dip mallomars in chocolate
Make chocolate bacon lollipops
Bake cookies
Cut marshmallows
Package, package, package

My superhot friend Ryan will be manning my flea market table at the
Metropolitan Bar in Brooklyn tomorrow. Swing by and say hello! And buy
my stuff. And have a beer.

Whee!

Hey, if you're around Brooklyn this Saturday, stop by the Metropolitan's first ever flea market! I won't be there (gotta work), but my sweets will. There will be lots of cool stuff for sale and drinks will be cheap. I'm definitely making salted caramels, and I'm also thinking chocolate cheesecake lollipops, maybe some dark chocolate lollipop, chocolate chip cookies, moon pies, maybe mallowmars? I don't know yet. I have a lot of stuff in my kitchen, so I need to take stock and work it out. But trust - there will definitely be A Baker in Brooklyn presence!

Fun!

I don't know if I'm allowed to say exactly what's it's for yet, but today I'm doing some writing for a very popular line of books with a friend of mine.

That's called a "teaser," folks.