Bake from Scratch July/August 2021

Our July/August issue is one big love letter to summer. We’re revealing our top secret for extracting the best flavor from fruit: roasting. Our roundup of roasted fruit recipes includes the cover star, Roasted Strawberry Cake. I’ve long been in love with the sweet-tart flavor of roasted strawberries, and this stunning layer cake I invented in my kitchen is the epitome of all the benefits of roasted fruit. Then we cool things down with our custard powder feature, a gorgeous ode to the vanilla-forward benefits of baking with Bird’s Custard Powder. As many of you know, I am decidely #TeamDough, enjoying cookie dough as much as the baked final product. Our Edible Cookie Dough is the realization of all of my dreams, a dough made without eggs and toasted flour,…

RECIPE INDEX BARS AND COOKIES Custard Crème Cookies 56 Earl Grey Madeleines 103 Layered Cherry Basque Bars 55 Oatmeal Cookies 21 Rum-Roasted Pineapple Blondies 97 BREADS Black Sesame Chocolate Banana Bread 35 Cheddar-Jalapeño-Green Onion Biscuits 76 Cinnamon-Vanilla Sugar Pretzels 11 Ekmak 107 Fresh Corn Muffins 39 Garlic Breadsticks 39 Pull-Apart Scones with Grilled Nectarines 27 Roasted Blueberry Pull-Apart Loaf 98 Zucchini Cheese Rolls 15 CAKES Apples and Honey Upside-Down Cake 61 Basbousa 64 Chocolate Zinger-Inspired Mini Cakes 5 Citrus Meringue Roulade (Citrus Brazo de Mercedes) 77 German Chocolate Poke Cake 85 Honey Cake 65 Hummingbird Poke Cake 85 Lane Poke Cake 84 Nanaimo Custard Cake 57 Pão de Mel (Brazilian Spiced Chocolate-Honey Cakes) 68 Roasted Strawberry Cake 95 Strawberries & Cream Poke Cake 86 FROSTINGS, FILLINGS, GARNISHES, AND GLAZES Blueberry Filling 22 Brown Sugar-Ginger Glaze 97 Chocolate Ganache 78 Citrus Custard Filling 77 Coconut Cookie Crumbs 58 Coconut-Pecan Filling 85 Coconut Simple Syrup 58 Cream Cheese Frosting 85 Crème Filling 21 Crumble Topping 22 Custard Filling 56 Custard Buttercream 58 Drunken Cherries 56 Lane…

THE WHOLE SCOOP Summer days are hot, but this cookie dough storage tray is exceptionally cool. Freeze ready-to-bake cookie dough with ease using these pre-portioned silicone trays from Souper Cubes. Each well holds a generous tablespoon of dough (there are 20 wells total), giving you the option to bake a few cookies and save the rest for later. For those sweltering days, check out our Edible Cookie Dough (page 112), a recipe that will satisfy cravings without any added heat. Available at soupercubes.com, $29.95 CRAZY FOR CACAO How do you get your chocolate fix? Brothers Nick and Peter Dale of Condor Chocolates believe the best cacao comes from Ecuador—the birthplace of their mother and the home of some of the finest cacao produced in the world. Ecuadorian chocolate is renowned for floral aromas and…

Your baking is so beautiful. Did anything in particular spark your baking obsession? My mom baked a lot when I was young, so I was exposed to it and helped her in the kitchen. My parents actually owned a bakery together when they first got married, so, although this all happened before I was born, I feel like it’s in my blood. My mom had this ability to make baking easy, and her treats would be perfect. She was an inspiration and I loved what she did, so I wanted to be able to bake, too. Also, my dad is a professional chef, originally from the Netherlands and trained in European fare. He taught the culinary arts program in my high school and is extremely talented. What did you enjoy most about…

As long as there has been a need for natural sweetness, there has been honey, satisfying the ancient human craving. A cave painting from about 8,000 years ago that was discovered in Spain’s Valencia province depicts a honey hunter climbing a tree, arm extended into the buzzing beehive to extract coveted honeycomb. Beyond being an essential part of the hunter-gatherer diet of our ancestors, honey has become a sacred part of our culture and spirituality. Honey is revered in numerous religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It endures, age after age, and its sweet legacy has become intertwined with the modern baker’s recipe collection. The honey of today is much like the honey of yore. Honeybees gather sweet floral nectar and bring it back to the hive. Inside the…

I remember long ago, my father home from work late and my mom getting up from bed, putting on a pot of coffee. Out would come freshly baked pies or pastries. I would hear them talking, sharing the day’s activities, making plans for the week or later. I think back with warm feelings for this exchange and how great this was for them to have this time together. The care my mother gave my father. She gave this to me, too. I would come home from school, and there would be freshly baked treats awaiting. These times are still with me. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order of 2020, I took particular comfort in recipes, spending the days perfecting a sweet peach cobbler with dollops of buttery biscuits, a…