Le Pain Quotidien (All Over)

Is it weird to love a place when you can't pronounce its name? Le Pain Quotidien translates to "our daily bread," and that is exactly what LPQ sets out to provide. Known for their communal tables and deliciously organic entrees, LPQ has more than 25 locations throughout New York City as well as in a handful of other states and countries. Their shops are always delightfully rustic with a distinctly French feel. Best of all, it always smells like freshly baked bread.

 

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I've been to a few LPQ locaitons for lunch and even a few times to study, but recently M and I went to their Upper West location on 72nd and Columbus to try some of their famous pastries. Now, I should say now that I arrived far earlier than M to get some reading done. Our waitress was kind and patient with me, refilling my coffee and being attentive without being obnoxious while I waited for my friend, and that was much appreciated. After M arrived and we had some real food (one day I will probably dedicate a post to the number of carrot soups I've tried in this city), we decided it was time for the sweet stuff.

First we sampled the Raspberry Tart. Let me take a moment here to confess my undying love for fresh berries. I spend my year longing for summer not because I crave the sunlight or yearn for vacation, but because summer is berry season. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries. Send them over. I freeking love berries.

So you can probably guess that I either loved or hated this tart based upon the freshness of the berries. You'll be happy to know that they were perfect. The raspberry coulis under the berries was just the right balance of sweet and tart. The pastry cream was light and fresh. The shell was buttery and dense, yet flaky and sweet. Y'all, this tart is perfection.

Next we tried the Belgian Brownie. It doesn't really look like a brownie, but if you're like me and define brownies as dense, fudgy, dark chocolatey treats that are somewhere between bar cookies and cakes, you will love this. This dessert epitomized the word "rich." I don't think I could have eaten the entire thing by myself. But alongside the Raspberry Tart, we had created the perfect dessert combination.

 

Clearly we hated every bite.

Overall, LPQ has delicious real food and outstanding desserts. Their food, combined with their friendly service and European ambiance, makes them one of my favorite chains in the city. Side note: because they have so many locations, they have to post their calorie counts. I have mixed feelings about this, but the numbers generally comfort me more than creep me out. I plan to continue frequenting NYC's many LPQ locations, slowly eating my way through their entire menu.

Le Pain Quotidien gets my stamp of approval!

Have you been to Le Pain Quotidien? Do you have any favorite chains that consistently impress you? Do you have ideas about where I should have gone instead or where I should go next? Sound off in the comments!

Grocery List

There are a lot of reasons to buy grocery store goodies. Sometimes you don't have time to bake. Sometimes you want to try something new. And sometimes something just looks damn delicious. Here are a few of the grocery store items that are floating my boat right about now.

Biscoff Cookies

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You might know these European-style cookies from Delta flights. They will always remind me of vacations and of my Dad, who always steals them from the Crown Room (I don't care what it's called now; that will always be its name) so he has a whole cabinet full of them. You can order them from Biscoff's website (and get Delta SkyMiles!), but that's a little too much work for me. Luckily, Trader Joe's has released Bistro Cookies, which are ridiculously cheap and taste just like the real thing. Yum!

Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel Ice Cream

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I LOVE Ben & Jerry's, but I usually only allow myself to buy their frozen yogurt (or anyone's FroYo, for that matter). Lately the bodega across the street has been out of B&J FroYo; seeing as it was too hot to walk and I was dying for some frozen goodness, I had to try something new. I couldn't resist the chocolate dinosaurs! The best part of the ice cream? The cookie pieces. So delicious!

Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Goodies

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My roommates bought me these when I ended my diet after my sister's wedding. It's a cookie topped with peanut butter mousse, then covered in chocolate, and sprinkled with peanuts. They are magical. Go buy some immediately.

Chocolate Chips

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I always keep chocolate chips on hand to bake with, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't eat a tablespoon or two as a snack now and then. Lately, I've also had white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips around too. Chips are the perfect little (surprisingly low calorie) treat to satisfy your sweet tooth without breaking your budget, busting your diet, or ruining your dinner.

What are you nomming on from the grocery story lately?

FAO Cafe (Midtown East)

What could be better than baked goods? Baked goods inside a toy store, of course! My frequent nompanion M noticed a Groupon for FAO Cafe a few weeks ago, and we were so excited to try it out. FAO Cafe is located on the corner of 5th Avenue & 59th Street inside FAO Schwarz, AKA the greatest toy store in the world. They feature tasty treats and caffeinated delights from some of New York's finest bakers, some of whom don't have brick and mortar stores. All of this is conveniently near Central Park, The Plaza Hotel, and 5th Avenue shopping.

My biggest complaint with FAO Cafe was the lack of seating. There was one tiny bar along the window with maybe five seats. There happens to be a collection of tables outside across from The Plaza, but New York has been hot as hell suffering from a heat wave, so we were not exactly excited to take our food to metal chairs outside. However, there was a live jazz band there to entertain the tourists; us locals were also pleased, and therefore lured outside.

Now before I get to the food, I want to complain about one more thing: the service was awful. There were no napkins and no silverware. The barista made us feel a bit silly for ordering the amount of food we ordered and taking as long as we did to decide. Now I know I come from a family that values customer service, and I was raised to believe that the customer is always right. Even without my unique upbringing, I'm pretty sure the customer should not be made to feel the way this lady made me feel. Also, iced coffee should not be 75% ice. Just had to get that off my chest.

Luckily, the quality of the pastries (and the mood music) outweighed the seating issues and service problems. We ordered a selection of goodies, and before you freak out, you should know the two of us did NOT attempt to finish all of this in one sitting. But we got pretty darn close.



The first thing we decided on was this Chocolate Crunch Cookie from Selma's Cookies. I would've liked a description of what this cookie contained - or a more fitting title, to be honest - but once I took a bite, I stopped questioning. It was perfect: a delicious, sugary, buttery cookie stuffed with chocolate, M&Ms, and I think butterscotch & some kind of nut. It was the perfect balance of crunch and gooeyness, and the perfect amount of chocolate. I think I would call it The Kitchen Sink Cookie, since it had pretty much everything in it. YUM.

The next thing we tried was the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcake from Sarah's Cupcakes. I know I'm a cupcake maker, but it might surprise you to know I don't really like frosting all that much. So it should mean a lot when I say that this frosting ROCKED. It was super sweet, but the cake was so light and fluffy that it balanced out nicely. The cookie on top was perfect, and the crumbs in the frosting were a really nice touch. I know deep down it was really just a vanilla cupcake with vanilla icing and some cookie crumbs, but it was delicious. We had gotten our unique treat out of the way with the cookie - this was meant to be our classic.

Our final choice was the Chocolate Blackout doughnut from Doughnut Plant. This was by far my favorite - a perfect chocolate doughnut with a ribbon of fudge baked in and a chocolatey crumb topping. It was SO rich, but I loved every bite of it. I hear doughnuts are the new trendy treat, and this was the first one I  tried. I now understand the obsession. I will definitely be visiting one of Doughnut Plant's locations to try more of their goodies!

After we ate (and melted from the sun), we went back inside to play in the toy store. I mean, where else on earth can you find a rocking horse that's actually a rocking panda?

Overall, I liked FAO Cafe. The desserts (and coffee) we got would have been well-worth $15, but it was nice that we got them all for the Groupon deal of $7! Would I specifically seek out FAO Cafe to eat in the future? Probably not. But if I was wandering around FAO Schwarz and needed some coffee or sugar, I would gladly stop by and sample some more of New York's local eateries. If nothing else, it led me to a few new brands I want to check out around the city! Their food outweighs their service, and their atmosphere is fun. For that reason...

FAO Cafe gets my stamp of approval!

Have you been to FAO Cafe or tried any of brands they feature? Does bad service ever outweigh delicious food? Do you have ideas of where I should have gone instead or where I should go next? Sound off in the comments!

Teaser: Peanut Butter S'Mores Bites

Last week, I invented a recipe. This is a first for me. It is a huge deal. I know, for most of the food bloggers out there it's a weekly thing, but I had been in a bit of a baking funk, and this adventure in originality reminded me that I know flavors work and I'm not completely inept with candymaking.

Now, I don't want to share the recipe just yet because it's not perfect - at this point, the measurements are all eyeballed and it would be pretty difficult for me to teach y'all how to replicate it. But I do want to let you know that these delicious little wonders exist. I'm still not quite sure if I should classify them as a cookie or a candy, but suffice to say, they rock.

So why am I telling you about them if I'm not sharing the how-to with the world? Because over on my personal blog I cosponsor this awesome thing called Freeky Friday. Every Friday, my sister and I invite you to blog, tweet, and/or comment on Facebook to promote positivity, unity and love - all wrapped up in a clothing line called Freekware. Every time someone does any of these things, they are entered to win a delicious treat and a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in their name. Last month, Jessica won some Brownie-Covered Oreos. This month, our winner will receive these Peanut Butter S'Mores Bites! Now, there are five Fridays in July, so if you blog, tweet, and comment on Facebook every week, you'll be entered fifteen times!

For more on Freeky Friday, check out Concrete Jane (my personal blog), Dr. Princess (my sister blog), and the Freekware Facebook page. Hope to see you on Friday - and to send you some goodies at the end of the month!

Put the Lime in the Coconut

A few weeks ago, I bought sour cream to make Homemade Hostess Cupcakes. I had some left over because, as you may remember, I did not make as many Disaster Cakes as previously planned. I awoke this morning to find the biological clock on my sour cream rapidly ticking. I had already decided to make My Baking Addiction's Lime Coconut Sour Cream Bundt Cake - in fact, I had purchased a bundt pan (and new cooling racks!) for just this occasion thanks to a fabulous BB&B coupon.

This was my first coffee cake, and my first time making anything in a bundt pan, so I was a little nervous. I forgot to take pictures throughout the baking process, but I am proud to announce that the end result was delicious! I learned a few things from this experience: First, zesting limes takes longer than you think it will, so you should probably do it first so you're not waiting around for them. Second, there is a clear, marked difference between the standard store brand pan and a Calphalon pan. I decided to spend the extra dollars to get the Calphalon bundt pan and it was worth it. The nonstick coating is really wonderful; the burnt-on, caked-on scrapings from my spatula around the top of the pan came off with practically no effort. Anyway, just buy the nicer pan. It's worth it.

My only alterations to the recipe were that I used regular, non-organic, full-dairy sour cream (because that's what I had on hand) and I was short on limes, so I used the zest of about 2 1/4 limes for the cake and the zest of about 3/4 limes for the glaze & went a little short on the powdered sugar to balance out the flavor. For an extra punch of lime, I squeezed the juice of about half a lime into the cake batter. I think it was a nice touch.

Lime Coconut Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• Zest of 3 medium limes
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan. Like I said before, with the nonstick pan, this is much less of a scary step - I just used the papers from the butter and an extra spritz of Canola Oil spray. I didn't flour it because, well, because I tried it and it looked like it wasn't going to work.

With a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth. If you are blessed enough to own a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, use the paddle attachment.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest, mixing together with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened and fragrant. Add the sugar mixture gradually into the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla. This is also when I added in the extra lime juice.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add flour mixture, alternating with sour cream, into the butter mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in coconut.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or knife.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (my oven is super hot so I baked mine for about 45).

Cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan (again, the nonstick is wonderful here). Cool completely.

Meanwhile...

Lime Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 5 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• zest of 1 medium lime

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add more cream one tablespoon at a time. I think I added an extra tablespoon and a half.

Spoon over cooled cake.

Coffee cake success! It's moist and fluffy with just the right amount of crumb. I recommend eating it with a fork. I especially love the mixture of summery, tropical flavors - it's a cake that manages to be light and refreshing!

Are you playing with any fun flavors this summer?

Six-And-A-Half Layer Squares

Baked goods are the perfect gift. They are cheaper than real presents, more personal than a store-bought birthday cake, and you can guarantee the birthday boy or girl is going to love your gift. One of my closest friends and frequent nompanions celebrated her birthday this weekend, and I was at a loss for the perfect recipe. She loves chocolate, but I've also seen her eat fruity things (mostly banana or lime flavored goodies). She also had some specific requests about peanut butter - it wasn't her favorite, but she didn't mind it. I had already made cupcakes, so those were off the table. I reached out to my friends & followers and decided to make Seven Layer Bars, aka Magic Bars.

I picked a recipe from the amazing Brown Eyed Baker because I could count the seven layers - and that was VERY important to me. I then decided to swap out butterscotch chips for peanut butter chips (I like peanut butter MUCH better), but to only put them on half of the pan, since the birthday girl is not a huge PB fan. Hence, six-and-a-half layer bars... that later became squares due to the smallness of the pan I had available. Either way, they were magic.

Ingredients/Layers:

1. Graham cracker crust (9 full graham crackers + 1 stick of melted butter)
2. Chopped walnuts (1 cup)
3. Semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
4. White chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
5. Peanut butter chips (1/2 cup - I reduced to 1/4 cup since I only used them on half the pan)
6. Sweetened coconut (1 cup)
7. Sweetened condensed milk (1 14 ounce can)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pan (I used 8x8, original recipe recommends 9x13) with nonstick cooking spray. Line with aluminum foil, and spray again. Be sure to leave the foil hanging over the edges to act as handles to lift out the bars.

Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake until the outer flakes begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Watch it! Coconut can go from delightfully toasty to burnt in a matter of seconds. Set aside.

Meanwhile, crush those graham crackers. Break them into manageable pieces and place in a gallon-sized freezer bag. Enlist the help of a friend or roommate so you can do other things while this is happening. Sweetened condensed milk makes a wonderful rolling pin.

And when that doesn't work, a bottle of tequila is a useful tool as well.

Melt the butter in a small bowl, then pour in the graham cracker crumbs. I used a spatula to get it going, then tossed with my fingers until totally combined.  Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.

In order, sprinkle the walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and coconut  over the graham crumbs. Take a moment to admire all the goodness.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly over the entire dish.

Bake until the top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. This is where I ran into trouble with the 8x8 pan. I left it in for a couple more minutes, then turned it down and gave it a few more minutes so the outside wouldn't burn but the inside would still set. Use your eyes and nose, and you'll know when they're done.

Cool in the pan on top of your useless radiator on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Remove the bars from the pan using the foil handles and transfer to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut into 2x3 inch bars or 16 squares, depending on the size of your pan.

These bars were truly magic - super easy to make, totally delicious, and a huge hit! Bonus perk: I now have a ton of leftover ingredients to inspire the next round of baked goods!

Have you ever given homemade goodies as a gift?

Disaster Cakes

It appears as though I am in a bit of a baking funk. Great timing, considering I just got this blog and all. I am determined to get out of this funk, but in the meantime, I'd like to tell you all about Disaster Cakes.

A few weeks ago, we went out for one of my roommate's birthdays at Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. As we were wrapping up dinner, we decided we needed to walk up to Fairway to digest a little before walking home and sitting on our butts like the fat loads we felt like (post-Dino fatness is the best of all fatnesses). Since we were going to the supermarket, my roomies asked what cupcakes would I be buying ingredients for. Homemade Hostess Cupcakes, I declared. I knew I had a recipe in my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book, and I was ready to try it.

(Source: Martha Stewart)

Everyone got instantly excited. I pulled the recipe up on my phone and quickly saw that it only made 12 cupcakes. I would double it! But wow, that seemed like a lot of butter and Marshmallow Fluff for 24 cupcakes. That's because the recipe made 12 jumbo cupcakes, which translates to 24 regular cupcakes. I now had the ingredients to make 48 Homemade Hostess Cupcakes. I have a class of 18 and a friend's birthday coming up... no problem! I soon realized I wanted nothing to do with more than 24 of these cupcakes.

Many things went wrong yesterday. First of all, let's talk about the definition of "room temperature." The Internet defines room temperature as between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly). When it is 95 degrees outside and you are in an unairconditioned and poorly ventilated room, your room's temperature is going to be a little warmer. Add a 350 degree oven and a cook running around like a chicken with her head cut off to that, and you're basically cooking outside in the New York City summer. My tiny hurricane fan couldn't keep up! I blame the temperature for the majority of things that happened with these cupcakes.

The rest of the things that went wrong were totally my fault. I thought I knew more than Martha. Cooking Rule #346: You NEVER know more than Martha! There was a reason these cupcakes were supposed to be jumbo. There was a reason these cupcakes were unlined and the pans greased a certain way. And there was a reason she outlined a ridiculously detailed method of filling these cupcakes. I'm sorry I doubted you, Martha. My laziness will be my demise.

Let's get right to it. For the complete, accurate, uninterrupted recipe, check out Martha's website.

Jumbo Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes (from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for tins
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush tins with butter; dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess.

Here's where I thought I knew more than Martha. Brushing the tins and dusting with cocoa took forever, dyed my finger brown, and honestly didn't look to be creating a really great protective coating. For my second muffin tin, I sprayed liberally with nonstick cooking spray. It would be an experiment. Which would work better?

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

With the exception of creaming butter & sugar together, I mix all of my cakes by hand. Always.

Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and mixing until just incorporated after each.

My batter was super lumpy, so I broke my own rule and gave it a little spin with my hand mixer.

Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, filling each with about 1/4 cup (1/2 cup if you're making jumbo cakes).

Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in tins 5 minutes, then run a small knife around the edges to loosen; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

Remember when I said I don't have cooling racks or a cupcake carrier? Well, I bought a carrier, but not racks... so I used my carrier as a cooling rack! It worked a lot better and took up a lot less space than the plates I had been using.

I bet you're dying to know the results of the experiment. Just kidding, you totally already know. Martha was right, and I was wrong.

The actual cakes weren't a total disaster. It was the Marshmallow Cream Filling that did me in.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream, such as Marshmallow Fluff
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

Directions

Whisk marshmallow cream and butter until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until slightly firm, 15 to 30 minutes, before using.

I should have chilled for longer. I should have stopped filling halfway through and re-chilled. It was too damn hot in my kitchen, and the runny Fluff filling got everywhere. Fluff on the table. Fluff on the floor. Fluff clogging my drain. Fluff on my brand new apron. Somehow, someway, Fluff on my cabinets?

I did not follow Martha's filling directions at all. At this point, I was frustrated and my kitchen was a disaster. It was hot, and I was tired. I put my Fluff in a piping bag with a filling tip, poked a hole in the top of the cake, and filled until it oozed out. The cakes were already ugly - they were all short, some were burnt, and half were missing chunks out of the bottom. I no longer cared. I had accepted Disaster Cakes for what they are - a delicious mess.

I brought them to class that night, and they were a big hit. I apologized a million times, but no one seemed to care that they were hideous. One of my classmates, a far more experienced baker than I, talked me though my disaster and advised me to chalk it up to the temperature and move on. I will not be making these again - at least not without jumbo tins and the proper filling technique. Instead, I'm going to find something else to do with the leftover Fluff and sour cream, although I'm not quite sure what that is...

So what have we learned?

1. Don't bake at noon in the summer in your unairconditioned dorm.
2. Marshmallow Fluff was created by the devil to destroy your kitchen.
3. Nobody cares how things look as long as they taste good.
4. I do not know more about cupcakes than Martha Stewart.

What was your biggest baking disaster?

The City Bakery (Union Square)

It's my first ever bakery review, and I think I picked a winner! My friend Meredith & I were shopping in Union Square and decided we needed some sugar. Google Maps and Yelp pointed me to the same place. Allow me to introduce you to The City Bakery, located on 18th Street & 5th Avenue.

(Source: Glenwood)

Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, City Bakery prides itself in creating seasonal menus using organic and locally-grown ingredients found in the nearby Union Square Farmer's Market. It's a beautiful, open space with a loft for additional seating and something called "The Chocolate Room." While the bakery serves real food too (their mac & cheese looked pretty killer), we came for the sweets.

I ordered exactly what the good people of Yelp told me to order - the famous hot chocolate and the Pretzel Croissant. It's hard to put the flavor of the croissant into words. It was sweet yet salty, flaky on the outside yet doughy on the inside. It was the perfect balance of flavors, but it became nothing short of magical once I dipped it into the hot chocolate.

City Bakery's hot chocolate is not your average cuppa. It's thicker than most beverages, and much, much richer. It is basically like drinking melted milk chocolate. When I dunked the pretzel croissant into the chocolate, it draped over it perfectly. Pure bliss. They even have an annual hot chocolate festival with a bunch of different flavors. I want to go to there!

(Source: The NYC Big Adventure)

My nompanion got the Chocolate White Chocolate Cookie, and the hot chocolate, of course. The cookie was the perfect consistency - chewy and moist on the inside with a bit of bite to the outside. Again, dipping it in the hot chocolate made it even better. But, at least from the bite I had, the cookie wasn't really anything too special. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious! But it was just like any other well-made chocolate white chocolate chip cookie that you can get in one of the dozens of other bakeries in NYC.

City Bakery offered a vegan chocolate chip cookie, which I'd love to try. Vegan cookies are hard to do well, and I wonder how theirs compares. They also had this gigantic muffin (you can see it in the second picture above) that looked pretty amazing. Did I mention non-alcoholic homemade sangria? Yum. I've got to try that.

Overall, City Bakery was a spacious, bright location for a shopping day snack. Their "real" food seemed a bit pricey, but the baked goods were pretty standardly priced. My only complaint was that there wasn't really a menu. It made it difficult to know what drinks we could order, and what options we had with those drinks. Don't get me wrong, I didn't really want anything but the hot chocolate. But I hear they make homemade marshmallows too, and I didn't see that posted anywhere and, therefore, forgot to order it. That being said, I will gladly return to City Bakery if I'm in the area and/or if I'm craving that amazing pretzel croissant.

The City Bakery in Union Square gets my stamp of approval!

Have you been to City Bakery? Are you a firm believer that the best hot chocolate in New York City is served elsewhere? Do you have ideas on where I should have gone instead or where I should go next? 

Sound off in the comments!

Fresh Outta The Oven

Hello out there! Welcome to Cake Walk and Coffee Talk! Some of you may know me from my personal blog, Concrete Jane, and those of you that do can attest to the delicious goodies that I bake up whenever I'm bored and/or stressed. I've even taken to baking when I'm in a good mood (gasp!). What can I say? Baking calms me down. There's something wonderful about knowing that no matter what is going on in the outside world, I know that I can cream together butter and sugar, add in some eggs, flour, leaveners, and flavorings, and something yummy will absolutely emerge.

I live in New York City, home to about a billion cafes. Did you know you could eat at a different restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner in NYC for fifteen years without having to go back to the same place twice? It's ridiculous! While I do enjoy making my own goodies at home, I have to say I've become quite the taste-tester. I love wandering around the city and trying out different bakeries, trying to determine which one makes the ultimate red velvet cupcake or peanut butter cookies. And then, of course, I love coming home and trying to top that.

Because I live in New York City on a grad student budget, I do not have the luxurious kitchen I once had (I use the term luxurious loosely; what people outside the city consider normal, people inside the city consider spacious and extravagant). The vast majority of my baked goods are created in my tiny dorm kitchen, baked in my tiny dorm oven, and stored in my tiny dorm cabinets, on my tiny dorm kitchen table, or in my tiny regular sized dorm fridge until I have successfully fattened up everyone around me. I don't have a stand mixer. I don't have a cake carrier. I don't even have cooling racks. But I make it work, somehow, deliciously.

So join me on my cake walk. Sit down for some coffee talk (because really, what is coffee without something sweet to enjoy with it?). I'm always up for an adventure, and I'm determined to make baking my speciality!