Yesterday my review for the book that inspired my Bookish Bakes posts posted, The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux by Samantha Verant. I love reading about food because it gives me so many ideas. In this book, chef Sophie has traveled from NYC where her dreams went up in flames back to her family's chateau … Continue reading Bookish Bakes: Creme Brulee
On Monday I posted a picture of a slice of this cake accompanying my Kindle featuring my then current read The Baron of Magister Valley by Steven Brust, so I thought I'd share my ratio recipe for the lemon meringue pie. If you give me a choice between cake and pie, I'll almost always pick cake. … Continue reading Bookish Bakes: Lemon Meringue Cake
So, a while ago, one of my bloggy friends (hi, Lisa!) asked something about pudding. I didn't have an answer then about the difference between custard and pudding as they sound a lot alike. Since then, I've ended up with egg yolks on my hands and no good idea of what to use them for. … Continue reading Adventures in Ratio Baking: Turning Custard Into Pudding
Some time ago, I shared lists for the basic ingredients for cakes, cookies, and bread. That was really some time ago. About a year ago, actually. I've done much more baking since then, wandering into the realms of custard, biscuits, and muffins. As this posts, the world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic, and, for whatever … Continue reading Basic Ingredients for Custard, Biscuits, and Muffins/Quick Breads
Short on time or baking at the spur of the moment? These 5 things are perfect choices! For years, whenever I wanted to bake, I had to plan for it. I had to make sure I had my recipe and all the ingredients I would need, and remember to let the eggs come to room … Continue reading 5 Things You Can Bake Without Planning
A few weeks ago, it was cold. Well, cold for Southern California, meaning it was somewhere in the 70s. But I still got the insane idea to make ice cream. Now, it's been well over a year since I'd used my ice cream maker, so I'm not quite sure why the idea to use it … Continue reading Adventures in Ratio Baking: Custard or Ice Cream?
A few weeks ago, I discovered a can of coconut milk sitting in the cabinet, about to expire. I hate wasting things, so my mind started whirling about what I could do with it. Coconut cake! It was nearly perfect. I'm still tweaking it, so, one day, in the next few months, I'll share that … Continue reading Toasted Coconut Custard
About a year after starting ratio baking, I'm finally at a point where I can combine ratios. Quite frankly, I was kind of counting down to this day. How amazing would it be if I could made a dessert using just ratios? Well, it finally happened. Last year, I tried the ratios for making pie … Continue reading Adventures in Ratio Baking: Pie Ratio Plus Custard Ratio Equals Chocolate Pie
About a year ago, I got it into my head that I'd like a kitchen scale and I'd like to figure out ratio baking. The Husband got me a kitchen scale for Christmas, probably because I wouldn't shut up about it, and then my brain panicked because it meant I should actually use it. I … Continue reading A Year of Adventures in Ratio Baking
A few weeks ago, I tried making custard using it's ratio of 2:1 dairy to eggs. Since it just says dairy, and since I just happened to have a can of sweetened condensed milk sitting around doing nothing, I thought, well, why not? Turns out there's a reason why I've never seen a custard recipe … Continue reading Adventures in Ratio Baking: Let’s Try Custard Again
The Lily Cafe 