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09/06/12 • END OF SUMMER BLUEBERRY CAKE From America’s Test Kitchen I should probably start by acknowledging that the above title is a little misleading, since strictly speaking the recipe I bring to you here is for a cake that can be made (and enjoyed) at pretty much any time of year, and is not just limited to those waning days of summer such as we’re experiencing now. Still, there’s something about the simple, cel

08/09/12 • PIECE O’ (PEACH) CAKE From season 12 of America’s Test Kitchen (click here to view the recipe)  At its best, eating can be a kind of adventure—a chance to put your comfort level on the line and experience something that will either have you running for the safety of the nearest ham sandwich, or that can turn your life just a little upside down. That’s something I first discovered many decades ago, wh

07/19/12 • RAISING THE GRANOLA BAR Adapted from Baking Illustrated, published by the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook Collection. Granola bars have never really been a big thing for me. Sure, like most everybody on the planet I’ve eaten my fair share of them, but it’s pretty much been limited to occasions when I was traveling and everything else available at the airport kiosk or highway rest stop was out-of-the-question.

06/07/12 • NUTS FOR CAKE! From the June, 2012 Food and Wine (click here to view the recipe) Several weeks ago I was on the phone with my friend Scott when he announced, “I love cake!” The comment wasn’t completely out of the blue—I’m sure we were discussing something food-related—but the spontaneous quality of the statement took me by surprise and I immediately burst out laughing (before scribbling the phrase on a Po

04/05/12 • SPRING-IT-ON CAKE! From the Dec., 2005 Gourmet (click here to view the recipe)   For much of my life, coconut has been among the small list of foods I felt certain would never win me over. It’s an exclusive group that also boasts liver of any kind (I do make an exception where pate or terrine is concerned), anything that falls in the offal category (“awful” is more apt), and anchovies. In other words,

02/09/12 • CHOCOLATE-LOVERS CAKE From the Feb., 2011 New York Times Magazine (click here to view the recipe) I feel a little guilty about bringing this one to you. For one thing it’s early days in 2012 and many of you are still committed to those New Year’s resolutions — the ones that have you stepping up the gym routine or eliminating carbs and sugar from your diet (and I want to support that… seriously, I do!). For

12/29/11 • THE SUNSHINE CAKE From the June, 2011 issue of Bon Appetit (click here to view the recipe) Cake was never a big thing in either of my parents’ houses when I was growing up. I mean it was a big thing in the sense that anytime one appeared it brought on plenty of excitement on the part of us kids, to say nothing of a creeping anxiety that we might not get our fair share (a sentiment that led to a good deal o

11/17/11 • THE BIG PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE From the Nov., 1990 Gourmet (click here to view the recipe) As featured in Vanity Fair • 11/18/2011 • www.vf.com Once in a while you clip a recipe, put it into play, and are so delighted with the results that you swear it will become one of your standards. And once in a while that actually ends up happening. This, for me, is one of those. Since first stumbling on this recipe eigh

10/13/11 • PEAR GINGERBREAD CAKE From the Feb., 2002 Gourmet (click here to view the recipe) I’m sitting here thinking about cake. Sitting, not writing, because in-and-of-itself, cake does not tend to inspire in me particularly strong feelings. But here’s the thing about cake: even if you’re not a cake person per se, chances are you’ve encountered one or two in your life that stayed with you and that function as a ki

09/08/11 • LAST-CALL SUMMER PUDDING From the Sept., 2011 Bon Appetit (click here to view the recipe) The weather in New York City has turned suddenly cooler and gray. Between this and the fact that Labor Day has now come and gone, there’s a pervading sense that summer has packed up her flip-flops and headed for the other side of the Equator. This is not a happy feeling. Despite the fact that I’m frequently accused by