chocolate cake from scratch

Super Speedy Chocolate Snack Cake

Super Speedy Chocolate Snack Cake

Super Speedy Chocolate Snack Cake excerpted from Chocolate Baking: The Ultimate Guide to Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries by Edd Kimber. Photography © Matthew Hague.

Chocolate Baking: The Ultimate Guide to Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries by Edd Kimbe

A love letter to chocolate with 100 recipes to bake, taste and adore.

In this definitive collection, acclaimed pastry chef and baking expert Edd Kimber, winner of the first season of The Great British Bake Off, shares his passion for one of the world’s most beloved ingredients. You’ll find classic flavours like Chocolate and Whipped Caramel Cake, elegant layered creations such as Edd’s Hazelnut and Maple Milk Chocolate Tart, and irresistible desserts including Pistachio Tiramisu.

Edd also puts creative spins on familiar favourites with recipes like Miso and White Chocolate Cookies and S’mores Brownies, and guides readers through breads and pastries where chocolate plays a starring role, from Bistro Profiteroles to Sour Cherry Custard Buns with Cocoa Streusel.

Whether you’re baking for a special occasion or simply satisfying a weekday craving, there is something here for every kind of chocolate lover. Sometimes chocolate takes centre stage, sometimes it plays a supporting role, but every recipe is a celebration of its richness, versatility and irresistible appeal. Beautifully photographed and filled with Edd’s approachable expertise, this is a book bakers will return to long after the last crumb has disappeared.

Whether you’re baking for a special occasion or simply satisfying a weekday craving, there is something here for every kind of chocolate lover. Sometimes chocolate takes centre stage, sometimes it works quietly in the background, but every recipe celebrates the richness, versatility and pure pleasure of one of the world’s most beloved ingredients. Beautifully photographed and packed with inspiration, this is a book to return to again and again.

Chocolate Baking: The Ultimate Guide to Cakes, Cookies, Desserts & Pastries by Edd Kimber is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Indigo.ca.   


Super Speedy Chocolate Snack Cake

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Milk Chocolate Layer Cake

Milk Chocolate Layer Cake

Milk Chocolate Layer Cake excerpted from American Girl Birthday!: Cakes, Cupcakes & Specialty Treats by Weldon Owen. Photography by Nicole Hill Gerulat.

American Girl Birthday!: Cakes, Cupcakes & Specialty Treats by Weldon Owen

Make every birthday a special and delicious celebration with 50 party-ready recipes for cakes, cupcakes, and ice cream treats—plus ideas for party favours and games—from American Girl.

American Girl Birthday! features 50 sweet recipes suitable for every taste and any day of the year: fabulous cakes with fun frostings and toppings, cupcakes for every season, fruity and colourful ice pops, sundaes, and more.

Guarantee every party will be a hit with great flavour, sparkly decorations, and shareable treats. Kids can select their favourite cake or desserts for the big day, and make edible gifts for friends, all while gaining confidence and baking skills in the kitchen.

50+ RECIPES: Kids will learn to bake delicious cakes, cupcakes, ice cream treats, and more to mark and celebrate birthdays for friends and family.

EXPERT TIPS AND TRICKS: Young chefs will learn baking know-how and while mastering measuring, rolling, frosting, and decorating!

INSPIRING IMAGES: Beautiful colourful photos inspire birthday celebrations and ensure success. (more…)

Chocolate, coconut and peanut cake

Chocolate, coconut and peanut cake

Chocolate, coconut and peanut cake excerpted from Chetna’s Easy Baking: with a twist of spice by Chetna Makan. Photography by Nassima Rothacker.

Chetna’s Easy Baking: with a twist of spice by Chetna Makan. Photography by Nassima Rothacker.

Chetna’s popular and accessible style has charmed millions of people since her first appearance on our screens in The Great British Bake Off. Since then, she has written several bestselling cookbooks that combine her creative flavours with a love of simple Indian home cooking.

In this new collection, Chetna showcases delicious sweet and savoury bakes which have easy-to-find ingredients and simple-to-follow methods, but a special flavour twist to make your bakes sing and shine. That could be a spice you might not expect, such as star anise in a tarte Tatin, a fusion of global incidences such as Masala Focaccia, or a twist on a classic, such as a drizzle cake dazzling with mango and ginger. Proving once again that simple baking methods are the best, Chetna’s inspirational recipes are a joy to make and share with your favourite people. (more…)

The Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake, Canal Hosue Cook Something, Photography by Christopher Hirsheimer

Canal House’s Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer are home cooks writing about home cooking for other home cooks. From a lifetime of making dinner every single night, they’ve edited their experience down to the essentials: 300 simple recipes that reveal the building blocks of all good cooking guaranteed to make you a better cook. (more…)

FAMILY RECIPES: Etelka’s Cocoa Chiffon Cake

I’ve come to realize that many of us have been bequeathed a cherished family recipe. Be it simple or elaborate to prepare, it’s a dish so fiendishly delicious that it is the unmistakable star of the family meal, whether celebrating triumphs, comforting woes, or keeping family traditions alive. Withholding such heirloom recipes from the world seems almost cruel. Hence, I am championing the family recipe. I will entice the people in my universe to share favourite, nostalgia-infused family recipes, and I will give one of them centre stage in this very space on a monthly basis. In the end, we are all family, and these recipes represent the legacies of our shared passions. This month’s post is written by my good friend Eva. Enjoy!


 

Etelka’s Cocoa Chiffon Cake
By Eva

The grand finale of every family birthday dinner was THE CAKE.  My mother, Etelka, always served her signature Chocolate Chiffon Cake. Festooned with  tiny, lit candles, it was ceremoniously placed before the celebrated one as the room broke into a full-throated, charmingly off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday.” (We are not a family of gifted singers.)  A hasty, silent wish, a quick whoosh to blow out the candles, and then bliss ensued as the cake was sliced, handed around and savoured.

The cake’s appearance underwent a few metamorphoses over the decades.  Sometimes it was rectangular, at other times round, depending on the baking pans my mother had on hand.  The cake’s magic lies in its ratios rather than its aesthetics. It has just enough cocoa and sugar to give chocolate lovers their fix without overpowering its rich texture, a combination of moist, delicate cake and silky icing.

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