glazed apple cider doughnut cake

Confession time! As someone with more opinions than I can fit in three cookbooks, one audiobook, and even 18 years of archives on this website, sometimes when I want to grumble about something food-related but it’s not the time or place,…

Confession time! As someone with more opinions than I can fit in three cookbooks, one audiobook, and even 18 years of archives on this website, sometimes when I want to grumble about something food-related but it’s not the time or place, I tuck it in a little document called “rants” that is so full of cringe, you only have my permission to publish posthumously. But I can’t write a headnote for this particular cake without first owning up to #23 on the list in advance: “Apple cider cakes are lies.” Which begs the questions: Who hurt you, Deb? What gives? Essentially, my quibble is that you can put all of the wonderful fresh-pressed apple cider you want in a cake, but it rarely comes through to actually taste like apple cider. The flavor is not robust enough. I’m not saying it can’t be wildly delicious with all of the cinnamon spice we also put in these cakes, but it rarely, to me, tastes like an accurate representation of its name.

Read more »

perfect blueberry muffin loaf

It’s been about what how has it been almost 8 years since I overhauled an old blueberry muffin recipe in the archives to turn them into what I consider the highest calling of the category, perfect in taste (not too sweet, dreamy crumb, l…

It’s been about what how has it been almost 8 years since I overhauled an old blueberry muffin recipe in the archives to turn them into what I consider the highest calling of the category, perfect in taste (not too sweet, dreamy crumb, lemon scented, absolutely riddled with blueberries, and finished with the crunchiest bronzed lid, perfect for lifting off in a satisfying shell and swiping the underside with salted butter) and ease (one-bowl, hand-whisked, even measurements, fuss free ingredients). Because who cares if a muffin recipe is perfect if I can’t throw it together half-asleep like the zombie I am most mornings? I’m thrilled that so many of you agreed.

blueberry muffin loaf -2

Read more »

new york crumb cake

Hasn’t it always been too long since your last slice of profoundly perfect crumb cake? You know, the kind that’s a hefty square with at least as much height from big brown sugar and cinnamon crumbs as from a golden, buttery, sour c…

Hasn’t it always been too long since your last slice of profoundly perfect crumb cake? You know, the kind that’s a hefty square with at least as much height from big brown sugar and cinnamon crumbs as from a golden, buttery, sour cream-enriched and vanilla-scented cake? Yes, me too. I didn’t expect to be back here so soon, though. I truly believed I’d finished my Crumb Cake Degree in 2021 with the still-perfect-in-every-way Big Apple Crumb Cake. But sometimes, perfection is a process.

new york crumb cake-5

Read more »