Coconut Cookies with Sea Salt

Raise your hand if you're cuckoo for coconut because these cookies are right up your alley.  I certainly fall under that camp.  I love coconut in pretty much anything sweet, although I tend to stay away when it comes to savory.

I came upon this recipe for Coconut Cookies with Sea Salt by way of my sister this very morning.  She sent me a link to this blog post and I immediately wanted to make them.  I've made coconut macaroons before but what intrigued me about this particular recipe was it's technique and the addition of sea salt.  You whip the eggs and granulated sugar until very light and thick (like you're making a genoise cake) and then add it to the desiccated coconut and butter mixture.   Most recipes I've seen use either condensed milk or cream of coconut which made for overly sweet cookies.  This recipe eased up on the sweetness and the contrast of the sea salt sprinkled on top worked beautifully.

It's important to use unsweetened, desiccated coconut, not the sweetened shredded or flaked kind found at your local market.  Most health food stores will carry unsweetened, desiccated coconut and I've seen it sometimes at Trader Joe's.   To top off the cookies I used my favorite sea salt of all time made by Maldon.  I combined original and smoked flakes together to add a nice twist to the finished cookies.    

Maida Heatter's East 62nd Street Lemon Cake

Call it strange but in all my years of baking I'm pretty sure this is the first recipe I've ever made from Maida Heatter.  Who is Maida Heatter?  She's sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Desserts" and is the author of countless baking and dessert cookbooks.  This specific recipe, one of her most famous, caught my attention recently when it was published in the New York Times.  

It was the cake's name that really intrigued me.  It was Maida's daughter who had originally found the recipe and sent it to her mother.  In homage, Maida named the cake after the Upper East Side street where her daughter lived.  Kind of cool, huh?

What I love about this recipe is that it calls for some really basic ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen at any given time.  No fuss, no muss.  The finished cake is really delicious with a tender and moist crumb.

If you're going to use an intricate bundt pan I highly recommend greasing it liberally to ensure the cake releases completely.  I tend to use a lot of butter-flavored Crisco followed by a list dusting of flour.   My cake came out of the pan like a dream with the beautiful pattern completely intact.

 

Cupcake Bouquet

Just in time for Valentine's Day, something sweet and unpredictable.  Why not forgo the usual gift of flowers and make your Valentine a bouquet made of beautiful cupcakes instead?   Seriously, these tasty treats may look complicated but they couldn't be easier to make.  All you need are Russian decorating tips and you'll be turning out professional looking decorated cupcakes in no time. 

For these cupcakes I used my new favorite cake and buttercream recipe from Bravetart's latest cookbook.  The white cake is so moist and velvety with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb and her marshmallow buttercream is a game changer.  Even better, the buttercream pipes like a dream with these decorating tips. 

Russian Honey Cake

 

When you mention 20th Century Cafe here in San Francisco the first thing that comes to mind is Russian Honey Cake.  It's one of their signature desserts and is so visually stunning and amazingly delicious.  Layer upon layer of cake (they taste like speculoos cookies) filled with a burnt honey and caramel whipped cream.   Absolute heaven I tell you.  I had my first taste in 2016 and was always curious about how it was made.  

Alas, I was never able to find a good recipe to replicate at home so I never attempted to make one, until now!  Recently the cafe's owner, Michelle Polzine, was kind enough to finally reveal her masterpiece.   And to the New York Times no less!

Granted, the instructions to make the cake are very LONG, but don't be deterred.  Admittedly the process is time consuming but all that effort will be worth it, I promise.   I was crazy enough to make my cake in one evening after coming home from work.  Not something I would recommend for the novice baker.  Start to finish I estimate it took me about 4 hours, with a little down time in between.  Next time I'll make this on the weekend to give myself a cushion.

One bite of the cake and I was immediately taken back to 20th Century Cafe.  It seriously is an amazing copycat that you should try for yourself.