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Reverse-Creaming Is the Secret to the Plushest Cake

​Welcome to Bon Appétit Bake Club, a community of curious bakers. Each month senior Test Kitchen editors Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic share a must-make recipe and dive deep on why it works. Come bake and learn with us—and don’t forget to join the Bake Club Group chat over on Substack.. Anyone who has whipped up a cake before is familiar with the basic steps of mixing the batter: Cream sugar and butter, add eggs, and finish off with the dry ingredients. It works. But there’s a better way—an alternative method that produces a far more tender crumb without any additional work. It’s a magical, miraculous technique called reverse-creaming.. Reverse-creaming is the secret to tender cakes. Reverse creaming is a technique in which dry ingredients are mixed with butter prior to adding any wet ingredients. So instead of first beating together butter and sugar, you blend butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a wet sand. This approach, popularized by Rose Levy Beranbaum (a Bake Club podcast guest!), coats the flour molecules in a layer of fat that limits gluten formation, resulting in an ultra plush texture. Most recipes online call for a stand mixer, relying on the paddle attachment to fully break down the butter.. I love reverse creaming, and have used it before (many times!) in my recipes. I think of it as an insider technique that produces cakes that are bakery-level in quality. It might seem weird the first time you do it, but once you taste the results, it’s hard to go back.. A new way to reverse-creaming (no mixer required). Our latest Bake Club recipe, our Chocolate Guinness Cake, uses reverse creaming to produce an exceptionally tender cake. But it does so without any special equipment. Instead of relying on the mechanical power of a hand mixer or stand mixer, you simply rub cold cubes of butter into dry ingredients with your fingers. Think of making pie dough—except instead of stopping when the butter is in pea-sized pieces, you keep rubbing until it virtually disappears, completely encasing the flour in fat. This method achieves the same delicate crumb as the traditional approach, with one less thing to clean.. This technique also means it’s all but impossible to overmix your batter. While a lot of cake recipes tell you to err on the side of undermixing, here I’m telling you the opposite. Because, at the end of the day, you need some gluten to form a cake. So once you add your wet ingredients, mix with reckless abandon. And of course, tell me how it all goes in the Substack chat.. Chocolate Guinness Cake. A generous glug of stout gives this snackable loaf a malty depth.. View Recipe  

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Food

47 Easter Recipes For Brunch, Dinner, and Dessert

​Skip to main content. Recipes. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca. Whether you’re planning an opulent brunch or just want to know how to make hot cross buns, you’ll find what you’re looking for in this collection of our best Easter recipes. We have timeless holiday classics—looking at you, pineapple-glazed ham—as well as fresh, seasonal dishes that highlight spring produce like asparagus, radishes, and rhubarb.. Jump ahead. Easter brunch recipes. Easter dinner recipes. Easter side dishes. Easter breads & rolls. Easter desserts. Easter cocktails. You’ll find a little bit of everything among our favorite Easter recipes, including recipes for brunch, dinner (heavy on the ham, lamb roasts, and showstopping vegetarian mains), a couple of drinks, and plenty of desserts. Want to dial into a specific category? Venture over to our collections dedicated to Easter sides, Easter dinner ideas, and Easter desserts. Want to find all our favorite recipes in one place? You’re already here.. Photo by Chelsie Craig, styling by Judy Mancini1/47. Eggs Benedict for a Crowd. Eggs poached in advance. A hollandaise that stays luscious for hours. A tray of perfectly toasted, buttery muffins. Yep—this make-ahead, crowd-friendly Easter recipe for brunch, then sit back and rake in the compliments.. Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Kate Buckens2/47. French Toast Casserole. No need to stand by the stove to flip slices of French toast—this crowd-friendly casserole is completely hands-off. Make it the night before, and hosting an early-morning Easter brunch will be a breeze.. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua3/47. Extra-Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Frosting. Sure, a lot of recipes promise soft and pillowy cinnamon rolls, swirled with the perfect amount of sugar and spice—but we really mean it. Save yourself some stress on Easter morning by making the dough a day in advance and stashing it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, roll it out, fill it up, and let the second rise happen in a warm spot, like a sunny window.. Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Luciana Lamboy, Prop Styling by Sean Dooley4/47. Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quiche. Every Easter brunch needs a good quiche. This one, which is packed with deeply browned onions and nutty Gruyère cheese, makes an excellent vegetarian main—but if you want to add a handful of chopped ham, we wouldn’t be mad about it.. Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Susan Ottaviano, prop styling by Sophie Strangio 5/47. Blistered Asparagus Frittata. In-season asparagus doesn’t need much to shine, which is exactly why it deserves a spot on your Easter table. Sauté the stalks in a hot skillet, then carefully layer them atop a rich, cheesy egg mixture for this simple, high-impact frittata.. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Judy Kim, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca6/4  

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Food

41 Gluten-Free Desserts Everyone Will Love

​Gluten-free desserts should be just as thrilling, delicious, and fun to eat as any other. Many desserts—like ice cream, flan, and mousse—are naturally gluten-free, and there are plenty of those below. But for cakes, cookies, and more, we often have to turn to alternative flours to replace the traditional wheat-based ingredients. Which is why it’s a good thing that grocery stores these days are bursting with all kinds of grain-free flours such as almond, coconut, and buckwheat—not to mention gluten-free flour blends that can be used as a substitute for almost any baking recipe. Several of the recipes below use glutinous rice flour, a staple of East and Southeast Asian cooking that makes all kinds of tempting treats (mochi among them).. Jump ahead. Chocolate gluten-free desserts. Fruity gluten-free desserts. Frozen gluten-free desserts. Gluten-free cookies, bars, and small bites. Creamy and custardy gluten-free desserts. Gluten-free cakes. We’ve rounded up our favorite gluten-free desserts, designed without any substitutes. Expect creamy classics (fruit-topped sundaes and rice pudding), small bites (mochi blondies and chocolate chip oat cookies), and showstopping cakes for birthdays or any special occasion—even if that special occasion is that it’s 9 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you’re craving something sweet.  

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Food

Does the McDonald’s CEO Actually Like Big Macs?

​Welcome to Deep Dish, a weekly roundup of food and entertainment news. Last time we uncovered Sam Smith’s secret food Instagram.. Marketing has gotten weirder. Movies used to be promoted with, I don’t know, billboards or whatever. Now, A24 is opening up wedding chapels for the new Zendaya vehicle. Did you see the Brat credit cards? Did you get one? David, the protein bar company, is sending people vibrators—I would have killed to listen in on that marketing pitch.. Spectacle, stunt, embarrassment, and entertainment have all become enmeshed in this new, dystopian advertising landscape. That’s why I was more than a little suspicious when an oddly robotic McDonald’s CEO gingerly took a minuscule nibble of the company’s newest burger which he kept referring to as a “product.” Could this decidedly weird video somehow be some kind of 3D chess, outrage bait marketing ploy? More on that in a bit.. Also this week: Keith Lee, the influencer known for taste-testing local gems, invests in his first restaurant (and it’s not what you’d expect); RFK Jr. is coming for your Dunkin’ and, naturally, Bostonians are not thrilled; and we take a look at the free grocery store in Atlanta that may serve as a model for Mamdani’s team in New York.. The CEOs Are Being Weird Again. Chris Kempczinski, CEO of McDonald’s, took to social media to taste the company’s new “product,” as he called it: the Big Arch. The new burger has sesame seeds and poppy seeds on the bun and…. Whatever, I don’t care. The point is this guy had potentially never eaten a burger in his life, and the tiny bite he took inspired heaps of backlash from commenters who caught on to his perceived reticence to try his own product.. It wasn’t long before other brands seized the opportunity to dunk on Chris and McDonald’s. Burger King CEO Josh Kobza took a hearty bite of a BK burger. Wendy’s got in on it. I guess the A&W CEO also jumped in too? Burgermogging around every corner. Some on the internet were quick to point out that Kempczinski’s weird video may have in fact been a marketing ploy all along. One commentator referred to it as “obviously a viral marketing psyop,” and intentional or not, that’s exactly what it turned into. —Sam Stone, staff writer. Keith Lee Enters His Restaurant Investing Era. Perhaps you know Keith Lee from TikTok, where he garnered more than 17 million followers for his front-facing videos in which he tries food from restaurants beloved by locals. His audience is so loyal that a single Keith Lee video can change the fate of an entire restaurant. Now, Lee takes on a new title: restaurant investor. He’s now an investor in Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, which has locations across the US and Canada.. In an interview, Lee assured me that investing in restaurants was not a conflict of interest as it applies to his restaurant reviews. “I will always give my honest opinion,” he says. Even if that means giving a bad review to a Brooklyn Dumpl  

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Food

Vegan Chili

​This vegan chili recipe is a meatless version of the weeknight classic that packs a wealth of comfort and flavor. In place of the usual ground meat, a plethora of beans steps in to provide bulk, making the soup seem just as hearty as the original. You can use three cans of any bean of your choice here: chickpeas, kidney beans, white beans, black beans, pinto beans—the world is your oyster.. And to make up for the beefy, braised flavors that meat provides, cocoa powder (an ingredient commonly used in chili con carne) provides bittersweet depth. Mingling with bell peppers, chipotle chiles (three or four, depending on how far you want to push the spiciness), and smoky-bright paprika, the lot creates a stick-to-your-ribs chili that packs a punch. Top your bowl with anything your heart desires: sliced onion, shredded vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, jalapeño slices, cilantro, cornbread, and tortilla chips would all make welcomed additions. You can stash any leftovers in an airtight container; it only gets better the next day.  

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Food

For Local Chefs and Farmers, Noma LA is a Big Deal

​Los Angeles restaurants have had a brutal year. The 2025 wildfires tore through entire neighborhoods, destroying businesses and displacing tens of thousands. Then, last summer, LA became the first major US city to face large-scale ICE raids, stoking fear among undocumented immigrants and disrupting the restaurant workforce.. It’s no surprise that more than 100 restaurants closed last year. “I’m worried about whether we can make all of our tortillas today, because some people are afraid to come in to work,” says Sherry Mandell of Tehachapi Grain Project, a farm north of the city preserving drought-tolerant heritage grains.. Into this landscape, Noma—one of the world’s most influential restaurants—arrived to prepare for a four-month residency in Silver Lake this spring. For a city still reeling, some say the timing feels complicated.. The local restaurant industry has largely embraced Noma with open arms. “It’s a nice flex for Los Angeles to have people interested in the city and what we do here,” says Brian Dunsmoor, chef-owner of the acclaimed live-fire restaurant Dunsmoor. But some in the food world, including producers tapped to supply ingredients for Noma’s test kitchen, voice frustration around the restaurant’s tight-lipped approach, sourcing practices, and most obviously, the $1,500 price tag.. As the discourse continues on social media, others have resurfaced controversy spanning at least a few years. For instance, in recent weeks, the restaurant’s former director of fermentation, Jason Ignacio White, on social media alleged physical abuse and the exploitation of interns by Noma founder René Redzepi and his management team.. This is not the first time Noma has been accused of being a toxic workplace. In 2022, Redzepi opened up about undergoing intensive therapy to make amends for his bullying behavior. In 2023, the New York Times reported about “a code of loyalty among Noma alumni [that] makes it impossible for workers to speak out about working conditions, sexual harassment and other problems.” Bon Appétit has not verified the new allegations. In a promotional video on Instagram which drew ire from commenters, Noma addressed the accusations in a pinned comment, writing, in part, “these claims do not reflect the workplace Noma is today.”. Controversy aside, at LA farmers markets, inside restaurants, during food deliveries, the Noma residency is all anyone can talk about.. Industry insiders have spoken of intermittent communication from Noma buyers and have alluded to them pitting farmers against each other in pursuit of better prices. Most of the folks I spoke to for this story said cost would likely prohibit them from eating at Noma L.A.. Still, for a restaurant of Noma’s caliber to choose Los Angeles—even temporarily—brings global attention to the city and raises the stakes for everyone working here.. To Oliver Woolley, the third-generation rancher behind the pig-and-beef farm Peads & Barnetts, that attention feels imp  

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