Baked Goods

Fresh fruit placed directly inside a cake creates two problems. It releases its juice and the sponge softens and breaks down; and the fruit surface in contact with air darkens over time, so the secti…

Pistachio can be used in a cake in two ways: as pieces or as a paste. Used as pieces the aroma is felt only in the bite that happens to contain one; as a paste the pistachio oil passes into the whole…

Most cake slices are built from horizontal layers and sit on the plate with a flat top. That looks tidy but ordinary, so pastry chefs add sauce, fruit or shards of chocolate to strengthen the present…

White chocolate has a different composition from dark: it contains no cocoa mass, being built on cocoa butter, milk and sugar. The high proportion of milk solids and sugar makes it more sensitive to …

Sponge is highly absorbent thanks to its open crumb, and pastry uses that property deliberately. Before the layers are stacked they are brushed with syrup; the syrup both moistens the cake and carrie…

Chocolate and sour cherry have been used together in European pastry for centuries, from the German Black Forest cake to Italian tarts, with many classic recipes built around the pair. The endurance …

Mosaic cake belongs to the no-bake group in pastry. Broken biscuit pieces are folded into a mixture of melted chocolate and butter, pressed into a mould and chilled; the structure is set as the choco…

Tiramisu differs structurally from classic cakes. Savoiardi biscuits are used instead of sponge; they are dipped in coffee to soften and layered alternately with mascarpone cream. The resulting struc…

Cheesecake is built on cream cheese, a product with a high fat content. That gives the dessert a creamy, full texture; in return, the same fat leaves a sense of weight in the mouth after a few bites.…

The creamy body of a cheesecake is almost white, which is an advantage in pastry: every colour placed on it reads brighter than it is. The deep red of raspberry is among the colours that set the shar…

A dessert portion is not valuable simply for being large. With rich desserts a large portion works against itself; the guest cannot finish the plate and remembers the experience badly. That holds esp…

Choux is one of the most unusual pastries, because what makes it rise is not yeast or baking powder but steam. The paste is first cooked on the stove and then baked; the water inside turns to vapour …