Our favorite piece from The New York Times Dining section this week was Alex Witchel's Feed Me column. She rhapsodized over the pleasures of simple layer cake, frosted with chocolate icing, especially in the face of the popularity of flourless cakes and teeny cupcakes. What about an old-fashioned slab of cake? Read her whole piece and get a recipe for her favorite (and our favorite too!) traditional layer cake here: Nothing Says Summer Like Icing.
More from the Times below, including best bitters for summer, soft-shell crabs from the Minimalist, and more.
Suddenly, Ricotta’s a Big Cheese - Ricotta is showing up on restaurant menus all over town, and the recipes are here. Showing off fresh ricotta - a creamy topping on crostini with rhubarb jam or figs and over pasta as a topping all on its own. We love ricotta too! See some of our past ricotta coverage below.
Related: Recipe: D.I.Y. Ricotta
Related: Simple Pleasures: Ricotta with Honey and Fruit
A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue - Tripping on miracle fruit? Apparently a whole new kind of party has grown up around these little berries that turn even the most sour foods sweet. Come, eat a berry, then drink some lemon juice. Sounds wild!
Related: Strange Foods: Miracle Fruit
A Tour of Bitters for the Summer - Eric Asimov takes a tour through the classic English pint. He says, Ordinary is the term for the basic British bitter, the ale that has for generations quenched bottomless thirsts in pubs throughout England.
Related: Craft Brewers Rejigger Their Formulas
Soft-Shell Crabs Take a Turn With Pasta - Crunchy, moist, and flavorful. Mark Bittman cooks soft-shell crabs on top of pasta.
Related: Recipe: Linguine with Mussels and Dandelion Greens
(Top image: Andrew Scrivani for the New York Times)
I *really* want to try that berry that makes tart things sweet. Like, really really want to try it.
view laetitiae's profile
I think you can order them wholesale through this site:
http://miraclefruitman.com/
He's the supplier listed in the piece. It's a $60 minimum order, plus another $30 for shipping. You could split it up with friends, though, and have a nice orgy like the one the Time described...
view faith's profile
I'm not really feeling the bought layer-cake nostalgia... Most layer cakes I have had in my life have been disappointments -- full of shortening or hydrogenated fats, sugary sprinkles, either dry or too sweet... There have been very few purchased cakes that have ever equalled, much less bested, one of mine.
The only cake that was sufficiently good was a slab cake that I used to order for office birthday parties from an Italian bakery. The buttercream was made with butter, and the cake was soaked in rum (baker's rum, alas, but still very good). There was one pastry shop in Montreal, Café Toman, where they made the best cakes (and tortes, tarts, cookies and strudel), all Czech. Alas, when the 85 year old waiter and busboy died, his nephew (? friend?) closed up shop, and I have been tortured ever since.
My red velvet cake with raspberry buttercream, or bourbon banana cake, or whipped cream cake with whipped cream and raspberry preserve filling, are miles better than any cake I have had since the demise of Café Toman.
view mschatelaine's profile
Thanks, Faith! I may have to send an email to my buddies and see whether they'd be up for it. :)
view laetitiae's profile