The Guinness Chocolate Cake Bake Off
9 cakes to rule them all
Thrilled to share that St. Patrick’s Day this year falls on Monday, 3/17 which means that you have about three weeks to plot your Guinness chocolate cake of choice to delight your family and friends.
Only kidding—no need to wait until then! As I mention in the blog post, I think this uber-moist chocolate cake deserves to be made year-round, independent of holidays.
In case you’re very interested in a moist chocolate cake but not the alcohol, I think it would be easy to swap a non-alcoholic beer in for the Guinness (like this or I just learned that Guinness 0 exists!). I suspect using coffee as a swap for the beer could also work, but am unsure whether the lack of carbonation would affect the texture significantly. Please feel free to report back if you give it a try!
In any case, you can find the full bake off post here.
Next bake off invite!
The March bake off is a SUPER special event—next Monday, March 3, I’m doing a chocolate babka bake off as a part of Ali Rosen’s latest book launch party!
At the party, you’ll have a chance to:
Taste and rank 9 different babkas
Enjoy some snacks and beverages from Cathedrale
Listen in on a Q&A with Ali and myself about her new book, Unlikely Story, and the bake offs
Come away with a lovely gift bag with treats from Breads Bakery, Oxo, Valrhona and more.
SO excited for this! Tickets here ($25).
The April bake off (which might end up being closer to the end of March) will likely be back to a normal pick-up-and-taste-at-home bake off—details to be announced soon!
A mini winter food digest
I’ve been lucky to have snacked WELL this past month and wanted to highlight a few memorable items in case you’re looking for some NYC bakery or recipe recommendations!
Unique pancakes
From left to right: pancakes from Hellbender, Hen House and Cafe Luluc.
Hellbender: I love a corn pancake, and the ones at the new Hellbender in Queens are made with heirloom masa, yogurt for tang, and are the perfect sponge for soaking up cinnamon, butter and maple syrup. For a corn pancake in Manhattan, I still think about the corn flapjacks from The Dutch. For a full list of my NYC pancake recommendations, check out this blog post.
Hen House: This cheesy, oven-baked knefe pancake is definitely one of the most unique pancakes I’ve tried in NYC. It’s thick, decadent, and will leave you thinking about blueberries and cheese for days. Don’t leave without trying some of their delicious Lebanese entrees (loved the falafel plate)!
Cafe Luluc: These have long ranked high on my list of favorite NYC pancakes and I recently returned and was reminded how much I like them! SO thick and fluffy (my ideal cakey texture) with the perfect sweetness level from the syrup, berries, and pancakes themselves. Going for dinner was a breeze to walk in (vs. the more chaotic brunch). Cash only.
Restaurants/bakeries
Sunday Mornings: Unfortunately for me and everyone else who hates to stand in line (so, everyone), this new cinnamon roll cafe in East Village really DID live up to the hype. While the rolls didn’t look that plush from the videos I’d seen, the texture was perfectly soft and the flavor was on point. We tried the classic and bananas foster (both incredible) and I’m already simultaneously planning my next visit and trying to resist when we have cinnamon rolls at home!
Red Gate Bakery: On a similar note, I finally tried a cinnamon roll from Red Gate (only available Friday/Saturday mornings). Technically, it was an earl gray grapefruit bun and it was quite good! I would say the hype is deserved, especially if you like unusual flavor combinations. The dough feels a little less plush and thinner/more caramelized than Sunday Mornings, so I slightly prefer the latter.
Recipes etc.
Milk Bar corn cookies: I sampled some of these salty sweet almost scone-like cookie “grilled cheeses” at a Milk Bar event recently and they’re some of the best things I’ve eaten this past month. Desperately searching to find some freeze-dried corn powder in the neighborhood to try this recipe!
Bigger Bolder Baking homemade samoas: It’s Girl Scout cookie season, which inspired me to try making homemade samoas for a recent LA wildfire fundraiser. I generally followed this recipe but made my own salted caramel. Highly recommend!
Oh She Glows vegan caesar dressing: I’ve been on a massaged kale salad kick and this has been my favorite Caesar-ish dressing for years. I typically omit the Worcestershire and capers since I don’t usually have them on hand. I like adding pan-fried tofu, toasted bread crumbs, cucumber and avocado for a very satisfying salad.
Vegan queso: My friend Arlyn introduced me to this recipe and it’s one of my recent fixations! So good on nachos or in a Mexican-inspired salad or bowl.
Hungryroot: I tried out a grocery delivery from Hungryroot this month and really enjoyed the array of vegetarian/pescatarian protein options they offer to change up my normal meal routine. While this probably wouldn’t be a service I’d use regularly (I don’t love all their plastic packaging), it’s perfect for a hearty fridge restock after traveling. If you’d like to try 40% off your first box and receive a free gift, use PANCAKEPRINCESS at checkout!
If you liked this food digest section, let me know and I’ll be sure to include more of them in future newsletters 🥞
Wondering how your favorite stacks up?
This master spreadsheet contains most of my bake off spreadsheets where I collect and compare recipes. If you ever want to compare your favorite recipes against the ones I’ve tested, this will make it easy!
Thank you as always for your support and see you on the blog for the full report later this week!