Colorful desserts and a crazy cake
Hello! Hello!
And here we are — it’s almost July 4th. Almost time for the parades down Main Streets across America — my small town in Connecticut has one and yes, politicians kiss babies. It’s the time when local corn turns up at the farmstand. And it’s the time for red-white-and-blue desserts, which means berries.
For the past week or so, I’ve gotten mail from Substackers with terrific berry recipes meant for the holiday weekend — not that you need a holiday to make them. And so I thought that I’d point you to a couple of my favorite authors and their recipes and then make a radical suggestion for a weekend dessert: Tazza di Torta, Mug Cake Affogato (!!!), a deliciously imaginative recipe from the deliciously smart cookbook, Italian Snacking by Anna Francese Gass.
My friend Zoë François, she who has a fabulous cookie book coming out this fall, writes the
and it’s a beauty. Zoë’s recipes are always excellent, but I love that they’re rounded out with gorgeous images, good videos and a ton of information. Her most recent newsletter includes a bushelful of berry recipes and links to recipes on her website as well., also a friend (yes, I’m lucky to have gifted friends), literally wrote the book on blueberries. Her just-in-time-for-the-holiday newsletter has five — count’em — berry recipes. All beautiful. Sally only does beautiful.And the wondrously talented
has gorgeous berry treats in her newsletter and on her website. Her latest edition of Susanality, will set you up for a most delicious sweet and savory July 4th.It turns out that over the years that I’ve been writing
, I’ve written a lot about berries! There was the story about building a strawberry tart the way Maison Aleph in Paris does (I love the recipe for pistachio frangipane that’s included). The recipe for strawberry panna cotta — very simple and very pretty. The drop-biscuit cobbler (love the biscuits) with peach and blueberries. And the blueberry crunch picnic pie. And all those posts about the beautiful strawberry desserts in Paris. Sigh.Building a tart Maison Aleph style
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July 7, 2021
Pucker up for Some Like it Tart Panna Cotta
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May 25, 2022
Drop-Biscuit Peach-Blueberry Cobbler Recipe
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August 6, 2022
Blueberry Crunch Picnic Pie
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April 30, 2022
You’ll be hearing more from me about Anna Francese Gass’s new book, Italian Snacking: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Hour of the Day. For now, here’s the topline: I love it! It’s got a terrific selection of recipes that are smart, fun to make and so very, very good. That they transport you to Italy is the bonus.
I’ve got a bunch of tabs in the book. For sure I’ll be making Tarallini, savory cracker-circlets for nibbling with drinks (they’ll be great to bring to friends) and Michael is hoping I’ll make arancini, the famous rice balls that always hide something delicious in their middles, but he’s going to have to hope for a while a longer — it’s not arancini weather in our part of Connecticut.
Happily, it’s affogato weather and Anna’s got a recipe that expands the pleasures of this simple dessert. Affogato — a brilliant idea on its own — is ice cream, often vanilla, scooped into a cup and then doused with a shot of hot, high-octane espresso. I was very grown-up when I had my first affogato and I was also very annoyed at the world for keeping it from me for so long. It’s a dessert that sounds like nothing and turns out to be truly something. That Anna added mug cake made with chocolate-hazelnut spread (yes, Nutella) and olive oil as a base for the classic affogato spins the sweet into celestial range. Whether or not, like the affogato ordinario, this becomes a trend, I’m not going to sleep on it. My plan: Indulge early and often. And even on July 4th.
Whatever you decide to serve for the weekend, I hope you and all those you share it with enjoy it.
Thank you for sharing your recommendations for books that are “bigger than you are.” The suggestions are so good and so smart. We’ve gathered your suggestions from the comments into this downloadable list.
Anna suggests 14 grams of ground coffee beans for two shots of espresso. If you don’t have an espresso machine, strong coffee will do. Make sure it’s hot — the back and forth of hot and cold is a big part of what makes this dessert so exciting.
You might want to scoop the ice cream and slide it into the freezer before you start on the cake. Once the cake is baked — a matter of seconds — it’s good to move quickly so that you can dig in while the cake and espresso are hot and the ice cream is still cold.
Makes 2 mug cakes
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup (21 grams) high-quality unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons whole milk
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
2 scoops vanilla gelato
2 shots hot espresso
Set a sifter over a medium bowl and spoon the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder into it. Add the espresso powder and salt and whisk to combine. Add the milk, oil, and chocolate-hazelnut spread to the bowl and whisk to create a thick batter.
Divide the batter between two mugs. Microwave both batter-filled mugs in 30-second increments for a total of 90 seconds, or until the cake has puffed and is cooked through.
Quickly place a scoop of gelato on top of each cake and pour a shot of hot espresso over each scoop.
Serve immediately.
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