Sweet & Southern: Classic Desserts with a Twist by Ben Mims

    • Categories: Cakes, large; Frostings & fillings; Dessert; American South; German
    • Ingredients: 60% dark chocolate; all-purpose flour; sugar; unsalted butter; buttermilk; eggs; cherry juice; sour cherries; kirsch; unflavored gelatin powder; milk; cornstarch; heavy cream; vanilla extract
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Notes about this book

  • ashallen on September 12, 2022

    Reversed Impossible Chocolate Flan: Available online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017025-reversed-impossible-chocolate-flan

  • ashallen on September 12, 2022

    Reversed Impossible Chocolate Flan: This is a super-fun recipe (cake+pudding in a single slice!) that's not too fussy and creates a beautiful and very tasty dessert. Cake texture was great - no gumminess and tender but resilient enough to support the flan. I used the optional coconut extract and liked its flavor with the chocolate. A reviewer on the NYT website used almond extract instead which also sounds good. The flan layer was firmer and not as chocolatey as I'd hoped for despite using a really good cocoa powder. It also had a grayish bloom in spots - maybe because I used butter to prep the pan instead of cooking spray? (At least the cake popped out easily!) Serving with chocolate sauce and whipped cream would probably fix everything :). I pulled this from the oven once the cake was 194F but might try pulling it a bit earlier next time to see if that yields a softer flan. Refrigerated leftovers kept well and slices reheated well in microwave.

Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Pastry dough

    • hbakke on August 18, 2023

      Easy pastry recipe.

  • Peanut butter pie

    • hbakke on August 18, 2023

      Powdered sugar crumble combined with the sweet pudding filling and sweetened whipped cream resulted in a pie that was far too sweet and rich for my tastes. The blind baking instructions were too hot and scorched the top of the crust before it was fully baked. The peanut butter crumble had too much powdered sugar and didn't look anything like the picture. Overall, not a repeat recipe for me.

  • Orange breakfast rolls

    • ethedens on January 29, 2025

      These were really good. Took a bit of time to prep, but well worth it in the end. Alex loved them. 3.75/5

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Reviews about this book

  • Food52

    2015 Piglet Community Pick. Really, truly full of flavor. From vanilla to chocolate, peanut butter to caramel, each ingredient shines and each recipe is beautifully balanced.

    Full review
  • Tasting Table

    These Southern-style layer cakes and cobblers come with a side of sass...Ben Mims puts the sweets (and stories) from his Mississippi childhood to paper in his first cookbook.

    Full review
  • Saveur

    Each recipe is presented with an eye for technique and a borderline-obsessive attention to detail—a mark of his pastry chef background—plus plenty of his irresistible Mississippi charm.

    Full review
  • ISBN 10 0847843394
  • ISBN 13 9780847843398
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published Sep 23 2014
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 224
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Rizzoli International Publications
  • Imprint Rizzoli International Publications

Publishers Text

A fresh new voice in food writing reinvigorates decadent Southern desserts with a fun, modern edge. With the assured authority of an experienced baker and the easy wit of a natural storyteller, Ben Mims guides readers through the techniques and traditions of classic Southern desserts. Time-wasting fussiness and artificial ingredients are reconsidered in favor of practical, modern updates, fresh flavors, and global influences. This book features picture-perfect favorites such as Hummingbird Cake, Lemon Layer Cake, Peach Cobbler, Peanut Butter Pie, Triple Cherry Pie, and Buttered Pecan Ice Cream. Homemade staples such as upside-down cake, red velvet cake, key lime pie, cornbread pudding, and snickerdoodles are elevated with simple and inspired twists. Mims also offers original recipes that daringly mix Southern traditions with international influences, such as an Indonesian-inspired Cinnamon-Chocolate Spekkuk and a Sicilian cassata with Southern flavors. Mixing reminiscences and reflections with an expert baker’s tips and tricks, Sweet & Southern feels like an afternoon spent baking and gossiping with a friend. Precision is demonstrated through step-by-step photos and confident instruction, but the reader is also encouraged to experiment with different flavors, combinations, and preparations, empowering intrepid desert lovers to interpret and create new favorites.

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