Notes about Recipes in this book

• Tres leches cake

  • Emily Hope on October 09, 2018

    Made this for a party, and it got good reviews from guests, but I found it to be super heavy with a stodgy texture, a bit bland, and a bit too sweet (though not as sweet as I feared it would be). Definitely will not be repeating -- though I did like the idea of a meringue topping for a tres leches cake, and would borrow that idea for another recipe.

• Babka

  • Emily Hope on November 15, 2019

    I made a double batch (which nearly did in my industrial-strength stand mixer) and made one each of cinnamon and chocolate. The dough was both overly yeasty and dry, despite my adding a fair bit of additional liquid to the dough during mixing because it seemed dry (although they may also have been overbaked--I outsourced the removing of the pans from the oven). The cinnamon filling was quite good--like a cinnamon roll or sticky bun--and I would use it again with a different dough. But I'm getting ready to throw in the towel on Bake from Scratch as most of the recipes I've tried haven't turned out well...

  • raybun on September 27, 2017

    I made the chocolate version and added a few chopped pecans & pistachios to the top. The recipe is easy to follow and a YouTube video gave me the confidence I needed for the braiding. The orange zest in the brioche dough really complemented the chocolate. I'm definitely going to make this again.(Photo)

• Carrot cake

  • Julied on May 31, 2020

    Easily can double this recipe to make a 13 x 9, frosting may want to triple, depends on how much cream cheese frosting you like. Love the addition of bourbon in this.

• Banana chocolate espresso swirl muffins

  • chawkins on October 28, 2019

    Very tender muffins. However, the chocolate dough was much stiffer than the plain dough, making the swirling ineffective, I wound up with two-toned muffins, they tasted great none the less.

  • Zosia on May 23, 2020

    These were very good, tender muffins that weren't too sweet thanks to the espresso-laced chocolate marbled throughout. I used a trick I learned from another muffin recipe and swirled the 2 batters together in one of the mixing bowls before scooping into muffin cups - easy and far less messy. I made them with whole wheat flour and brown sugar and baked 12 large muffins in a regular tin.

  • kellilee on February 28, 2022

    Baked these up for breakfast using new jumbo muffin tins. These were the prettiest muffins ever out of the oven - such a nice swirl. The banana and chocolate flavors dominated. I fear the missing espresso flavor may have been due to the fact that I substituted espresso powder with instant espresso coffee. I doubled that ingredient but still found it missing that coffee flavor.

• Mexican hot chocolate bundt cake

  • Shannoncooks17 on May 23, 2020

    This was a great cake to make! Very easy and was well received by those who ate it! Pretty with the two colors of chocolate. Just the right amount of spice where if you like spice you were happy and if you weren't sure about a cake with spice you were pleasantly surprised. Will make again!

  • Zosia on March 01, 2019

    Excellent cake, both in taste and texture. It has good chocolate flavour (not too intense despite the colour of the darker portion) and the ancho chile powder adds a pleasant spiciness and subtle heat. The two-tone effect created by the different cocoa powders is very striking though the difference in flavour is not obvious.

• Chai butternut squash bundt cake

  • Zosia on October 08, 2018

    Delicious moist cake with the lovely combination of chai tea spice and orange, and a surprise cheesecake filling. The sweet maple-walnut topping was a delicious accompaniment. I would do a few things differently next time. I would bake the cake a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight to firm up the cream cheese filling but still serve at room temperature. For the sauce, I would toast the walnuts first for extra flavour and make only 1/4 of the liquid, just enough to coat the nuts as the "sauce" was more of a thin syrup that was immediately absorbed by the cake. I reduced the sugar to 400g (300 in the cake and 100 in the filling) and would use even less in the filling next time. Thanksgiving 2018.

• Sugared jam cake

  • Zosia on April 22, 2018

    This cake used the muffin mixing method of stirring wet and dry ingredients together by hand so it was easy to make and very quick too if you took a shortcut as I did and used store bought jam for the filling. The cake had a lovely vanilla-nutmeg flavour and was dense but moist. I'l definitely make this again.

  • Shewi128 on May 19, 2022

    Cross-posted: This was good, but it didn't keep very well. The cake got denser by the day. I wouldn't make it again.

• Hummingbird cake

  • Zosia on March 09, 2019

    The hummingbird bundt cake from Bake from Scratch magazine was such a hit, I thought I would try this more traditional layer cake version. The spicing in this cake was more subtle and the banana, pineapple and nut flavours were stronger...different from the bundt but still delicious. I wrapped the cake well for overnight storage in the fridge but it was a little dry when I served it. Perhaps the 23 minutes baking time was just a few minutes too long in my oven. I used only half the icing sugar in the frosting and it had great consistency and retained the tang of cream cheese.

• Pineapple-pecan filling

  • Zosia on March 09, 2019

    The addition of pineapple and pecans to the filling really enhanced these flavours in the hummingbird cake for which this was made.

• Cream cheese frosting 1

  • Zosia on March 09, 2019

    I made this to frost the hummingbird cake and used only half the icing sugar. It had a wonderful, spreadable consistency and was pleasantly sweet and tangy.

• Cocoa-stout cake with malted buttercream

  • Zosia on March 19, 2018

    The cake portion was absolutely delicious with a rich chocolate flavour and a bit something extra and was dense but very moist. The malted milk-stout flavour of the buttercream was probably very nice but the frosting was excessively sweet - and I used only half the sugar - and had an unpleasant gritty mouthfeel from both the confectioners' sugar and malted milk powder, I think. Fortunately, there wasn't much of it, and my batch was even smaller with so much sugar omitted. I'll make the cake again but use a different frosting.

• Matcha-almond muffins with black sesame streusel

  • Zosia on April 10, 2018

    These had great flavour and texture. The matcha was noticeable but not overpowering and they stayed moist for days. I used white whole wheat flour, and made 12 in a regular muffin pan. . A half recipe for the streusel was the right amount for this smaller size of muffin.

• Guinness stout cake

  • Zosia on February 18, 2019

    erratum: For Bourbon Caramel, cook until caramel registers 240°F on a candy thermometer.

• Blood orange loaf cake

  • Zosia on February 18, 2019

    errata: use ¼ cup (60 grams) blood orange juice (instead of ½ cup). In Step 3, gradually add flour mixture to sour cream mixture. There is no butter in this recipe.

  • Zosia on February 19, 2019

    This cake comes together easily without a mixer and is moist and spongy, though the texture of mine might have been affected by my substitution of 2% yogurt for sour cream. It has a pleasant orange flavour and is not too sweet. The glaze, however, is very sweet; I won't bother making the syrup for it next time but use blood orange juice instead as it will bring a tang to the icing as well as colour. I made only half a recipe of the glaze and baked the loaf for 65 minutes (202F).

• Strawberry-buttermilk cake

  • Zosia on May 02, 2018

    Lovely moist cake, perfect for spring, was made even more special by the accompanying lemon cream.

• Lemon cream

  • Zosia on May 02, 2018

    Lemon zest and juice added wonderful flavour to this simple whipped cream topping. I added sugar to taste, substantially less than the recipe call for, and served it with the strawberry buttermilk cake.

• Bacon and egg focaccia

  • Zosia on May 25, 2018

    I did a test run of this recipe (with just 4 eggs) for an upcoming brunch and I'm glad I did: it needed an extra 12 minutes in my oven (7 before the eggs were added and 5 after); the wells made with spoons weren't deep enough for the eggs but the depressions made with oiled, balled foil (a technique I found on the internet) were; the dough needs more than 4g of the brand of kosher salt I use. For my experiment, I included whole wheat bread flour (20%) and roasted red peppers in place of avocado. Delicious!

• Basic pull-apart bread dough

  • Zosia on January 25, 2018

    An egg, butter and milk enriched dough that's quite soft but very easy to handle, well suited to intricate shaping. It has a rich, slightly sweet flavour and a soft crumb. It's the basis for several recipes in this book, both sweet and savoury; I was inspired by the Pesto sun-dried tomato rolls but filled them with store-bought sun-dried tomato-pesto tapenade. Delicious!

• Blackberry jam star

  • Zosia on April 03, 2018

    The book's basic pull-apart dough is used in this recipe. It's an enriched dough that's both easy to make and easy to shape. I doubled the recipe and filled one star with raspberry jam and one with nutella. Both were delicious.

  • Shewi128 on May 20, 2022

    This is beautiful and not too difficult to achieve. The fillings are personalizable.

• Lemon ricotta poppy seeds scones with poppy seed streusel

  • Zosia on January 16, 2018

    These had a wonderful texture with a moist interior and a nice crunch from the streusel topping and poppy seeds, and the lemon flavour was subtle but still noticeable. They were also very rich and I would have preferred them much smaller. I ignored the food processor and just grated frozen butter into the dry ingredients. I also simplified the shaping by making the disc of dough in the bowl, transferring it directly to the baking sheet then pressing it into the correct size before cutting etc.

  • Shewi128 on May 04, 2023

    I did not make the streusel, and I also used the food processor. I also froze them ahead of time to throw into the oven for a quick breakfast. They turned out well if you bake them a little longer as they were frozen. I always find poppy seed goods to be a *little* dry, so I added a simple lemon glaze. I would make this again, maybe with the streusel next time.

• Black and blue crostada

  • Zosia on February 09, 2024

    We did enjoy the combination of blueberries and blackberries but this was a little too sweet even though I used more than twice the fruit without increasing sugar. The jam made a good pastry seal but wasn't helpful in absorbing juice. I used a different crust recipe.

• Bourbon caramel

  • Zosia on February 18, 2019

    erratum: cook until caramel registers 240°F on a candy thermometer

• Turtle bars

  • lkgrover on June 19, 2019

    Excellent brownies! Decadent chocolate & homemade caramel with nuts.

  • Shewi128 on June 19, 2023

    Decadent and delicious. It wasn't too rich like I thought it would be. I undercooked the shortbread crust by 2-3 minutes on the bottom because it looked a little over-cooked in the picture. It turned out great. I substituted crushed pretzel pieces for pecans due to food allergies, so that turned out nice. I'd highly recommend these for a large group--cut into small pieces, it could feed a ton of people! I would make these again. Note: the recipe says to let these sit out at room temperature overnight to allow caramel to set. I cooked in the morning, and let it sit out for ~7-8 hours.

• Strawberry jam crumble bars

  • lkgrover on May 08, 2019

    Delicious strawberry & oat bars; great for spring/summer when strawberries are in season. I only used 1 tsp salt. (Also posted on the Bake from Scratch magazine version, Summer 2016.)

• Pumpkin cake with browned butter streusel

  • lkgrover on November 20, 2017

    Excellent pumpkin cake; love the pumpkin seed streusel. I brought it to work. My coworker (who dislikes the texture of pumpkin pie) loved this pumpkin cake, and asked for the recipe. (Also posted on the Bake from Scratch magazine (Fall 2016) and the 2019 Special issue: Fall baking.

• Pecan crumble coffee cake

  • lkgrover on August 19, 2017

    I made this in a regular 8x8 baking pan, and brought it to a Saturday brunch. Everyone loved it! The cream cheese makes it very moist, and I liked the cinnamon spice. (Also posted on the Special issue: Cake (2016) magazine and the Winter 2016 magazine version.)

• Cinnamon sugar doughnut bundt cake

  • raybun on September 17, 2017

    The title says it all, it tastes like a giant delicious apple doughnut coated in cinnamon sugar! The reduced apple cider (non alcoholic) and diced apple give a great flavour, and the texture/ crumb is perfect.

• Citrus cake

  • raybun on September 17, 2017

    A great cake, best made over two days if you have the time. I made the sponge cakes and candied citrus the first day, then frosted and decorated the next. I adapted this slightly by only making 1/3rd of the frosting, and filling the cake with citrus curd as we are not overly fond of thick layers of frosting. (Photo)

• Strawberry-balsamic muffins

  • raybun on September 17, 2017

    A great recipe that I messed up slightly. My error was trying to adapt this recipe for jumbo muffins to regular sized ones, and getting the cooking time and texture wrong hence the darker hue. The flavour of the strawberry & balsamic though was spot on, so I will be making these again and following the recipe! (Photo)

• New York-style cheesecake

  • raybun on October 01, 2017

    This was incredible. Light & mousse textured, yet rich and creamy. The lemon zest is really necessary (I doubled the quantity with no regrets). I had a glut of apples and was craving tarte tatin so I caramelized some apples in salted butter & sugar and added them to the top to make this even more decadent. (Photo)

  • kellilee on February 14, 2022

    Just noticed in the photo that another baker left the bottom of her springform pan in place. I also could not figure out how to safely transfer that cheesecake off the bottom. Here were my other challenges. First, the recipe uses melted butter along sides and bottom. No stick on the bottom but the I felt like there was a fair amount of cheesecake that stuck to the sides of the springform pan. I was also challenged by the water bath. I had to buy a disposable roasting pan big enough for my springform pan - found one for $1 at the grocery so no big deal. My tinfoil wrapping did NOT form a watertight seal as there was some water seepage when I removed the cheesecake from the roasting pan. There was no cracking on the top of the cheesecake (so that worked) but it took hours of cooling and chilling before I discovered that I did not end up with a soggy crust. Internet research indicates that 18" tinfoil is the answer. This cheesecake tastes great but will not win a beauty contest.

• Gingerbread pear loaves

  • raybun on September 05, 2017

    I poached the pears the previous day using a very spicy ginger beer. The gingerbread spice cake complements the pear flavour very nicely and it looked beautiful when sliced. Definitely on the 'to make again' list.(Photo)

• Chocolate hand pies

  • raybun on October 01, 2017

    My nearly 10 yr old picked these and made them by herself, I was just the oven assistant. The pastry is crispy and encases a molten chocolate hazelnut filling. 10/10! (Photo)

• Apple pie with browned butter-oat streusel

  • raybun on September 27, 2017

    This is an excellent apple pie. The pastry is crispy and the browned butter oat streusel is delicious on the cinnamon apples. Definitely a repeat recipe. (Photo)

• Apple and browned butter hand pies

  • raybun on September 30, 2017

    These are great at this time of year when you find yourself with lots of apples. The pastry is light and flaky, the browned butter filling is delicious! I did have to put the filling in the freezer to firm up as it was very runny but it was an exceptionally hot day. (Photo)

• Pear chai spiced scone with spiced pear glaze

  • raybun on September 17, 2017

    These contain my favourite baking spices so I knew they would be delicious. Great light texture. Endorsed by this Brit who grew up eating scones in Devon. (Photo)

  • hbakke on September 30, 2019

    I was excited to use all the spices. These turned out great although I might cut the pear into smaller pieces next time.

• Blueberry-cornmeal muffins with thyme glaze

  • raybun on September 17, 2017

    These are fabulous! I used 'local' wild blueberries from Lac St Jean, Québec and rosemary instead of thyme, as I discovered halfway through the recipe the pesky squirrels had eaten my thyme plant. (Photo)

• Georgia peach pie

  • raybun on September 05, 2017

    This was amazing! A bit time consuming, but fabulous nonetheless. The pecan streusel topping really makes this dish. I used gelatin instead of pectin as that's what I had, and reduced the sugar by half.

• Lemon thyme and blackberry hand pie filling

  • Shewi128 on March 20, 2023

    I made this filling recipe for a large pie. The flavor was delicious, but I made a huge mistake. I had to sub in extra blueberries as I didn't have enough blackberries. After cooking the pie, I remembered blueberries don't have as much pectin, so they require more thickener. Anyway, it was pie soup, but it was delicious pie soup. I'd make this again, but I'd do it the way the recipe tells me to make it.

• Bread rolls

  • Shewi128 on April 03, 2023

    These caught my eye when I saw that they used a scoop for the balls. I ended up making about 36 rolls. I scooped the rolls and very lightly rolled them to shape, so they definitely looked ugly and misshapen before they rose. However, after rising and baking, they turned out nice, round, and browned. I would definitely make these again. FYI, I did not put any topping on the rolls for personal preference.

• Sour cream rolls

  • Shewi128 on May 19, 2022

    I made these without the cheese, garlic, and seasonings. These were delicious, soft, and perfect. I will make these again with and without seasonings. And yes, if you're dubious about the lack of kneading, the dough still turned out great!

• Vanilla bean and cardamom scones with vanilla bean glaze

  • Shewi128 on May 22, 2023

    Cross-posted: My son thought these were one of the best scones ever. The texture was light and the vanilla flavor was prominent. I loved them. I would definitely make them again. Don't skip the vanilla bean glaze.

• Vanilla syrup

  • Shewi128 on June 12, 2023

    Make sure you don't reduce this too much, or your syrup will be too thick.

• Vanilla bean glaze

  • Shewi128 on June 12, 2023

    Turned out very smooth and flavorful.

• California plum pie

  • Shewi128 on September 05, 2023

    Everything turned out well with this recipe, including the crust. The filling looked like it wouldn't fit 1/2 the crust, but it expanded a bit during cooking. Honestly, it would be better be 2.5-3 lbs of plums. Also, it was a little heavier in ginger than I preferred, but if you increased the amount of plums, it would probably even out. The resulting pie was a beautiful red, and the crust was tender and shiny from the egg wash and sugar. I'd make this again if I have extra plums lying around.

• Dutch oven breads

  • Shewi128 on September 05, 2023

    This was one of my favorite no-knead bread recipes! The crust was super crisp, and the inside was chewy like ciabatta. The dough is WET. Also, I decreased the oven's temperature to 450 from 500 because I was worried about the crust burning. I was right. The crust ended up perfect. I will definitely make this again. It was a rustic loaf, and it ended up more squat than I thought it would.

• Cream cheese frosting 3

  • Shewi128 on May 18, 2022

    This was very good, but maybe a little too sweet. I would decrease sugar next time.

• Tres leches pound cake

  • Shewi128 on May 19, 2022

    Cross-posted: This was a delicious twist on Tres Leches cake. This pound cake version was dense and buttery, and the cream soak made it even better. I would suggest using skewers to make the holes deep.

• Cinnamon swirl muffins with pecans

  • Shewi128 on June 12, 2023

    This is more of a cupcake than a muffin. I had to cream butter with sugar, so it wasn't really quick-bread type recipe. It was a little dry, and definitely overcooked (I cooked at the low end of the range). The flavor was ok. I don't think I'd make this again. Note: I substituted toasted oats for pecans in the swirl due to food allergies.

• Citrus frosting

  • cfrailey on December 23, 2023

    This recipe was noted to be in Artisan Baking, (there are so far, 7 volumes) page 15. In fact, the Buttercream Frosting recipe is in Vol. 1, page 17, Chocolate Buttercream Cake.