Desserts Archives

Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Honey Crème Brulee

February 16, 2013 by Susan S. Bradley 4 Comments

Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Honey Creme Bruleee

Who doesn’t love Creme Brulee? Or better yet, Chocolate Creme Brulee? And February is all about love and chocolate at LunaCafe. But, there are so many formulas for Chocolate Crème Brulee, I hardly knew where to begin. After some initial testing, I figured that the important thing was to first get the perfect proportion of egg yolks to cream, then the perfect types and amount of chocolate, and finally the perfect process. The romantic flavor pairing was added after I worked out the basic formula.

Filed Under: Desserts, Recipes, Valentine's Day Tagged With: Chocolate, creme brulee, custard, dessert, Recipes, Valentine's Day

The Sticky Gingerbread of My Dreams

December 20, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 3 Comments

I began this exploration with a question. “What is the difference between sticky and regular gingerbread?” Put another way, “What makes sticky gingerbread, well, sticky?” A couple of rounds of baking later, I had identified the differences. Namely, sticky gingerbread starts with a fluid, molasses-heavy batter, which, if not over baked, creates a beautifully moist cake, which if wrapped and refrigerated for a day or two and then brought back to room temperature, has a dense, chewy, somewhat sticky texture.

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Holiday, Let It Snow, Silver Moon Tagged With: cake, Christmas, dessert, ginger, holiday, quickbread, Recipes, sticky gingerbread

Dreamy, Creamy, No-Bake Pumpkin Butter Cheesecake

December 6, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley Leave a Comment

I have developed dozens of cheesecakes over the years. At one point, I even launched a cheesecake company.

But a recent request from a reader made me realize that my focus has been almost exclusively on baked cheesecakes. A quick scan of my files shows only two no-bake cheesecakes. This post is one small and very tasty step toward correcting that omission.

Filed Under: Cheesecake, Desserts, Holiday, Pumpkin, Recipes, Thanksgiving Tagged With: cheesecake, dessert, holiday, no-bake, pie, pumpkin butter, Recipes

Marbled Spiced Cranberry & White Chocolate Cheesecake

November 11, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 6 Comments

I am very fortunate that the newest member of our family, Christopher Weaver, LOVES cheesecake. Because I love to create endless variations, and can’t afford all those calories hanging out in the fridge taunting me. Chris is a workout machine, so he doesn’t worry a fig about calories. If there are a few slices of cheesecake left after a family dinner, he saves me by taking them home.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Cheesecake, Cranberries, Desserts, Holiday, Let It Snow, Recipes, Thanksgiving Tagged With: cheesecake, Cranberries, dessert, holiday, recipe, Thanksgiving, white chocolate

Decidedly Different Cranberry, Walnut & Currant Tart

November 5, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 6 Comments

Every fall about this time, I am sitting cross-legged on the flour, surrounded by stacks of dessert cookbooks and culinary magazines. I’m looking for a cranberry tart for Thanksgiving. A UNIQUE, MEMORABLE, WOW-INDUCING tart worthy of the most spectacular meal of the year. And I’m willing (okay, eager) to try (okay, eat) several cranberry tart contenders before making the final cut.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Cranberries, Desserts, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, cranberry tart, currants, dessert, Fall, holiday, recipe, spiced walnut pastry crust, Thanksgiving, walnuts

Sweet Corn & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

September 29, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 5 Comments

Never heard of sweet corn ice cream? Well then, you’re in for an ice cream flavor revelation. As my collection of American Southwest and Mexican cookbooks grew over the years, I occasionally encountered this “oddity” in one or another of the dessert chapters. Finally, I searched the web and lo and behold, the word is out.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Recipes, Summer Sizzle Tagged With: autumn, dessert, Fall, ginger crumble, ice cream, recipe, spiced caramel apple sauce, sweet corn

Spiced Caramel Apple Sauce

September 29, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 5 Comments

You know the flavor contrast you get when you bite into a perfect caramel apple—first rich, creamy, sweet caramel, and then bracingly tart, juicy apple? Add half a dozen spices and that’s what this caramel sauce tastes like. At first, you think, “Oh yeah, luxuriously rich, wonderfully spiced caramel,” and then POW, the acidity of the reduced apple cider kicks in and your mouth goes, “Hey, whoa, what’s happening here?” I love this double-punch effect.

Filed Under: All Season, Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Recipes, Sauces Tagged With: Apple Cider, autumn, caramel sauce, dessert, Fall, recipe, sauce, spices

Blackberry Lime Syrup with Star Anise

September 12, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 1 Comment

This sweet-tart sauce is the essence of late summer. It transports me back to the country roads and beaches of Vashon Island, where I spent so many Septembers foraging for blackberries, baking for hours in the wilting sun, trying to get enough ripe berries for JUST ONE PIE.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Recipes, Summer Sizzle Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, berries, blackberries, blackberry syrup, dessert, Fall, Recipes

Ginger-Lime Peach & Blueberry Crisp with Toasted Hazelnut Streusel

September 4, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 2 Comments

Northwest farmers markets were overflowing with fresh peaches this past weekend. And the selection is just beginning.

So far, I’ve seen Red Rose, Suncrest, Angelus, August Lady, Blushing Star, Snow Giant, Hale, Red Gold, Regina, September Snow, Summer Lady, and Yukon varieties. There are so many choices that making a decision is difficult. I sampled peaches at the Portland Farmers Market on Saturday and then again at the Hillsdale Farmers Market on Sunday.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, blueberries, dessert, fruit crisp, hazelnut streusel, peaches, recipe

Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding (with Butterscotch Pudding Variation)

April 8, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 24 Comments

Ultimate Salted Caramel Pudding with Caramel Sauce, Whipped Cream & Cocoa Nibs

This post began as a response to repeated requests from a tenacious reader for The Best Ever Butterscotch Pudding (her words). She was impressed with Ultimate Vanilla Pudding (Perfect Stovetop Custard) and Ultimate Chocolate Pudding and wanted the same perfect results with a butterscotch flavor. She had tried a few recipes on the web but was disappointed in the results.

Filed Under: All Season, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: butterscotch pudding, dessert, perfect pudding, Recipes, salted caramel pie fillng, salted caramel pudding

Warm-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cake

February 21, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 9 Comments

I know, I know! Molten Chocolate Cake, or Lava Cake, as it is sometimes called, is so YESTERDAY. I am almost perturbed today when I see one on a dessert menu.

I mean, really, can’t the pastry chef think of SOMETHING ELSE? Haven’t we moved beyond warm, fragrant, oozing, fudgy chocolate soufflé cakes and their requisite ice cream accompaniments?

Filed Under: All Season, cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Valentine's Day Tagged With: cake, Chocolate, dessert, lava cake, molten cake, recipe, souffle cake, volcano cake

Chocolate Ginger Chipotle Stout Cake

February 13, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 3 Comments

I have a confession to make. This is not a new cake. I created it at the tail end of LAST YEAR’S All Chocolate! All Month! celebration, and then in the excitement of planning a slew of new spring recipes, forgot to post it. In fact, I forgot it altogether. Until yesterday.

Filed Under: cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Recipes, Valentine's Day Tagged With: Bittersweet Pecan Fudge Glaze, cake, Chocolate, Recipes, stout, Valentine's Day

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf

February 12, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 5 Comments

It’s All Chocolate! All Month! in the LunaCafe OtherWorldly Kitchen. As usual during the Month of Love, I am covered in chocolate: milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder. All in an effort to come up with the most delectable, memorable Valentine’s Day dessert ever.

Filed Under: All Season, Chocolate, Desserts, Valentine's Day Tagged With: banana, cake, Chocolate, dessert, recipe, tea bread, tea loaf, Valentine's Day

Mexicano Chocolate Ebelskivers (Aebleskivers)

February 7, 2012 by Susan S. Bradley 7 Comments

The first time I bit into the airy pillow of dough known as ebelskiver (pronounced ay bil skee ver), I could not quite categorize it. Was it donut, beignet, popover? Or something else entirely? The only thing I knew for sure was that I loved them—whatever they were.

Filed Under: All Season, Chocolate, Desserts, Valentine's Day Tagged With: aebleskivers, breakfast, brunch, Chocolate, dessert, donuts, ebelskivers, fritters

Holiday Gifts from the LunaCafe Kitchen

December 6, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 2 Comments

Christmas is the season of giving, and no gift is more welcome than something personal from your own kitchen. Pack your creation in a pretty holiday tin, canister, or gift jar, and you’re ready to make merry. The following are some of my favorite holiday treats, all perfect for giving.

Filed Under: Confections, Desserts, Holiday, Roundup Tagged With: Christmas, dessert, gifts from the kitchen, holiday, Recipes

Spicy Pumpkin Butter Gingerbread Beignets

November 4, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 9 Comments

This concept should have been a cinch. After all, I developed White Chocolate, Cardamom & Coconut Beignet and they’re wonderful—ethereally light, tender, moist, and beautifully flavored.

But I made a classic mistake at the onset. I tried to pattern the new beignets after the earlier success. And that, my friends, was a disaster. I threw batch after batch of beignets in the trash after just one taste.

Something different went wrong with each batch: too dry, too wet, not sweet enough, not pumpkin enough, not spicy enough, and finally, just okay but nothing special. I almost gave up. Where was I going wrong?

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Pumpkin, Recipes Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, dessert, Fall, gingerbread, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, recipe, tips and tricks

Spiced Pumpkin Maple Butter

November 1, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 12 Comments

I was at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and spied a perky little jar of Pumpkin Butter. I must be years behind on this, but that was my first encounter with this luscious spread.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Pumpkin Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, maple syrup, pumpkin butter, pumpkin puree, recipe

Lime & Vanilla Scented Rhubarb Clafouti

July 6, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 6 Comments

Clafouti (pronounced klah-foo-tee), a simple French custard-cake, is the perfect foil for the fresh fruit and berries of summer. Formulas vary wildly from one end of the spectrum (custard) to the other (cake). I love trying them all, and I’ve shared two of them with you already. What I am sharing with you today is a chewy, cake-style clafouti with a sweet-tart topping of lime and vanilla-scented fresh rhubarb.

Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, cakes, Desserts, Rhubarb, Summer Sizzle Tagged With: brunch, cake, clafouti, custard, dessert, recipe, Rhubarb, Summer Sizzle

Rhubarb Rose Petal Caramel Syrup + 4 Variations

June 25, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 4 Comments

One of the easiest and most effective ways to elevate a simple dessert to epicurean heights is to add a brightly colored, brightly flavored dessert syrup. You can serve a dessert syrup over ice cream or gelato, alongside panna cotta or baked custard, with tea cakes, or as the key flavoring of an Italian soda, lemonade, or limeade (recipe below).

Filed Under: Desserts, Rhubarb Tagged With: burnt sugar, caramel, dessert, dessert syrup, limeade, Recipes, Rhubarb, rose petal, Spring Fever, Strawberries, Summer Sizzle

Mastering Panna Cotta – with Six Variations

June 19, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 5 Comments

Fresh Chevre Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Sauce, Basil Syrup, and Almond Praline_Closeup

To my palate, this is the perfect Panna Cotta. It is lightly set and lightly sweetened with a good balance between fat and lean dairy ingredients.

To develop this master recipe for panna cotta, I created a recipe grid that compares key ingredients across examples from 20+ respected cooks. As you might imagine, the key proportion of gelatin to total amount of liquid is all over the place in these examples. You should not be overtly aware that there is gelatin in this dessert when you are eating it. That aspect should be quite subtle.

This article includes tips & tricks for creating the most wonderul Panna Cotta imaginable, plus six inspired variations.

Filed Under: All Season, Desserts Tagged With: custard, dessert, gelatin, panna cotta, Recipes, tips and tricks

Heavenly Almond Yogurt Cake with Fresh Strawberries, Strawberry Caramel Sauce & Basil Sauce

June 3, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 3 Comments

Almond Yogurt Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Strawberries, Fresh Basil Syrup & Cream Cheese Crema

When I happened upon the inspiration for this cake (Gourmet Traveler Magazine, Yoghurt & Almond Cake with Orange-Caramel Peaches & Vanilla Yoghurt), I puzzled over the ingredient proportions and procedure. Was there enough fat to produce a moist cake? Was there enough flour to produce a cake that could carry its own weight? Was the egg proportion too high?

Filed Under: All Season, Cakes, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: almond cake, almond meal, cake, dessert, olive oil cake, recipe, sponge cake, yogurt cake

Chewy Gooey Congo Bars (Blondies on Steroids)

May 28, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 6 Comments

I was flipping through my well-worn copy of The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz, flagging the pages of interest, when I saw a recipe for something called a Congo Bar and realized that I didn’t know what a Congo Bar was.

Then, as I read through the recipe, it started to coalesce in my head as a Blondie loaded with chocolate chips and chopped nuts. And as good as I’m sure David’s recipe is (which came to him courtesy of the Goddess of Baked Goodness, Flo Braker), I couldn’t help remembering that I created the Best Blondie in the Universe last year around this time and even suggested loading it with chocolate chips, chopped nuts, coconut, chopped peanut butter cups and anything else you can think of. For the post, I made a Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce and dolloped that throughout the batter. So was that creation actually a Congo Bar?

Filed Under: All Season, Chocolate, Cookies, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: blondies, Chocolate, coconut, congo bars, cookies, Recipes

Rosalyn’s Toasted Coconut White Chocolate Dream Pie

February 24, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 10 Comments

Over the past year, I sampled Coconut Cream Pies across the Northwest restaurant/bakery landscape and kicked around the tenants of the perfect custard cream pie with dear friend and culinary maven, Rosalyn Rourke. One thing led to another, as the saying goes, and the next thing I knew, on Roz’s insistence, I was hunting down a Lindt Excellence White Coconut Bar. After one taste, the Coconut Cream Pie turned into Rosalyn’s Coconut White Chocolate Dream Pie. After all, her appreciation for white chocolate and coconut was the inspiration.

Filed Under: All Season, Desserts, Let It Snow, Recipes Tagged With: coconut cream pie, custard, Desserts, pies

Spirited Mocha Crepes with Peanut Butter Caramel, Peanut-Cocoa Nib Brittle & White Chocolate Crema

February 7, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 3 Comments

Spirited Mocha Crepes with Peanut Butter Caramel & Roasted Peanut-Cocoa Nib Brittle

When I’m creating chocolate desserts, one of the first flavor pairings that pops into my mind is chocolate and peanut butter. I mean, does it get any better than that? And if I’m trying to please my man on Valentine’s Day, well chocolate and peanut butter are surely going to do the trick.

Filed Under: All Season, Chocolate, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: Chocolate, chocolate crepes, Peanut Butter Caramel, Roasted Peanut & Cocoa Nib Brittle, Valentine's Day, white chocolate crema

Heavenly Chocolate Crepes

February 3, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 9 Comments

Recipes can be inspiring, but there is nothing as satisfying as truly understanding the underlying formula and technique of a particular dish. Once you’ve got those under your belt, you OWN that dish and can riff it successfully and endlessly. That’s when the real fun begins.

Take the concept of dessert crepes (pronounced kr?ps in French or kr?pes in English) for instance, which are a type of very thin pancake. You can go straight to a comprehensive French cookbook, grab the basic dessert crepe recipe and process, and rely on that forever. Or, if you are more curious, you can gather 10-20 solid resources, compare the formulas and processes, and then hit the kitchen and test your way through them. When you are done, the entire world of desert crepes will open up for you and reveal its secrets. You will become the Zen master of dessert crepes.

Filed Under: All Season, Basics, Chocolate, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: Chocolate, crepe formulas, crepes

Chocolate Shortcake with White Chocolate Crema, Strawberry Lime Sauce & Strawberry Lime Salsa

January 29, 2011 by Susan S. Bradley 14 Comments

Mayan Chocolate Shortcake with White Chocolate Crema & Strawberry Lime Sauce

To set the record straight and to put my mind at rest, as near as I can determine after years of looking for the ultimate and absolute distinction between scones and shortcake, there is none.

Shortcake is a lightly sweetened cream biscuit–which is exactly what a scone is. So if you can make a perfect scone (and YOU CAN after reading The Best Scones in the Entire Universe), you can also make perfect shortcake.

Filed Under: All Season, Chocolate, Desserts, Quick Breads, Quick Breads, Recipes, Sauces, Scones, shortcake, Valentine's Day Tagged With: chocolate shortcake, Love Rules!, scones, strawberry salsa, strawberry sauce, Valentine's Day, white chocolate crema

Deep, Dark, Spicy Gingerbread with Coffee Glaze

December 29, 2010 by Susan S. Bradley 8 Comments

Spicy Gingerbread Cake with Coffee Glaze

It never fails. When the temperature drops like a rock and snow is in the air, I start craving gingerbread cake. It’s one of those ultra-comforting sweets that has so sparked bakers’ creativity over the years that it now boasts hundreds of variations. Maybe thousands. Look at the lineup of gingerbread cakes on TasteSpotting.

However, for gingerbread inspiration this year, I had only to open the new Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Café cookbook by Harvard educated mathematician turned professional baker, Joanne Chang. I scored the cookbook earlier this fall while at the South End location of Joanne’s Flour Bakery in Boston.

Filed Under: Desserts, Holiday, Let It Snow, Recipes Tagged With: Boston, cake, Christmas, Desserts, Flour Bakery, gingerbread, holiday, Joanne Chang, Let It Snow, Recipes

Dreamy Creamy Gingerbread Fudge: Two Ways

December 19, 2010 by Susan S. Bradley 28 Comments

There are few things in the candy domain that cause more consternation or downright fear than FUDGE. Just utter the word in some circles and everyone starts reeling off their horror stories. “Oh I can’t make it. It never works for me.” “I tried it once and it was a big grainy mess.” “I had to dump the whole thing in the garbage.” “It never set up, no matter how many times I tried to make it.” “I followed the directions EXACTLY, and it just didn’t work.”

Well, if any of these remarks sound like something you might say, you have come to the right place. For I, dear reader, am determined not to let a gooey, sticky, hotter than Hades, mass of caramel, with or without chocolate, get the better of ME. No way, no how, ain’t happening.

Filed Under: Confections, Desserts, Holiday, Recipes, Silver Moon Tagged With: candy, Christmas, fudge, Gingerbread Fudge, holidays, Making Perfect Fudge, Recipes, Tips & Tricks

Pumpkin Spice & White Chocolate Cheesecake

November 27, 2010 by Susan S. Bradley 49 Comments

You’ve heard the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Well, it was definitely the impetus for this Thanksgiving dessert, as I was torn between pleasing my stepdad, Mike, who loves White Chocolate Cheesecake and my daughter’s boyfriend, Chris, who expressed a desire for Peanut Butter Cheesecake (which I quickly swapped for pumpkin in honor of the holiday.)

The combination of the two flavors was even better than I expected, with the white chocolate lending the pumpkin a measure of sophistication.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Desserts, Holiday, Let It Snow, Pumpkin, Recipes, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Autumn Leaves, cheesecake, Desserts, holiday, Let It Snow, pumpkin, Recipes, white chocolate

Spiced Green Apple Lemon Clafouti

September 25, 2010 by Susan S. Bradley 6 Comments

I ran into an interesting clafouti (pronounced klah-foo-tee) formula in an old magazine in a box in the garage recently and almost dismissed it because there can be no better clafouti than Fresh Apricot Ginger Peasant Cake.

As you may recall from that post, clafouti, an earthy cake from the region of Limousin in France, is comprised of a layer of cake-custard, topped with a layer of juicy fruit. The result can be rather more like cake or rather more like custard, depending on the proportions in the batter.

Filed Under: Autumn Leaves, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: apples, cake, clafouti, custard, dessert, Dutch Baby, pancake, recipe