Jessie Oleson Moore - The Secret Lives of Baked Goods: Sweet Stories & Recipes for Americas Favorite Desserts

Copyright 2013 by Jessie Oleson Moore

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Sasquatch Books

Editor: Susan Roxborough
Project editor: Michelle Hope Anderson
Design: Anna Goldstein
Illustrations: Jessie Oleson Moore
Photographs: Clare Barboza
Food styling: Laurie Pfalzer
Copy editor: Lisa Gordanier

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-57061-854-3
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57061-853-6

Sasquatch Books
1904 Third Avenue, Suite 710
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 467-4300
www.sasquatchbooks.com

v3.1

To Mom, Dad, Kelly, Bridget, and
Porkchop for making life sweet

JUST AS MANY INGREDIENTS contribute to a recipes deliciousness, many people contribute to baking up a books successful completion! In the course of this project, I have many people to thank. Way too many for just one page, but Ill do the best I can.

Thank you to Sasquatch Books for believing in me enough to give me a second book deal. In particular, Susan Roxborough, Michelle Hope Anderson, and Anna Goldstein. For editing, photographing, and food styling, respectively: Lisa Gordanier, Clare Barboza, and Laurie Pfalzer. You all make me look (and sound) good!

Thanks to the ace group of testers and fact checkers for the recipes and stories in this book: Betsy Eves, Clara Nguyen Osborn, Jennifer Comfort, Jenny Williams, Tania Stenzel, Michelle Wall, Kristin Ausk, Nicole Vasquez, Porche Lovely, Compton Brodhead, Philip Longo. An extra-special thanks to Nancie and David Brodhead for the use of their kitchen for testing recipes!

Thanks to the companies and bakers whose recipes and stories inspired me. This book is my love letter to what you do and create!

For always supporting me, my family: Margie, Kenny, Kelly, Bridget, Dylan, and Porkchop. For always being my best friend: Danny Oleson. For always believing in me and always being willing to visit one more bakery: Becca Todd, Philip Longo, and James Papadopoulos.

And of course, all of the CakeSpy.com readers and enthusiasts. I love you to sugar-filled pieces.

And if youre just someone who thought the cover looked cool and picked up the book, well, thank you too for sharing a love of sweets. Youre in for a real treat!

Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.

BARRY LOPEZ, CROW AND WEASEL

HOW DO YOU INCREASE THE LURE OF DESSERT? With a little lore. I firmly believe that everything tastes better with a backstory; sweets, in particular, become far more pleasurable when served with a fascinating tale. Did you know, for instance, that chocolate chips were invented after the cookie? Chew on that: it will certainly make you taste your next cookie more mindfully.

Pausing to consider the stories of the treats we love gives us a chance to reflect on them and to appreciate the journeys theyve taken to become part of our cookbook repertoire. Its also a chance to appreciate them anew.

One of the major lessons Ive learned while writing this book is that recipes are not necessarily inventedthey evolve . Much like playing the game Telephone, the stories of how they came to be can get a bit muddled with the passage of time. The recipes themselves, reflecting the tweaks that occur with repeated preparation, can change toosometimes to the point where the dessert eventually bears little resemblance to the original version. While Ive taken pains to find the true stories behind the sweets we love, sometimes determining the exact truth is not as much fun as examining the gossip surrounding themso theres a bit of both here. Ive researched, tested, and explored many versions of each recipe, both old and new (and had so much fun along the way!). Ive striven to provide recipes that are respectful to the original, but updated, when appropriate, to make them more accessible to the home baker. In some cases, the recipes can be considered a starting place, an invitation for you, the baker, to add your own riffs and to weave your own stories into the results.

This book isnt intended as a textbook or a historical volume, but instead serves to tell stories and to celebrate sweets. Within these pages youll find romantic musings on how confections got their names; stories of intrigue and even a bit of scandal; unusual facts and figures; and of course, many mouthwatering recipes and photos. Delightful and delicious, these tales are guaranteed to offer food for thought, and the recipes are bound to tantalize your sweet tooth.

CLASSIC CAKES

CAKES MAKE THE OCCASION. Theyre always the guest of honor, the prettiest food on the table, and (in my opinion) the most memorable part of a meal. Theyre a delicious symbol of celebration, and one of the sweetest food memories we hold onto. Heres a collection of classics, each served with a sweet story.

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT , birthday cake is kind of a funny thing: what other dessert do you put candles on, sing to, spit at as you try to blow out the candles, and then watch as your friends and family clamor for a piece? And yet, birthday cake is one of the most popular desserts in America. Everyone can picture the classic two-layer round cake, filled and covered with a thick layer of fluffy frosting, topped (if youre lucky) with bright decorations, and finished with a blaze of candles on top. But how on earth did this dessert become the symbol of celebrating another year of life?

The idea of punctuating special occasions with cake is nothing new. Putting together all of the richest and best ingredients for celebrations was common even in ancient times. In days past, however, special-occasion cakes probably resembled fruitcakes more than the fluffy layer cakes we know and love today.