See It, Bake It, Make It Yours – Walnut-Sage Cake With Tangerine Whipped Cream And Fresh Fruit

Originally posted on April 1, 2015

After receiving a number of requests for the recipe for last week’s featured dessert, walnut-sage cake with tangerine whipped cream and fresh fruit, I’ve decided to post it. This is a fairly simple cake recipe to follow for a stunning rustic dessert, but I must give you this advice:

Master and enjoy it this recipe, but the next time you want to make it, stop. Look around your kitchen, pull out your favorite ingredients (sweet or savory) and make this recipe yours. Maybe you won’t have fresh sage on hand, but you’ll have earthy thyme or fragrant rosemary instead. Use it! Or maybe instead of having a bag of walnuts around, you’ll have almonds or pistachios. Use them!

My favorite aspect of baking has never been the successfully replication of a recipe time after time after time, but instead taking that recipe, using my imagination, and making it my own. Usually that means mixing up the ingredients I use and occasionally it means completely altering my methods. Ultimately it results in taking something old and making something else delicious and new out of it.

So read on, get in the kitchen, get creative and let me know in the comments how you improved upon the form!

Walnut-Sage Cake With Tangerine Whipped Cream
Walnut-Sage Cake recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking With Julia

Makes one 8″ cake

Ingredients:

The Cake:

1/3 cup organic walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup organic brown sugar
1 2/3 cups organic all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh organic sage
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup organic heavy cream
1/4 pound unsalted organic butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature

The Tangerine Whipped Cream:

1 cup organic heavy cream
Finely grated zest of 4 tangerines
2 tablespoons organic cane sugar, or to taste
1/4 tablespoon vanilla extract

Steep the cream:

The night before serving the cake, heat 1 cup of heavy cream in a small pot over medium-high heat. When the cream starts to simmer, remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the grated tangerine zest. Put a lid on the pot and steep for 1 hour. Strain the cream through a fine-mesh metal sieve into an air-tight container. Press a small piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the cream so it doesn’t form a skin on top as it cools. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mix it:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease an 8″ round cake pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer fitted with whisk attachments, cream the butter with the sugars on high speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Stop the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure all of the sugar and butter are evenly mixed. Beat on high speed for another 1 1/2 minutes. The mixture should be light, fluffy and pale in color. Lower the speed of the mixer to medium and beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. On low speed, beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Using a rubber spatula, once more scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix to combine.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Blend in the finely chopped fresh sage with a fork.  Using a rubber spatula, alternate folding in the dry ingredients (in three additions) and the heavy cream (in two additions). Fold only until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter.

Bake it:

Pour the cake batter into the 8″ cake pan. Bake on a middle oven rack for 45 minutes – 1 hour. The cake will be golden brown on the top and a small paring knife inserted into the center will come out clean when it is ready to be removed from the oven. Allow to cool completely. This cake is best when served the day it’s baked!

Serve it:

When you’re ready to serve the cake, transfer the tangerine-infused cream to a medium-sized glass or metal bowl. Using a metal whisk, whip the cream by hand until foamy. Add 2 tablespoons of cane sugar, and continue whisking until soft peaks form. Taste the lightly whipped cream and add vanilla extract and more sugar, if desired. Do not whip the cream past medium-soft peaks.

Remove the cake from the pan and slice to serve. Top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh organic berries (if available), supremed tangerine segments and sage blossoms.

Eat it:

You know what to do!

Walking The Line Between Sweet And Savory

Originally posted March 25, 2015.

When I meet people who claim they don’t enjoy dessert, I tell them they’re crazy and then ask them why. The response they give usually includes that most of the treats they’ve indulged in are either too sweet, or that they’ll simply just never compare to the [insert favorite sweet here] their grandmother, mother, great aunt, etc. makes.

And those are two completely valid arguments! While I can’t travel back in time to learn how to make everyone’s favorite dessert right beside their talented baker relative, I can suggest this: Use slightly less sugar than what your chosen recipe calls for and actively incorporate ingredients into your pastries that are considered more savory than sweet.

I’ve long affirmed the notion of baking with savory ingredients. When the sugar levels and non-traditional savory ingredients used are well balanced, the result can be a dessert that’s both extremely memorable and one that’s less likely to leave you feeling full of regret.

Take, for example, this walnut-sage cake with tangerine infused whipped cream, supremed tangerines, fresh blackberries and sage blossoms. Three important factors contributed to balancing this dessert – the amounts of sugar, acid, and the savory ingredient used.

I based the cake recipe off of Julia Child’s Hazelnut Baby Loaves as featured in Dorie Greenspans's Baking With Julia. This recipe was perfect to modify because it doesn’t have much sugar in it to start with! I substituted walnuts for hazelnuts (because that’s what I had around), half brown sugar for half of the required conventional sugar, and added minced fresh sage. Seriously, this farm fresh sage was too good to pass up with it’s beautiful, delicate violet blossoms and nearly minty taste. I have absolutely no regrets! The Watsonville blackberries and tangerine segments added a necessary acidity to round out the dish as a whole, and the barely-sweetened tangerine whipped cream helped to lighten each bite of a fairly dense cake.

The best thing about baking with less sugar and throwing in a savory component or two is that these dishes tend to be total crowd pleasers! Sure, there are purists out there who will always want their favorite dessert the one and only way they’ve ever had it prepared, but let’s give the larger eating population the benefit of the doubt - people are adventurous and frequently enjoy a good challenge to popular notions regarding what good food is and what it can potentially be made with.

So the next time you’re not sure what sort of sweet to feed your potential dessert lover, throw them a curve-ball. A little less sugar and a surprise ingredient might be just what the doctor ordered!

In Your Heart Of Tarts – Early Season Berry Tart

Originally posted on March 4, 2015 

I was going to post one last recipe that includes my favorite citrus fruit – bergamot – today, but I received an unexpected boon this week and decided at the last minute to re-route this post. Sorry, not sorry.

My friend Keith, a Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association market manager, knows what a fanatic I am about fresh fruit and surprised me with a flat of early season organic Seascape strawberries from Watsonville. Of course I was skeptical of their quality since it’s so early in the season, but let’s be real: Great produce comes out of Watsonville almost year round. Lucky us!

These gorgeous strawberries were plump, juicy, sweet and perfect for baking, so I made another batch of that super crispy tart dough used in my bergamot-Meyer lemon Shaker tart, filled the bottom with my personal adaptation of David Lebovitz’s recipe for almond frangipane and topped it all with my perfect strawberries and a handful of surprisingly tasty (also early-season) raspberries.

This is a rustic-looking tart that provides the perfect end to any meal. It’s light, fruity, crunchy and pairs perfectly with a silky dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream. I love this recipe because it still tastes great with a variety of ingredients that can be kept, added or omitted. For the frangipane component of the tart I substituted honey for the granulated sugar and bourbon for the kirsch, while also adding the freshly grated zest of a Meyer lemon, a pinch of salt and a drop or two of vanilla extract. Basically, feel free to make it your own!

Other types of fruit sub into this tart surprisingly well, too. While they’re in season try topping it with pitted cherries, halved apricots, rhubarb and strawberries, plums, pluots, apples, or poached quince and pears. It’s truly a dessert for all seasons if you’re creative enough to make it work! I’d definitely recommend spreading a light layer of something fatty underneath your fruit, though. The butter and nut fats in the frangipane help prevent the juices released by your fruit of choice from absorbing into the baked tart dough and making it soggy. No one likes a soggy tart, so let’s keep it crunchy up in this kitchen, guys.

Strawberry-Raspberry-Meyer Lemon-Frangipane Tart
Tart Crust recipe adapted from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food
Almond Frangipane recipe adapted from David Lebovitz

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients:

The Tart Crust:

4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
12 ounces butter, chilled
1 cup ice water
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

The Almond Frangipane:

6 ounces almond paste (not marzipan)
grated zest of one Meyer lemon
3 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch kosher salt
3 ounces unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature
1 whole egg, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
2 drops almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons bourbon (or whichever type of alcohol or flavor you prefer)

The Topping:

2 1/2 baskets washed, hulled and halved strawberries
1 1/2 baskets washed raspberries
Juice of one Meyer lemon, strained
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, separated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

The Whipped Cream:

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Honey, to taste

Make and roll the dough:

Cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Fill a measuring cup with one cup of ice, then pour cold water over it until the liquid reaches the one cup mark. Place the water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. Toss the flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and salt together in a large glass or metal bowl. Place the chilled pieces of butter into the flour mixture. One by one, use your fingers to flatten each chunk of butter, then mix it back into the bowl of flour. Continue doing this until each piece of butter is approximately the size of a flattened garbanzo bean. Take the ice water from the refrigerator and, while holding back the ice with your fingers, sprinkle 2 tablespoons onto the flour and butter mixture. Forming your hands into the shape of claws, rake your fingers through the butter and flour mixture until the water is evenly dispersed, taking care to not over mix. Continue pouring 2 tablespoons of water over the flour mixture and raking it in by hand until you’ve added half of the water. At this point take a small handful of flour mixture, squeeze it in your fist, and see if it holds the shape of the inside of your hand. If it does not, add another 2 tablespoons of water and check it’s texture again after raking in the water. If it does, briefly knead the dough until it forms a ball. You probably won’t use all of the water and that’s okay. Split it into two separate and even lumps, plastic wrap each tightly and store them in the refrigerator over night.

The following day remove one dough packet from the refrigerator a half hour before rolling it. You can make another tart with the other, or keep it well-wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. Line a 14″ aluminum pizza tray with a 12″ round of parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the slightly softened dough out to a 13″ round that will be 1/16 – 1/8″ thick. Gently transfer the dough round onto the parchment-lined pizza tray. Refrigerate while you prepare your fruit and filling.

Make the frangipane:

The frangipane filling can be made a day or two in advance and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before spreading in the tart dough, or it can be made fresh while the tart dough is chilling after being rolled out. Break up the almond paste into 1″ chunks with your hands and place in the bowl of a stand mixer with the room temperature butter, honey, lemon zest and salt. Beat with a paddle attachment at medium speed until the mixture is smooth and homogenous. Stop the mixer, add the whole egg and combine on medium-low speed. Stop the mixer, add the egg white and combine on medium-low speed. Take the bowl off of the mixing stand and scrape around the bottom and sides with a rubber spatula, ensuring that all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Add the remaining almond extract, vanilla extract and bourbon and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in. If refrigerating it for over an two hours, make sure to tightly plastic wrap the frangipane and remove it from the refrigerator for long enough to allow it to come back to room temperature – at least one hour.

Prep the fruit and fill the tart:

Preheat your oven to 375°F. When your berries are washed, hulled and halved, remove the rolled tart dough from the refrigerator. Scoop the frangipane into the center of the tart and using a small off-set spatula, gently spread and smooth the filling in an 11″ circle, leaving 1 1/2 – 2″ of uncovered dough around the edge of the dough round. Place the strawberries, cut side down, lightly on top of the frangipane, starting from the outer edge of the circe of filling and moving your way inward. Place another strawberry half along the edge of of the very outer layer of fruit nearest the ends of the crust – this will provide more structure for the folded-over crust to bake on top of. Randomly place raspberries in open spaces between the strawberries across the top of the tart. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on top of the outer 1″ of berries at the edges of the tart. Gently pull the edges of the tart dough up and over the outer inch of sugar-coated berries. This doesn’t need to look even or perfect – portions of dough can overlap and look roughly crinkled. Sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar over the uncovered berries in the center of the tart. Dribble the juice of one Meyer lemon over the exposed berries. Brush the melted butter over the folded over crust and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Brush any remaining butter over the uncovered berries in the center of the tart. Refrigerate for between 15 and 30 minutes.

Bake it:

Bake in the top third of the oven for 30 minutes, rotate the tart 180°, then bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust is firm and both the frangipane and crust are golden brown. Serve at room temperature.

While the tart is cooling, whip the cream topping. You can whip this by hand using a whisk, an electric hand mixer, or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Once soft peaks have been achieved, gradually add the honey of your choice until you are happy with it’s level of sweetness, starting with 2 tablespoon and gradually adding from there. Leave the whipped cream in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it, keeping it tightly plastic wrapped and lightly rewhipping it with a whisk before serving.

Eat it:

Slice and enjoy!

Eyes On The Pies – Bergamot Meringue Pie

Originally posted on February 25, 2015

My favorite citrus fruit, the bergamot orange, is still circulating the in Bay Area markets, so here’s an idea of what to do with these tart and floral little gems: put them in a pie!

The sourness of a bergamot orange is on par with that of a lemon, so bergamot juice lends itself perfectly to substitutions in any recipe that calls for lemon juice. So pull out your personal favorite lemon curd and pie dough recipes and let’s make a bergamot meringue pie!

Here are a few tips to keep in mind while making, filling and topping your pie:

• When baking the pie crust, make sure that it’s not under baked. Unlike pecan pie, in which the crust is par-baked first, filled with tasty pecan goo and re-baked, this pie crust will not go back into the oven until it’s time to toast the meringue. Prevent your pie from sogginess by making sure that the crust is a nice golden brown along the outer edges and the inside.
• Keep a spare clean pie tin handy in case the tin your buttery crust is baked in gets too greasy. The extra tin will also give your finished pie more support while it’s being moved around and cut into.
• Use the best ingredients available to you. The basic ingredients most citrus curd recipes call for include citrus juice, grated citrus zest, sugar, whole eggs or egg yolks, and butter. Because there are so few ingredients, each of their individual flavors will leave a big impact on your dessert.  Make sure that your fruit is fresh and washed, your eggs are new and odorless, and you use unsalted sweet cream butter. 
• If your pie crust is already baked and cooled when you make the curd, you can strain it directly into the waiting crust. Cover the surface of the strained curd with plastic wrap and pop it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to top it with meringue so it doesn't form a skin on top.
• Meringue is porous and easily picks up other flavors when refrigerated, so be certain to have a box prepared to store your pie in after you’ve topped it, then seal the box up well with plastic wrap. A cake carrier is another good way to store your pie in the refrigerator, if space allows.

Keep those tips in mind and you’re set up with a recipe for success! Go forth, bake, eat and enjoy the fantastic produce of the season while it lasts. What are you waiting for? This is truly as easy (and delicious) as pie.

Do you have questions about pie making? Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them!

Shaker It Off – Bergamot-Meyer Lemon Shaker Tart

Originally posted February 18, 2015

I’m not sure what it is about bergamot that gets me all in a tizzy every year. Maybe it’s my longstanding love of Earl Grey tea and it’s underlying bergamot citrus notes, the fact that bergamot oranges are in season for such a short period of time that if you blink they’re gone, or that they have a downright refreshing flavor. Whatever it is, suffice to say that I’m crazy about bergamot, I’m going to share some recipes that highlight what’s so great about them and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it!

Long time readers may remember that I’ve posted about my obsession with this floral orange/lemon hybrid fruit in the past, usually discussing how they can be used in cakes. We’ll be moving on from cakes over the coming weeks and into the realm of tarts and pies. I often pair bergamot oranges with pastries because they have such lovely floral notes and their tartness so nicely compliments flaky crusts, tender cakes and luscious whipped creams.

So first thing’s first: Immediately call up your local specialty grocer and ask if they still have bergamot oranges available. The season generally runs from late December through February, so get on it quickly! If you live in the East Bay, check in with Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market (which is where I picked up mine), while chances are good that Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco may still be carrying them.

After procuring your produce, set aside the one bergamot needed for the following recipe. Zest whatever remains of your bergamot and place the zest in a small ziplock bag or tupperware container. Put the zest in the freezer until you’re ready to use it in your next recipe that includes bergamot or any kind of citrus zest. Juice and strain all of the now-zested bergamots and freeze the juice. Now you’ll be set for the coming weeks’ recipes!

Today’s dessert is based off an odd little double crusted tart I made while baking pastries at Camino in Oakland. Traditionally made, a Shaker Lemon Tart is a single or double crusted dessert that’s filled with whole slices of Eureka lemons or their smaller, slightly sweeter and more fragrant relatives, Meyer lemons.

I find this dessert to be a challenging eat – not in the sense that it’s hard to make, doesn’t taste great or is just too weird. It’s challenging because it pushes the limits of what’s currently accepted as “dessert fare” and incorporates so many different taste experiences in one slice, ranging from a savory pastry crust, tart citrus juices, hint of bitterness from using the whole citrus fruit, a sweet and almost custardy filling and the creaminess of an accompanying dollop of whipped cream. Add on to that the slices of citrus in the tart take on the texture of candied lemon or orange peel when baked, and you’ve got a dessert that lemon lovers will drool over and adventurous eaters will have on their minds for days to come.

In the past I’ve filled my Shaker Tarts solely with Meyer lemons, but today I’m mixing it up by throwing in one half of a bergamot orange. Why not fill the Shaker Tart solely with bergamot oranges, you may be asking yourself? This variety of citrus is so overwhelmingly floral that the result would not only be a tart that straight-up tastes like perfume, but it would also be pretty bitter as bergamot tends to have a thicker pith than do Meyer lemons.

Returning to my love for Earl Grey tea, I topped my Shaker Tart with a black tea-infused whipped cream to round out the flavors. This dessert is equally enjoyable paired with a traditional vanilla whipped cream.

So off we go! Make sure to macerate your lemons and bergamot overnight before filling and baking the tart, and I’d also recommend infusing the whipping cream and making the pastry dough the day before baking and serving your dessert.

Meyer Lemon- Bergamot Shaker Tart
Recipe adapted from Anya Fernald

Ingredients:

The Filling:

1/2 bergamot
2 Meyer lemons
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons melted butter

The Pastry Crust:

4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, separated
12 ounces butter, chilled
1 cup ice water
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

The Black Tea Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 oz black tea (Darjeeling or Vanilla scented)
3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

Macerate the citrus:

Wash the Meyer lemons and bergamot orange. Place them in the freezer for between 10 and 15 minutes. Remove from the freezer and use a mandolin or a very sharp knife to slice the ends off of the citrus and discard. Continue slicing 1/8″ thick rounds of citrus, picking out any seeds you come across as you go. Place the slices in a glass bowl and sprinkle the sugar on them evenly. Gently mix the sugar and citrus together, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate over night.

Make the crust:

To prepare the pastry crust, cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Fill a measuring cup with one cup of ice, then pour cold water over it until the liquid reaches the one cup mark. Place the water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. Toss the flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar and salt together in a large glass or metal bowl. Place the chilled pieces of butter into the flour mixture. One by one, use your fingers to flatten each chunk of butter, then mix it back into the bowl of flour. Continue doing this until each piece of butter is approximately the size of a flattened garbanzo bean. Take the ice water from the refrigerator and, while holding back the ice with your fingers, sprinkle 2 tablespoons onto the flour and butter mixture. Forming your hands into the shape of claws, rake your fingers through the butter and flour mixture until the water is evenly dispersed, taking care to not over mix. Continue pouring 2 tablespoons of water over the flour mixture and raking it in by hand until you’ve added half of the water. At this point take a small handful of flour mixture, squeeze it in your fist, and check to see if it holds the shape of the inside of your hand. If it does not, add another 2 tablespoons of water and check it’s texture again after raking in the water. If it does, briefly knead the dough until it forms a ball. You probably won’t use all of the water and that’s okay. Split it into two separate and even lumps, plastic wrap each tightly and store them in the refrigerator over night.

Flavor the whipping cream:

Heat the heavy whipping cream in a small sauce pan. Turn off the heat just as it comes to a simmer. Mix in 1/2 ounce of black tea and cover with the pan’s lid or press plastic wrap down onto the surface of the infusing cream. Strain the tea out of the cream after 6 minutes. Place the cream in a tupperware or glass bowl, press plastic wrap down onto it’s surface so it doesn't form a skin, and store in the refrigerator over night.

Roll out and fill the tart:

The following day remove the dough packets from the refrigerator a half hour before rolling them. On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough packet out to 1/8 inch thick. Gently place the first pastry dough round in the bottom of a fluted tart pan or pie plate. Trim off any excess dough that hangs over the side by more than 3/4 inch. Refrigerate while you roll out the second lump of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Gently place the tart or pie plate you’ve chosen to use on top of the rolled out dough, tracing the edge of the plate with a pairing knife. Transfer the cut out round of dough to a cookie tray and refrigerate until you’re ready to seal up the tart.

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Sift the flour. Using a wooden spoon, mix the melted butter and eggs into the macerated citrus slices. Mix in the flour to combine. Using your hands, squeeze the citrus to release as much juice into the mixture as possible. Pour all of this into the lined tart or pie shell. Arrange the pieces of citrus so they are evenly dispersed across the bottom of the shell.

Place the smaller pastry dough round gently on top of the citrus mixture and using a paring knife, cut 6 small holes in the center of the pastry dough to let hot air escape while baking. Using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of heavy whipping cream onto the smaller pastry round. Fold the edges of the bottom pastry dough over to seal the edge between it and the smaller pastry round. Brush the folded-over edges of dough with heavy whipping cream, and sprinkle the top of the entire tart with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.

Bake it:

Cover and refrigerate unless you plan to bake it immediately. When you’re ready to bake the tart, preheat the oven to 425°. Bake for 30 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 350° and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the top of the tart is golden brown.

Serve it:

While the tart is cooling, whip the black tea-infused cream using a stand mixer fixed with a whisk attachment, a hand mixer with whisk attachments, or by hand. When the cream starts to thicken, gradually add in the granulated sugar, then continue whisking until soft peaks form. Taste for sweetness, and add additional sugar to taste.

Eat it:

Enjoy this very unusual treat!

Hot And Rising – Natalie Pearce’s Natty Cakes

Originally posted on January 28, 2015

Welcome back to the second installment of Hot and Rising, wherein we chat with some of the East Bay's hottest new bakers and makers and learn not only about what makes them tick, but which of their products will have you coming back and begging for more.

I most recently sat down to speak with Natalie Pearce, owner and operator of Natty Cakes. Three things immediately struck me as we spoke over the course of an hour – Natalie is sharp, young, and driven. “I always wanted it,” Natalie says of the business she started in August 2012. “I grew up baking, always in the kitchen, so I knew I wanted a bakery. My first job was at a bakery – I got that job because I wanted to have a bakery. Everything just kind of lined up! I went to school and got my business degree for this.”

As everything fell into place for the creation of the bakery she knew she’d someday own, the name of Natalie’s future bakery fatefully fell into her lap years ago. “I’d never even thought of business names,” she admits. “When I was working at the bakery [Oliver’s Market in Santa Rosa], one of my co-workers had come up with it. He’s kind of an out-there guy – he so, so cool – and he said ‘You know what would be a great name? Natty Cakes!’ He just breezes by as he says it, and my life just changed forever!”

Of the years she spent working professionally as a baker prior to opening Natty Cakes, Natalie explains that she “learned a lot, but I kind of learned more about the business side of it, the management side of it.” The real tricks of the trade behind this baker, however, came from her family. “My family is a huge influence,” she says smiling. “My grandma on my dad’s side had five kids, so every meal was prepared by her, everything that’s in that house was prepared by her! We’d go to the house every weekend and I’d bake with her, I’d always be in the kitchen with her. [We made] cookies, mostly cookies because we could make a ton of them.”

Now that her bakery is up and running out of local incubator kitchen Kitchener Oakland years later, Natalie is still just as passionate about baking and business-owning as she was during the stages when it was all just a dream for the future. “I love being my own boss!” she exclaims. “I love being in control of where I want the business to go. You know, it’s very stressful trying to think about branding and making sure you’re going in the right direction and everything, but I really like even the really monotonous stuff… you just sort of know the whole thing from start to finish.” Additional perks include “getting to choose where you go, you get to choose what you want to do. You have a lot of flexibility, but you have a lot of responsibility, also,” she says seriously.

It follows that after the years of baking cookies with her grandmother, Natalie is known most prominently for her cookie sandwiches. Natalie describes Natty Cakes' trademark dessert as “a chewy cookie with a buttercream filling.” She goes on to say “it’s a very simple concept – cookies and frosting – but when the ‘cupcake bubble’ burst and I’d moved on from it, I was trying to think of something that would have an impact… that would have more longevity.”

Natalie’s other offerings, including cinnamon rolls, cheesecake, pies, fruit galettes, wedding cakes and cupcakes, all regularly showcase the variety of fresh and local organic produce she is dedicated to using. “It’s really important to me to be sustainable, to be organic, and to be local,” she says. “I’m not the only one doing organic, I’m not the only one doing local, but I feel like my stuff has kind of a simplistic, rustic edge to it… just a little more homemade feeling and a little more satisfying.”

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the future will likely be looking quite rosy for Natty Cakes. Natalie says this year “I’ll have Valentine’s Day cookies, I’ll probably do a red velvet cheese cake again. And then I’ll have red velvet cookie sandwiches, red velvet cupcakes, anything red… You have to go with it!”

“Go with it” truly seems to be Natalie’s attitude in regards to the future of her business, as well as her advice to other small business entrepreneurs. “I think I’m just going along where I’m supposed to go,” she says simply. “Even looking at when I first started and I had ten different roads to go on and I took this one, I still feel like that this was the right one. You know, farmers market versus catering versus a food truck… I still feel like I’m on the right path, I’m still getting there. It’s just a long process.”

She advises that “if this is something that is all you think about, it’s all you care about, you don’t really care if you get beaten down ten times a day over it – then this is the right thing for you. And it’s worth it, it’s totally worth it!” she exclaims. “There’s so many different ways to go about [starting a business] – just do what’s comfortable for you, and definitely do it. Go full fledged into it and take the opportunity!”

Hot And Rising – Sloane Heffernan’s Rolling Sloane’s

Originally posted February 4, 2015

Welcome back to Hot and Rising! This week Sloane Heffernan, the owner and operator of Rolling Sloane’s, is telling us all about her infamous pop-tarts, favorite community of eaters and tips on what to expect as a new entrepreneur.

Although her business is relatively young, Sloane has quite the culinary pedigree. After attending the Culinary Institute of America, she moved to Oakland and spent time interning at Chez Panisse and working at the now-closed Citizen Cake, Bakesale Betty, Sweet Adeline Bakeshop, Ici Ice Cream, Feel Good Bakery, and most recently Beauty’s Bagel Shop. Having worked in so many well-followed cafes, bakeries, and sweet shops, Sloane already has her own following established around town.

“I’ve lived in this specific neighborhood, Temescal basically, for almost 7 years now,” she explains, “and I’ve been watching people have babies and watching their children grow. Those are the people who have been asking me for cakes and mini-cupcakes… I’ve also worked at all of these coffee shops around here, so I feel like I’m developing really personal relationships with this entire community. So I just kind of wanted to have a place where everyone can come to, all of those people who are my favorite regulars.”

While she’s a versatile baker, Sloane has already noticed her clients requesting specific treats – her nostalgic homemade pop-tarts seem to be the fan favorite at Rolling Sloane’s. “I’m currently known for my pop-tarts, which was just kind of something I came up with for the pop-up [at Beauty’s Bagel Shop],” she says. “I ran them for my first pop-up, and they were the first thing to sell out! Every single pop-up since then, it’s always the first thing to go.”

Her pop-tarts, set apart by their flaky pie-like pastry crust, are available at Oakland’s Cat Town Cafe along with a plethora of other sweet treats. From sweet, savory and even vegan pop-tarts, to cat-themed decorated cookies, vegan brownies and traditional, vegan and gluten-free cupcakes, Rolling Sloane’s has the snacks covered for all of the cafe’s guests (just not those of the feline variety).

If the wide variety of pastries she has to offer doesn’t have you sold, the ingredients she uses and the attitude she applies to her baking certainly will! “Everything I use is local, 100% natural if not organic, always in season,” she says happily. “I use Clover Farms Dairy and all farmers market produce and fruit for pop-up pastries. Pretty much any of the flours… are all unbleached and from Central Milling.” She also uses cane sugar instead of granulated sugar, avoids gelatin and loves a challenging order. “My website says I enjoy a good challenge, and that basically implies I’ll make anything you want me to make, so I’ve got to deliver!” she laughs.

So what does the future hold for this budding entrepreneur? Sloane participates in regular pop-ups at Oakland's Subrosa Coffee, Long Weekend, and Beauty's Bagel Shop, and hopes to be showing up at more locations around the East Bay while she prepares for bigger steps.

“My big dream is to have a bakery/live venue,” she explains in earnest. “Basically… I would run a regular coffee shop with baked goods, except they’re made in-house. Also, it could be a place where someone could use WiFi and squat on their laptops. The live venue at nighttime would allow for other small up-and-coming businesses to commandeer my space and use it as their pop-up and serve pizza or something, and also have live shows.” Knowing it may be a long time coming, she sighs contentedly and says “Until then, I’ll probably start out small and just have a tiny store front that seats maybe 20 people – somewhere in Temescal would be awesome!”

Sloane has many tips to share with other business owners and entrepreneurs to be, having been so recently through the process of officially opening Rolling Sloane’s to the public during the summer of 2014. “Start saving money now! That’s obvious,” she laughs.

Returning to a more serious tone, she advises others to “listen to your bosses when they tell you you’re not just going to get to bake whatever you want and that’s your only job. You’re going to have to oversee everything, you’re going to have to do computer work, you’re going to have to do bills, you’re not going to have time to do all of your fun stuff, it’s not just going to be following your passion. You’re going to have to do all of this extra stuff, too.” Sloane dryly admits that “now I’m trying as hard as I can to get pumped to do spreadsheets.”

Sloane is fun, lively and colorful, but she sure keeps it real. “Make sure you definitely want to do it!” she advises. “It’s not just something that sounds cool, or maybe you’ll do for a few years or anything like that. It has to be something that you’re actually giving up your social life for, and that you feel extremely confident about.”

You can find Sloane and Rolling Sloane’s offerings every week at:

• Eureka Coffee Truck - Tuesdays and Thursdays outside of Berkeley Ironworks - 800 Potter Street, Berkeley
• Cafe Underwood - 308 41st Street, Oakland

Extra thanks to Sloane for sharing her famous chocolate chip cookie recipe with us!

Rolling Sloane’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 pound unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup medium brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 free range eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Make it:

Cream the butter, sugars and heaping teaspoon of salt with an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment or hand-held mixer with whisk attachments. Scrape all around the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula.

Gradually add the eggs and teaspoon of vanilla extract. Scrape all around the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula again, ensuring that all of the ingredients are well combined.

Add the sifted dry ingredients gradually, mixing slowly and adding the chocolate as you finish mixing in the last of the flour.

Chill it:

Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before baking. It’s recommended to let it rest in the refrigerator between 12 and 72 hours after mixing.

Bake it:

Preheat your oven to 350°. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Save it:

If you don't plan to bake the entire batch of dough, place large rounded scoops onto a lined cookie sheet, refrigerate, then transfer to a ziplock back. Freeze the ziplock bag of cookie dough until you’re ready to bake it in the future.