Product Description Forget everything you’ve heard about health-conscious baking.
Simply, BabyCakes is your key to an enlightened, indulgent, sweets-filled future. This is important news not only for parents whose children have allergies, for vegans, and for others who struggle with food sensitivities, but also for all you sugar-loving traditionalists. The recipes in these pages prove that there is a healthy alternative to recklessly made desserts, one that doesn't sacrifice taste or texture.
Having experimented endlessly with alternative, health-conscious sweeteners, flours, and thickeners, Erin McKenna, the proprietress of beloved bakery BabyCakes NYC, developed these recipes–most are gluten-free, all are without refined sugar–in hopes of combating her own wheat, dairy, and sugar sensitivities. In BabyCakes, she shares detailed information about the ingredients she uses (coconut flour, xanthan gum, and agave nectar, for example) and how to substitute them properly for common ones–all the while guiding you safely through techniques she’s spent years perfecting.
When BabyCakes NYC opened on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2005, it helped propel the gluten-free and vegan baking movement into a new stratosphere. Suddenly there was a destination for those with wheat allergies and other dietary restrictions–and, soon enough, celebrities and dessert lovers of every kind–to indulge freely in delectable muffins and teacakes, brownies and cookies, pies and cobblers.
Enclosed within these pages are all the “secrets” you’ll need to bring the greatness of BabyCakes NYC into your own home as well as raves and recommendations from devotees such as Natalie Portman, Jason Schwartzman, Mary-Louise Parker, Zooey Deschanel, and Pamela Anderson.
For confectionists of all kinds, delicious alternatives lie within: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas, Strawberry Shortcake, and BabyCakes NYC’s celebrated frosting (so delicious it has fans tipping back frosting shots!), to name just a few. Finally, Erin’s blissful desserts are yours for the baking!
These recipes are great!May 9, 2009 Marie2375(Baltimore, MD) 16 out of 22 found this review helpful
I first used Erin's recipes after watching a video of her on the Food Network website. I tried the recipes for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and Blueberry Muffins. I have been using them ever since. I was so happy when I learned that she was publishing a cookbook!
My husband has Celiac Disease. My oldest son has the gene for CD and he has anaphylactic reactions to eggs. My youngest son's CD test was inconclusive. So, we are an egg-free, gluten-free family. It is just easier to cook things that we ALL can eat. The problem is that many GF recipes call for MORE eggs than the wheat-version. I've tried egg replacer, flax meal, applesauce etc. Some recipes can be converted, some are just a lost cause.
Erin's recipes work. I don't have to do anything special. They just work. I had my misgivings. I do not care for garfava flour. It is ok in bread, but in dessert? I read through the cookbook with trepidation. Should I use my own GF mix or trust the recipe?I will share my baking experience below.
First, I want to make a couple of comments on the cookbook. It is quite lovely. It is like a coffee table book. The pictures are nice. The writing is upbeat and fun. I like that almost all of the recipes have a picture. This book will lie flat on the counter. Although, I am nervous that I will spill something on it. Maybe it is a little too pretty. She does a pretty good job of describing the tools and flours. I would recommend a couple of things here though. 1. Explain the difference between potato starch and potato flour, or at least mention that there is a difference. 2. Tell us what kind of coconut oil to use. Extra-virgin? Refined? Is there a difference? I bet most of us are new to using coconut oil and could use some guidance here.
Another reviewer felt that it was implied that these recipes are healthy, when they are not. I would say that the claim is that these recipes are healthier, but not necessarily healthy. We are talking about desserts! Garfava flour has more protein, fiber and maybe iron, than wheat flours and rice flours. Coconut oil and agave nectar may be healthier than butter and sugar. I don't know and I don't care. I am making yummy desserts that work. I expect my dessert to be loaded with fat and sugar, no matter what form the fat and sugar take.
I agree with the reviewer that said the title is misleading. I thought that all of the recipes in this book would be gluten-free. I guess "vegan, (mostly) gluten-free, (mostly) sugar-free" makes for an unwieldy subtitle. There are a lot of GF recipes though. Everything I am interested in, except the biscuits, is GF. I am sure I will get around to trying to modify the biscuits so that they are GF as well. The cupcakes (except red velvet), cakes (except one), frostings, most of the muffins, cornbread, banana bread, gingerbread, brownies, blondies and drinks are all gluten-free. The pie crust, scones, biscuits, a couple of muffins and a couple of cakes/cupcakes are not. Even so, I have no regrets about buying this cookbook.
Here are the recipes I have made so far.
Blueberry Muffins:
The recipe in the book uses spelt flour, so I did not try that one. I have been using Erin's GF Blueberry Muffin recipe that I found on Food Network.com a few months ago. It is great! I use about the half the cinnamon she calls for, but otherwise I make them according to the recipe.
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Again, I am using the recipe that was posted on Food Network.com. I think it is the same as the one in the book. When I started using this recipe, I was not willing to buy the coconut oil, so I have been using butter. (We are not vegan, my son has an egg allergy.) This works really well with butter, if you don't have a problem with that. Now that I have the coconut oil, I will probably try these using that. I do use a little less flax meal than the recipe calls for.
Brownies:
I made these using garfava flour. The batter tastes gross. You can taste the garbanzo. However, the brownies themselves are excellent. They are moist and very chocolatey. She recommends making them in mini-muffin pans. I don't have those, so I used my 8x8 baking pan. It took about 30 minutes longer to cook them in that pan. The brownies are very rich. They taste great warm or cold. I do think I can detect a slight hint of garfava flavor in the brownies, but that could be my imagination. Even so, they are very, very good.
Lemon-Poppy Teacake:
I did not follow the recipe for this. I was nervous about using Bob's all-purpose flour since it contains garbanzo and fava beans. (I hadn't tasted the brownies yet!) So, I used a GF mix I make based on a recipe at glutenfreegoddess.com. The teacake turned out pretty well, but the lemon flavor was very strong. This is probably because my flour does not have the strong flavor of Bob's. Also, there are a lot of poppy seeds in this teacake! I will definitely use less next time. Overall, it is a good teacake.
Cupcakes:
I made the vanilla and the chocolate. I halved the recipes so that I wouldn't end up with a ton of them. These are probably the best eggless GF cupcakes I have ever had. I do think I can taste the garfava flour in the chocolate ones, but it is not overwhelming. They are still great cupcakes. They have a good structure without being too moist or too dry. We haven't even frosted them yet. We are eating them plain and loving them.
Vanilla Frosting/Sauce:
I couldn't find powdered soy milk, so I used powdered cow's milk. The frosting is pretty good, but you can really taste the coconut. I am using extra-virgin coconut oil, so maybe a more refined oil would have less flavor. I don't know. This frosting is liquid at room temperature, so I don't see myself giving up the buttercream altogether. I do like the flavor though! I haven't used it to frost the cupcakes yet. I have it in the fridge, waiting for it to solidify. I can see myself using this for certain things, but not everything.
I really like the cookbook so far. None of the recipes have been duds. Once you have all the ingredients, the recipes are pretty simple to follow. I am glad that I bought it!
must have for everyone who craves delicious gluten-free dessertsJuly 5, 2009 Kathleen Haslbauer(Levittown, NY United States) 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
if you miss truly delicious desserts because of a restrictive diet, this is an awesome book. the down side is you will have to buy a million ingredients you never heard of before, but anyone who is on a gluten-free diet or loves someone who is already knows this and has half of them already. don't scrimp and substitute. following these simple recipes exactly will net you unbelievable results. you will cry when you bite into the cookiewitches. unbelievable!!
This cookbook is more about the idea than the real recipes.September 4, 2009 Lisa M. Mims(Austin, TX United States) 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've been to Babycakes in NYC in the last month....and these aren't the same recipes. So I would like to make a couple of suggestions.
If you are going to use a baking mix, use Whole Foods All-Purpose Baking mix, and then cut it with at least 1/3 Kinnikinnick millet flour. The reasons for doing that are threefold:
1.) Truly gluten-free. Bob's Red Mill is not.
2.) No bean flours. (Nasty, and that's not what's in Babycakes' fabulous, non-beany cookies, or at least not in the amounts Bob's Red Mill uses.)
3.) Millet is really good for baking--and I'm sure that's what they use, because I was eating one of their frozen cookie sandwiches on the way to Coney Island; at about the Brighton Beach stop, I was suddenly chewing on a millet seed.
Also, this is probably the recipe for the mint icing used as the Babycakes gluten-free cookie sandwich filling--it tastes like vaguely like coconut.
Coconut butter (Mine got melty on the subway in 90 degree weather.)
Mint essential oil (Extract is nasty. Thanks to Posh and Becks' recipe for gf Girl Scout Thin Mints for that information.)
Agave Nectar (No sugar rush from anything other than the Coney Island Cyclone)
Cocoa Butter (There is a vaguely chocolatey taste in there.)
Green food dye (They are green.)
Babycakes is a fantastic bakery. I'm just not sure their cookbook is worth picking up, unless you're willing to tinker with the recipes.
Babycakes is babylicious!October 26, 2009 Nicola A. Gildersleeve 2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book has transformed my baking. It's healthy and it's so amazingly delicious!
It did cost quite a bit to buy all the baking products but for the health benefits of the ingredients...it's worth it. I would highly suggest getting this book, especially if you have any food sensitivities to eggs, milk, gluten, dairy etc.
Delicious Kid PleasingJune 11, 2009 Sam Morgan I love this cookbook. So far I have made three of the cookie recipes, cupcakes, both the vanilla and chocolate frostings, muffins, fresh raspberry scones and the apple pie. They are delicious and nutritious, and my kids love them. This book is a gold mine for anyone who wants a healthier alternative to the white flour and sugar found in traditional desserts. I am thrilled to have found it, would love to visit the actual Babycakes in NYC, and the author is a genius.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
